Beauty is Subjective

Until I had watched these two clips, I had always thought of sadomasochist behavior/activity to only exist in kinky pornographic films involving bondage. In addition to this misconception, I had always thought sadomasochism had to involve two parties (a sadist and masochist, of course): one who receives the pain and one who inflicts it.

Looks like I was wrong. These two videos were astonishing to say the least. There were a number of questions circulating my mind as I watched in disbelief, the most important of which were why and what’s the point? Why to these people derive satisfaction from inflicting pain on themselves? What motivates these actions? Is it purely for pleasure and enjoyment, or is there another factor guiding their seemingly purposeless suffering?

Marina Abramovic’s “Art must be beautiful, artist must be beautiful” sheds light on these inquiries. Surely, there are a number of reasons for why a sadomasochist finds his/her practice agreeable. One theory to explain Abramovic’s behavior could be that she is acting out a fantasy, a repressed yearning to become someone new, someone different, perhaps someone beautiful. The act of brushing hair is universally understood to be an act of rousing beauty in women. Brushing hair is an eternal routine for women, and Abramovic’s representation of it might be a rejection of this routine, a refusal to comply with its incentives and implications. Her art, which is this case, is her own physical being, “must be beautiful,” which is why she spends almost 14 minutes painstakingly brushing her hair. The obsessive manner in which she repeats her mantra could be a metaphor for the superficial infatuation society has with women pampering themselves in order to look beautiful.

Ron Athey’s video was a little harder to interpret; however, I think his artistic expression was similar to Abramovic’s as a commentary on the nature of beauty. The way in which he wraps the wig around his entire face at the end of the clip in an almost constricting way could translate to his feelings to unworthiness. His confinement within the glass walls not only distance himself from the audience but confirm this sentiment.