Beneath the skin: A Critical Review of Alina Saffron’s ‘Tree of Life’
In this review I’m going to briefly introduce you to the history of Anatomy in Art, before dissecting and analyzing the work of contemporary photographer Alina Saffron.
Anatomical Histories in Art
The relationship between visual art and the anatomy is rich and diverse with a long history. The study of anatomy during early days was mainly hindered because no culture tolerated human dismemberment. The first recorded forensic autopsy was performed in Bologna in 1303, and it was not until the early 15th century that public autopsies gradually began to take place.
Decades before Vesalius, Artist Michelangelo had dissected bodies in order to accurately depict the muscular human form. This operation was dirty, unhygienic and appalling, especially with the absence of refrigeration facilities at the time and therefore was most often carried out in Italy during the cold season. Another artist who undoubtedly studied anatomy in the late eighties and early nineties of the fifteenth century was Leonardo da Vinci. He had an unusual approach to anatomical drawing and not only depicted body parts and muscle groups, but also showed them in sections, accompanying each drawing with notes. According to the artist's own estimates, he dismembered 30 corpses during his lifetime.
Human fetus, pen-and-ink studies by Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1510.
It was not until 1543 with the publication of Vesalius’ Human Anatomy textbook De Humani Corporis Fabrica, that anatomical drawing really began to develop. Vesalius set the standard for anatomical illustration for more than 200 years. Andreus Vesalius admitted that he resorted to grave robbery for material, quickly removing the skin of corpses so that relatives couldn’t identify them, and once secretly extracting the hands and feet of an offender burned at the stake amongst a pile of ashes. In the 1700s, Vesalius was displaced from the pedestal of anatomical illustration by Bernhard Siegfried Albinus. His work Tabulae sceleti et musculorum corporis humani laid the foundations for a new method of anatomical illustration.
The inquisitive minds of artists of the mid-twentieth century did not stop turning to the human body as a source of art and knowledge, only transforming, refining it and putting it into new forms. Swedish photographer Lennart Nilsson published the photo essay ‘The Drama of Life Before Birth’ in Life magazine more than fifty years ago, which gave most people their first glimpse of how a baby develops in the womb. Spike Walker, the British micrographer produced the microscopic image of a single sperm being inserted into a prepared egg cell in 2004. South African artist Walter Oltmann began to create ink drawings of arteries from 2007. Jan Fabre’s exhibition Glass and Bone Sculptures 1977-2017 pays homage to the Flemish masters who ground bones to produce paint by transforming their process in turn creating sculptural mosaics of their fragments. For Fabre, human bones are not material, but matter. French photographer Alain Pol, also created a false-colour X-ray angiogram of the Abdominal Arteries in 2018.
In this way, artists have always sought new forms, methods and unconventional means of expressing their views and principles through anatomy. Through the development of digital technology, a progressive society, the availability of autopsies and biomaterials, and the perfection of various artistic techniques, work with the human body has reached a new level within art. Contemporary artists who have emerged within progressive movements have presented a new perspective on the human body on both a macro and micro level.
About the Tree of Life
Alina Saffron, an art photographer from St. Petersburg, brings a fresh perspective to the subject of anatomy by showing that it not only has a vital function, but can also artistically translate beauty. The human body is a piece of art in the flesh (literally), but Saffron uses photographs of nature to mirror blood vessels in her photography. In this sense we feel at one with nature whilst also having more awareness and appreciation for our bodies - a gentle reminder to take care of ourselves.
Blood vessels are responsible for many essential functions - they carry life and interweave into incredible patterns of beauty. It’s important that we take care of our blood vessels as 17.9 million people worldwide die of CardioVascular Diseases annually, representing 32% of global morbidity (WHO, 2019). The heart is the ceaselessly working engine responsible for pumping life-supporting blood via a 100,000 km long network of vessels. This closed system of various tubes keeps the body freshly supplied with oxygen and nutrients, while cleansing it from harmful by-products from the metabolism.
The visual and emotional appeal of the artwork
There is no gruesome flesh of corpses or living skeletons in Saffron’s work, but rather calm black and white photographic renderings of vascular trees, consisting of contrasting intricacies and varied lines that captivate the eye. Moving or still, whether taken by angiography or CT scan, the photographic images of blood vessels are a reflection of human past and future through art. The visual impact of the project is mesmerizing. The vascular root system builds associations with the Universe, the unity of all living things and collective relations. Vessels are like riverbeds, cutting their way through tissue, braiding organs and bones, merging into tangles and patterns, filling the body with life in real time.
