Bodies: the disappointment
After seeing the 3rd bus with an ad painted on the side for the "Bodies" exhibition opening in Sacramento - I decided that I just had to go. I have been wanting to see the "Bodies" show, as featured in Casino Royale, for several years now. Ever since my friend Toni sneaked me into the anatomy building when she was a medical student to show me the cadaver they were working on, yours truly (who was never interested in biology before), has been amazed at the intricacy and design of the human body.Yesterday should have been the day to go... but at the last minute I changed my mind. While doing a quick internet search to confirm the location of the exhibition, I came across some reviews and critiques. It appears there are a couple of different exhibitions along the same theme. Bodyworlds is the original exhibition, featured in James Bond. But there is also Bodies: the Exhibition and now Bodies: Revealed (which is the one showing in Sac), both of which are put on by a competing group. While Bodyworlds seems to comprise bodies mostly donated by European donors, the Exhibition and Revealed shows seem to make no apology for the fact that their bodies all come from China.
A couple of newspaper articles following the "paper trail" behind these exhibits give reason to believe that these are 'unclaimed' bodies... which, if you read between the lines, may well include political prisoners and deceased people from mental asylums. Given the current-day, continuous persecution, torture and imprisonment of believers in that country (Read Brother Yun's The Heavenly Man if you want an inside glance into life for Christians in China), it casts the Bodies: Revealed exhibition in a different light. I'm no longer fascinated... I'm a little queasy.
posted by Bronwyn at 8:35 pm
2 Comments:
I went to Bodyworlds exhibition when it was on in London, and was incredibly fascinated by it - so much so I bought the video! If Bodies was on, I think I would have gone without thinking about it again, and certainly without reading about it... and if what you say is true, then I'd feel awful afterwards when I found out! So good on you for doing your homework!
I also heard that the show in Sac had reports from people working the exhibts (primarily the clean up crew) that the cadaviers were not kept correctly and they often were forced to clean up "bits and pieces" (ie: fat and other stuff) from the exhibit at night. After I heard that, I thought "No Thank You". I also heard the same about the bodies from China and the fact that they are not even legally obtained by family or the deceased is very disturbing.
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