The article explores the dual nature of the neck, juxtaposing its aesthetic and expressive roles against its vulnerability and history of oppression. The author uses the metaphor of crafting a vase, illustrating how delicate necks in both pottery and the human body can symbolize beauty while being easily broken. The neck not only influences posture, communication, and adornment but also is a site of fear and violence historically exploited by those in power, thus embodying a complex relationship between beauty and fragility, expression and oppression.
I realized that it was not unlike the human neck. Though only a small portion of the human body - about 1% by surface area - our necks have an outsize influence on our psyche and culture.
For millennia, people in power have oppressed their subjects by exploiting the narrowness and fragility of the neck - a dark history of dominating and terrorizing one another using shackles, nooses and guillotines.
Collection
[
|
...
]