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I sing the body electric,
The armies of those I love engirth me and I engirth them,
They will not let me off till I go with them, respond to them,
And discorrupt them, and charge them full with the charge of the soul.
Was it doubted that those who corrupt their own bodies conceal themselves?
And if those who defile the living are as bad as they who defile the dead?
And if the body does not do fully as much as the soul?
And if the body were not the soul, what is the soul?
– Walt Whitman
Too much contact, no more feeling
The sound around them all
Acid on the floor so she walk on the ceiling
And the body electric flashes on the bathroom wall
And the body electric flashes on the bathroom wall
Crawling to the corners where the idiot children call
See the body flashing on the wall
The sound around them all
Acid on the floor so she walk on the ceiling
And the body electric flashes on the bathroom wall
And the body electric flashes on the bathroom wall
Crawling to the corners where the idiot children call
See the body flashing on the wall
– Sisters of Mercy
Mary prays the rosary for my broken mind
I’m on fire
I sing the body electric
I sing the body electric
My clothes still smell like you
And all the photographs say you’re still young
I pretend I’m not hurt
And go about the world like I’m havin’ fun.
And all the photographs say you’re still young
I pretend I’m not hurt
And go about the world like I’m havin’ fun.
– Lana Del Rey
I sing the body electric
I celebrate the me yet come
I toast to my own reunion
When I become one with the sun
I celebrate the me yet come
I toast to my own reunion
When I become one with the sun
And I’ll look back on Venus
I’ll look back on Mars
And I’ll burn with the fire
Of ten million stars
I’ll look back on Mars
And I’ll burn with the fire
Of ten million stars
“The body electric” as a phrase within itself can be traced back to Whitman’s poem, however the concept goes back a little further. Even the Ancient Greeks had a knowledge of electricity (by rubbing fabric against something similar to a balloon, for example), and used it within medicine. Long before we knew that the human brain literally works because of electric circuits within it – it was 1746 the first published medical text confirmed the existence of electricity within the human body. Whitman’s idea of “the body electric” referred to the interconnectivity of the human soul and the body – a state of oneness, in connection with other people, the Earth, one’s own sensuality. In other words – that same state of mindfulness, of being in tune with yourself and the world around you, that I keep harping on about.
Musicians tend to refer to the “body electric” purely for it’s sensuality (read – hedonism and debauchery) – see Andrew The Sisters of Mercy Are Not A Goth Band Eldritch’s line above about the “floor being acid so she walks on the ceiling“. However, that’s pop music for you. Sex sells, kids.
The body electric – the poetic way of bridging the gap between the tangible and intangible, the earthly and the divine.
Life modelling requires mindfulness. It requires the model to be present at all times during the sitting, to avoid movements, to keep the pose, to serve the artists working from the body well. It requires you to sing the body electric.
However, in the world of COVID-19, life drawing classes are online, existing in a cyberspace. The normal “sacred” working space around the nude model is now a Zoom class. You must sing the body electric alone, as a digital version of the body is projected through cyberspace to the artists working. Your body becomes literally electric – there is a disconnect – there is a lack of the shared space of the nude figure and the working artists.
You dream in digital for 2 hours, your home becomes the space in which you must work, must focus, must sing the body electric. The space hasn’t changed – it’s the same living room floor you draw on, listen to records on, all your personal artefacts are still around you, but you must force the mind to that working space of peace and mindfulness for the benefit of those working from you.
Online life drawing classes exist in a digital cyberspace with few of the comforts, signifiers that you are in fact working as a life model.
You must sing the body electric to remind yourself why you are there.
Animated version of Body Electric – Digital Glitch
