THE BODY/SPACE EXERCISE NO. 2: Fragmentation

Concept:

The human body is central to how we understand identity—gender, sexuality, race, and ethnicity. People alter their bodies, hair, and clothing to align with or rebel against social conventions, expressing messages to others. Many artists explore these ideas through representations of the body and by using their own bodies in their creative process.

Objectives

• Investigate fragmentation as a visual and conceptual strategy.
• Explore how breaking apart an image can reveal new meanings about identity and transformation.
• Consider how space and absence contribute to narrative.

Definitions

• Fragment:
• To break something into small parts or to be broken up in this way.
• Something as something else.
• Transformation:
• A thorough or dramatic change in form or appearance.

Project Description

• Create six drawings that are fragmented depictions of an entire image.
• Your choice of object or subject matter.
• Decide how you will fragment the image:
• Cropping sections.
• Rearranging parts.
• Overlaying or displacing elements.
• Use materials of your choice (graphite, ink, collage, digital, mixed media).

Guidelines

• Each drawing should feel like a piece of a larger whole but also stand alone as a composition.
• Consider negative space and how fragmentation changes perception.
• Think about identity and body—how fragmentation can symbolize transformation, memory, or loss.