Mural Artist Experiments With Skin Textures

Photographer and artist Juuke Schoorl was interested in exploring her skin as its own medium for art. By taking advantage of its unique properties, Schoorl creates visceral images that have us reconsidering our "biological upholstery." 

Schoorl says of her work, "With my project ‘Rek’ (‘Stretch’ in Dutch) I focused on exploring the aesthetic possibilities of the human skin. I was inspired by the materiality of the human skin and how it reacts to external stimuli. The adaptability of this curious stretchable material amazed me and I realized it is much more malleable than we usually notice or realize."

Using commonly available materials like nylon string, School is able to manipulate the natural drape of skin. The ridges formed down this model's back have us questioning what we typically consider to be beautiful about the female form.

Schoorl says of her work, "As an artist the challenge for me is to translate the normal things around us into something visually new and exciting. By enhancing or enlarging things that I find interesting, but others sometimes hardly notice, I hope to challenge others peoples perspectives on the world. "

By manipulating the skin, School is able to make what initially looks like injuries into beautiful textures. 

"I like to challenge the physical abilities of my subjects. Especially logical or physical principles found in nature or in technological devices I find really exciting. Besides that I'm generally fascinated by the malleability of the human body and I often like to mix the two.

At the moment I'm interested in creating my own physical tools to create filmic experiments or effects, similar to what I did in Liquid skin."