The images draw me away from reality, I enjoy being transported to a certain sense of abstraction. The black and white tone and uncluttered details make it easy to immerse yourself in a world of fictional stories. There is something so vulnerable about what I am seeing, with a gripping balance of black and twisting roots which have a somewhat ominous presence to them.
When I look upon these winding tubes, I wonder if similar vascular networks are also inside me, so I draw attention to the details of the blotches, dots, and ganglia and ask myself - do these exist inside of me? Is it safe? And at the same time I admire the fact that these little long cavities fill me with life at the very moment I am admiring this very work. Then a thought occurs to me, what if one of these curls breaks, becomes constricted or clogged, what happens then? I feel my natural fragility with all my being and I realize how important it is to take care of myself.
Comparison and pertinence
Artists have always perceived nature as a source of meaning and imagery. For example, Arizonian photographer Dayna Bartoli depicts combinations of retinal blood vessels and flowers through a circular frame, symbolically connecting the anatomical process of vision with the aesthetic experience of sight. This contrasts with Saffron’s work as she focuses on a minimalistic, pure, intact grisaille depiction of the anatomy to draw the viewer's attention to the fact that blood vessels are precisely a root system.
Saffron's approach is not the infantile collecting of dried out pieces of skin, hair or nails, frozen blood or fat. The author appeals to anatomy in its purest form, to the real, not the illusory or altered, to what is hidden inside rather than on the surface, to the beauty and grandeur of its forms. Through the work, the photographer speaks to one and all on planet Earth.
Conclusion
Saffron is not alone in her battle for life and beauty in one bottle. Promoting the idea of health through art is not new, but the approach looks promising. The takeaway is to pay more attention to the inside of our bodies: If you don’t forget to change the oil in your car's engine, then don’t forget to regularly 'check the oil level' in the engine inside your chest.
Find Alina Saffron on Instagram
Illustrations:
[1] Da Vinci, L. (1510) Human Fetus Pen and Ink studies [image] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leonardo-da-Vinci/Anatomical-studies-and-drawings
[2] Saffron, A. (2021) Life and God [digital media]
[3] Saffron, A. (2021) Roots [digital media]
[4] Saffron, A. (2021) Flight of thought [digital media]
[5] Saffron, A. (2021) Identity [digital media]
[6] Saffron, A. (2021) Shadows [digital media]
Bibliography:
ARTSPACE (2019) Beyond the Figure: 8 Anatomical Artworks that Peer Inside the Human Body [blog] September 24. Available at: https://www.artspace.com/magazine/interviews_features/book_report/beyond-the-figure-8-anatomical-artworks-that-peer-inside-the-human-body-56254
Arterritory (2017) Interview with Flemish Artist Jan Fabre Available at: https://arterritory.com/ru/vizualnoe_iskusstvo/intervju/19889-ja_predstavljaju_napravlenie_iz_odnogo_celoveka
Chernick, K (2018) The Renaissance Tradition of Using Cadavers in Drawing Classes Is Still Alive [blog] July 2. Available at: https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-renaissance-tradition-cadavers-drawing-classes-alive
Hajar, R (2011) Medical Illustration: Art in Medical Education. Heart Views. Volume 12 (Issue 2) Available at: 10.4103/1995-705X.86023
Hildebrand, R. (2005) Attic perfection in anatomy: Bernhard Siegfried Albinus (1697 - 1770) and Samuel Thomas Soemmerring (1755 – 1830) Institute of Anatomy of the University of Münster. Available at: https://coek.info/pdf-attic-perfection-in-anatomy-bernhard-siegfried-albinus-16971770-and-samuel-thoma.html
Lentra.Ru (2021) "He took off their skin by examining muscles and bones" How the fanatical craving for opening corpses helped Michelangelo create the legendary David [blog] January 30. Available at: https://lenta.ru/articles/2021/01/31/corpus/
Smirnov, Ш (2020) How anatomical Illustration has developed [blog] July 30. Available at: https://dtf.ru/life/180136-kak-razvivalas-anatomicheskaya-illyustraciya
World Health Organisation (2019) Cardiovascular Diseases (CVD’s) Available at: https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cardiovascular-diseases-(cvds)
