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The term somatechnics, derived from the Greek soma (body) and technē (art, skill, or technique), describes the idea that bodies are not merely natural entities but are continuously shaped and mediated by various technologies, practices, and cultural norms. Rather than viewing the body as a fixed biological reality, somatechnics emphasises that our physical selves are constructed by social, cultural, and technological forces. This perspective challenges the notion that a "natural" body exists independently of these external influences, proposing instead that all bodies are culturally produced and shaped by their contexts.Coined in the early 2000s by feminist and queer theorists Nikki Sullivan and Samantha Murray, known for their work on body modifications, cosmetic surgery, and self-fashioning, the concept of somatechnics builds on the ideas of influential scholars such as Michel Foucault, Donna Haraway, Judith Butler, and Elizabeth Grosz. Foucault's concepts of "biopolitics" and "technologies of the self" are foundational to this framework, examining how power operates through bodies, shaping them according to societal norms and institutional regulations. Haraway's Cyborg Manifesto (1985) furthers this discourse by challenging the boundaries between human and machine, nature and culture, suggesting that bodies are hybrids shaped by both organic and technological elements. Butler's theories of "gender performativity" and "materialisation", meanwhile, assert that bodies are continuously moulded by cultural norms rather than existing as static, natural entities and Grosz contributes to this understanding through her work on corporeality, exploring how bodies are both shaped by and resistant to cultural inscriptions.Somatechnics is especially relevant in discussions of identity, gender, disability, and race, where bodily experiences are profoundly influenced by societal expectations and interventions. In today's globalised, medicalised, politicised, and increasingly digital society, this conception of the body as a dynamic, constructed entity-shaped by ongoing interactions with technologies and cultural practices-has become nearly self-evident. Somatechnics should, therefore, serve as an essential framework for understanding the motivations and meanings behind contemporary figurative art.The Tagli’s group exhibition brings together an international and intergenerational lineup of 16 artists who explore the presentation and reception of the body in contemporary art through a somatechnic lens. Phillip Reeves’s surreal work APOTHEKE - TINCTURES + SPELLS (2022), for instance, evokes an apothecary shop window and underscores the fallibility of science by blending dreamlike imagery with references to the history of medicine. Reeves’ work reminds viewers that the pills and injections used today to achieve socially accepted standards of health are modern equivalents of potions and elixirs from earlier civilisations. This piece resonates with Foucault’s concept of biopolitics, wherein states utilise medical and scientific knowledge to regulate bodies and manage health, thereby controlling life processes at both individual and societal levels. By highlighting the historical and cultural contingencies of medicine, Reeves challenges its status as an absolute truth and destabilises its role as a tool of biopolitical control.
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Similarly, Holly Hendry and Tom Woolner’s wall-based sculptures envision the body as a hybrid, combining anatomical and object-like forms to reveal the porous boundaries between the organic and the technological. Hendry’s Lobe (2024) amalgamates bodily forms—an ear and a tongue—with corporate symbols like sticky tape and cardboard boxes, presenting a “cybernetic organism” shaped by professional life. This piece, reminiscent of the embodiment described in Haraway’s Cyborg Manifesto, underscores how capitalism influences the bodies of contemporary individuals. Woolner’s Internal Weather (Dwelling) (2021), similarly, reflects the impact of external environments on the body. Constructed from acrylic, resin, and pigment, the piece resembles a human heart but forgoes anatomical details in favour of a small house with smoking chimneys, perhaps alluding to the toxicity of urban air. Both artists therefore dissolve the boundaries between the body and its surroundings, demonstrating how our habitats continuously shape our bodies from the outside in.In the works of Anna Perach, Tamsin Morse, and the artist duo Eveleigh Evans, the body is situated within folkloric, mythological, and cultural discourses that examine how language and history shape embodiment. In Eveleigh Evans’s Foremother series, a set of sculptures made from clay, ash, and shell, the artists evoke ancient petroglyphs and maternal archetypes. These sparse, shrine-like sculptures reflect the influence of longstanding discourses on conceptions of femininity; each piece reduces the female form to a symbol, suggesting femininity through physiological signifiers like breasts and associations with motherhood. By referencing historical images of womanhood, the series illustrates how these cultural narratives continue to influence the experiences and understandings of female bodies today.
