ABSTRACT
Ill.1 (p.84): Marina Abramovic (b.1946), Portrait with Scorpion (open eyes), 2005. Courtesy of Sean Kelly Gallery, New York. The photograph is one half of a pair of twins, as Abramovic also recorded a variant with closed eyes. All of the work of Abramovic is about taking risks and getting as close as one can get. Here the danger is embodied in a scorpion, ‘the other’, which is mirrored by Abramovic’s posture and haircut. Who is threatening whom? The confrontation is perfectly balanced, but both are utterly out of context. This act of alienation turns the picture into a metaphor for the courage which crossing borders basically supposes.
