The 'Improved' Body: animals & humans

The 'Improved' Body: animals & humans

Vol 22 no 1, 2002


The implications of the new biotechnology for the human body and for the future of the species is visualised. Recent revelations that genetic makeup of animals is much closer to humans than was previously thought and possibilitues of trans-species hybridity is no longer just the stuff of myth or science fiction. Artists ask: how do we feel about becoming even closer to the animals we share the planet with? Current trends in surgery for transgender and cosmetic changes challenge notions of bodily identity. Writers include WJT Mitchell (Chicago) on Biocybernetics, George Alexander on Julie Rrap, Victoria Ryan on cosmetic surgery and art, Jane Goodall on Ella Dreyfus, Bronwyn Platten on bestiality, Anne Quain on transgenic pets.Also beautifully illustrated features on the works of Monika Tichacek, Sharon Goodwin, Michele Barker, Lynne Roberts-Goodwin, Juan Ford, Stelarc, Ionat Zurr and Oron Catts, Ray Cook, Helen Kundicevic, John Kelly, Jane Trengove, Stephen Holland and Tiffany Parbs.


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Tiffany Parbs

Tiffany Parbs, artist profile

Tiffany Parbs reinterprets 18th century medical tools to create works of small objects which carry with them an implication of an intimate relationship with the body. Parbs is based in South Australia at the JamFactory Contemporary Craft & Design; her project has been assisted by Arts SA and the Australia Council.



Probe reinterprets 18th century medical tools to create a series of small objects which carry with them an implication of an intimate relationship with the body. During a residency at the Silversmithing & Jewellery Dept of the Glasgow School of Art, Tiffany Parbs started by looking at old surgical and dental tools and from there developed a series of probes – tools which might be used for examining body orifices as well as surfaces. The artist hopes that these little, delicate and enigmatic objects will suggest the distress that people experience when they are forced to place their faith in and surrender their bodies to surgeons with sterile instruments. Some of the probes will actually pinch skin or magnify and emboss it, jewellery which temporarily alters how we look. Parbs is based in SA at the JamFactory Contemporary Craft & Design; her project has been assisted by Arts SA and the Australia Council.

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