1 minute read
Core concept
‘ Wasted Away’ merges and confronts long-lasting biological decomposition processes with eco-technological possibilities; the sacrum is a sturdy bone and one of the last to break down in a decaying human body, while banana peel fibre is scientifically proven to absorb and remove heavy metals from polluted water bodies.
The image of the object-like human sacrum bone softly dissolving in water within a closed system is a visual comment on the actual situation on planet Earth, with its alarming numbers of species exponentially decreasing and disappearing direct or indirectly through pollution and global warming; humanity, as such, is not exempt from this.
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The Sacrum Bone
Throughout the ages, bones have been associated with life in a sense,s they were often considered the seat of the soul and the vital forces in the belief that, since they remain, they can also be reanimated and, therefore, are the door to rebirth in this or the afterlife.
Cultures, traditions and religions across human history have had an understandable concern with human body parts, attributing them with different levels of meaning and eventually including them in their rituals and cosmogonies.
This is especially the case with the Sacrum bone, designating the triangular bone placed inbetween the hipbones and directly under the spine, which has a captivating derivation; still, its true aetiology remains enigmatic. There is no clear explanation about why, in many cultures and since ancient times, this specific bone was designated so.
Hippocrates (Greece, about 400 BC) named it hieron osteon, after the Greek word for “sacred”.
The Romans (about 400 AD) call it “os sacrum,” after a direct translation of the Greek.
The ancient Jewish tradition believed in the indestructibility of the Sacrum. It was entrusted with the resurrection of the body, specifically out of the tipping point of the bone, namely, the Coccyx, which resembles a seed. Also, in ancient Egypt, the “Djeb” or the backbone of OsirisSacrum included - was considered sacred and the source of permanence and renewing of life, officiating as the central motif in agricultural/ fertility celebrations at the banks of the Nile river.
Musa Paradis Aca
