Performance, Masculinity, and Self-Injury

By Lucy Weir

This book is an ambitious and expansive examination of the visual language of self-injury in performance art from the 1960s to the present.

Inspired by the gendered nature of discussion around self-harm, the book challenges established readings of risk-taking and self-injury in global performance practice. The interdisciplinary methodology draws from art history and sociology to provide a new critical analysis of the relationship between masculinity and self-inflicted injury. Based upon interviews with a range of artists around the world, it offers an innovative understanding of the diverse meanings behind self-injury in performance, and delves into the gendered coding of self-harming bodies. Individual chapters examine the work of Ron Athey, G nter Brus, Wafaa Bilal, Franko B, Andr Stitt, Pyotr Pavlensky, and Yang Zhichao, offering a new perspective on the forms and functions of self-injury in performance art.

The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, performance studies, gender studies, and cultural studies.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1032027096
• ISBN13: 9781032027098
• Release Date: August 2024
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 184 Pages