In the words of philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy, "The body is touched, touching, fragile, vulnerable, always changing." Multimedia artist, Wardell Milan, reflects on these words, exploring the bodies of five marginalized humans in his billboard series, 5 Indices on A Tortured Body.
Nancy's work focuses on the fragmentation of the body and how our bodies have become isolated, both physically and psychologically as a result of the new digital age. This is particularly true in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, when mental health concerns have become increasingly rampant. In the quarantine body, Milan depicts two blue women, resting alone in sparse rooms. At the right of the billboard a shadowy figure appears to open a door. These scenes may feel familiar to many viewers in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. This work considers the human isolation and loneliness many people have experience as a result of COVID-19, as well as the looming threat this disease continues to pose to many people's health.
Its location along the walkway, behind Big Bridges near the Oldenborg dorms, is significant as this is where Pomona has placed its students who've tested positive for COVID-19. This large scale drawing was created during the first couple weeks of quarantine, when the artist was alone in his apartment in Spanish Harlem, New York. He didn't have access to live models, and so took inspiration from images from a small photography manual. For the woman on the left, X-Files actress Jillian Anderson. For the woman in the center, an amalgam of Diane Arbus photographs in a technical drawing manual, for the figure on the right. Milan encourages passers by to reflect on their personal experience of the pandemic and the emotional and mental toll it may have taken on them.
–Maggie Allegar ’23