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Artists Afonso Rocha, Mitko Karakolev, Robert Russell, and Xingxin Hu take the relationship between sexuality, power, and perception as their starting point, depicting bodies engaged in social-sexual interactions to unpack the politics of gender and desire. Rocha’s Goose Bumps (2024), for example, can be interpreted as an allegory for how socially accepted norms influence the early formation of sexuality. In this painting, a young girl explores her attraction to a similarly aged boy in the background, while the boy gazes at the nearly nude body of an older woman in the foreground. Light-hearted yet thought-provoking, this mise-en-scène illustrates how bodies navigate—and sometimes resist—cultural expectations surrounding age, desire, and attraction, aligning with Elizabeth Grosz's theory of corporeality. The boy’s gaze towards the semi-nude older woman reflects societal ideals that romanticise mature femininity while also revealing his bodily response, which defies age-appropriate boundaries. This moment of attraction exemplifies the body as an "open system," simultaneously shaped by cultural values and yet capable of unpredictable actions. Through this lens, the artwork explores the complex, often contradictory ways in which desire interacts with social conditioning and individual bodily impulses.
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Pei-Yi Tsai and Heeyoung Noh delve into the complex intersections of embodied experience, race, and cultural identity in their works. Heeyoung Noh’s paintings, in particular, examine the profound impact of immigration and cultural displacement on the body. Noh explores the Korean bathing ritual, Ttaemiri, as both a metaphor for collective inherited trauma and a source of solidarity that connects her with other Koreans abroad. She traces the ritual's origins back to Korea’s colonial history, in particular the period 1910 to 1945 during which Japanese occupiers circulated propaganda to dehumanise and label the local population as "unclean." This historical context positions Ttaemiri as a form of quiet resistance—a means to reclaim dignity and self-worth amidst subjugation. By depicting Ttaemiri in works such as A Mother and Her Daughter (2024), Noh conceptualises the Korean body—her own and her family’s—as a biopolitical entity, one subjected to a long history of external forces of control while simultaneously capable of enacting resistance. This ritualised act, rooted in historical collective trauma, becomes a powerful means of self-healing and cultural resilience in her paintings.
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In the works of Lucrezia Abatzoglu, C. Lucy R. Whitehead, Grant Foster, and Tai Shan Schierenberg, the body is fragmented or alluded to through singular or abstracted depictions of its constituent parts. This approach disrupts the notion of the body as a fixed, organic entity, replacing it with representations of disjointed limbs and contorted forms that reflect the myriad forces acting upon the body to reshape it. In C. Lucy R. Whitehead’s painting A Day in December (2024), for example, the notion of the body is suggested through a lone curved and fleshy form, with the canvas boundaries serving as metaphors for the biopolitical forces that restrict, confine, and impose order upon this otherwise unruly mass. Clay-like and intrinsically malleable, the bodies Whitehead presents epitomise the notion of somatechnics—they are almost shapeless, allowing the viewer to give them form by imposing their own interpretations, which are laden with social, political, and cultural burdens.
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The works on show in Somatechnics vividly manifest the idea that the body is a dynamic entity shaped by an intricate interplay of social, cultural, and technological influences. Each artist contributes to a nuanced exploration of how contemporary identities are constructed and negotiated through various practices, rituals, and experiences, reflecting the diverse ways in which bodies are embodied and understood in our modern world. From Phillip Reeves's critique of medical authority to Heeyoung Noh's poignant reflections on cultural identity through the lens of Ttaemiri, these artworks challenge conventional perceptions of the body and foreground the complexities of bodily experiences in today's society.As we navigate an era marked by rapid technological advancements, increasing globalisation, and shifting cultural narratives, it becomes essential to platform artists who expand our understandings of the body. The exhibition not only encourages viewers to reconsider their own embodied experiences but also fosters a greater awareness of the cultural and political forces that shape our identities. By engaging with these diverse artistic perspectives, we can cultivate a more inclusive dialogue around embodiment, identity, and resistance, ultimately enriching our comprehension of what it means to inhabit a body in this particular moment in time.
