In my previous post I included the work of Imme van der Haak, a dutch designer who has recently graduated from the Royal College of Art. Van der Haak's final piece was titled 'Beyond the body' which explored ideas surrounding the perception of appearance and identity. It involved two dancers who each wore translucent silk garments with the full bodies of other people printed on top. As the dancers moved, their bodies became confused with the images on the garments; disturbing the surface appearance of both dancer and print. Van der Haak explained that her work "focuses on altering the human form by affecting its figure with just one simple intervention".

Imme van der Haak 'Beyond the body' 2012

I previously incorporated this idea of using transparent material to overlay imagery into my own work. I printed a selection of my photographs and illustrations on to acetate and hung them on the body. The result was subtle merging between image and body. As in Imme's work the movement of the piece enhanced this confusion, my 'acetate jewellery' consequently worked better as hanging earrings.

Imme van der Haak's work plays with notions of 'normality', questioning the everyday things that we might take for granted. She does not intend to make work that shocks but instead attempts to offer a different angle, in particular reference to the human body. 

Imme van der Haak: Top- photos taken from the 'Elastic Mind' series. Bottom- Slakje 'little snail'- comments on the increasing use of animals as an accessory, both image and physical.

Left to Right: Joan Jonas 'Mirror Piece 1' 1969, Bohyun Yoon 'Fragmentation' 2004

Transforming the human figure through a 'simple intervention', the intention of van der Haak's work, has been explored by many people. The images above demonstrate the reflective power of mirrors to chop and distort the body without any physical transformation.