The Flesh of Imagination: Locating Materiality in Biology-Inspired Visual Art

In this article, the authors explore the sensuous and material dimensions of artworks inspired by biological science. They use Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s concept of “flesh” to reflect upon the embodied processes of understanding that unfold during a viewer’s initial encounter with an artwork. Using Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology of perception and the work of selected artists based in India who engage with biology and botany, the authors locate the sensing body in a reciprocal relationship with these artists’ works.