"In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, ‘archive fever’, or an obsession with collecting and recording things, was especially rife. Henry Wellcome and his contemporaries explored the world bringing back exotic objects to be dissected, analysed, compared and displayed. The resulting ‘cabinets of curiosity’, so popular with the Victorians, offered an opportunity to delight and horrify, particularly when accompanied by mythologized stories of ‘primitive peoples’."
It was clear from the start that ‘Skin‘ would provoke mixed reactions in visitors: revulsion, fascination and powerful personal associations, often all wrapped up in the same object or drawing. The correspondent for Bristol’s ‘Helicon’ arts blog likened the experience to “recoiling from some gloriously riddled glittering treasure-box that you’re partly afraid to take from”.
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