‘Meridian’

Masking tape, rigid polyurethane, clay, cement, acrylic. plaster, and chalk, 183cm x 45cm x 25cm

An installation and research project commissioned by the Faculty of Classics of the University of Cambridge for the Bodies Past & Present exhibition.

The concept of the Meridian Body originates from traditional Chinese medicine, which viewed the body as a complex, interconnected system. The development and documentation of this concept coincided with the Archaic and Hellenistic periods in the West, aligning with the timeframe from which many of the original sculptures in the Gallery were produced.

Unlike the casts in the Gallery, the piece was cast from a live human. The raw materiality of clay and cement produces a different effect from smooth plaster, accentuating what is special about the Meridian Body—the network of channels through which life-energy flows, intricately engraved here with white plaster used as infill rather than surface.