From Becoming-Woman to Becoming-Imperceptible: Self-Styled Death and Virtual Female Corpse in Digital Portraits of Cancer

Contemporary textual and visual representations of cancer engage self-reflectively with death and dying, yet they often rely on normative notion of death as the end of an individual life. This article focuses on stylised cancer portraits of the young German Nana Stäcker which she took in collaborat...

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Autor principal:	Katja Herges
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	DA EN NB SV
Publicado:	The Royal Danish Library 2019
Materias:	Cancer photography cancer aesthetics Rosi Braidotti Posthuman Death Becoming-imperceptible Becoming-woman Social Sciences H
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/def7e936084147e5a4c6af2d4d20621f
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:def7e936084147e5a4c6af2d4d20621f2021-12-01T00:03:56ZFrom Becoming-Woman to Becoming-Imperceptible: Self-Styled Death and Virtual Female Corpse in Digital Portraits of Cancer10.7146/kkf.v28i2-3.1163112245-6937https://doaj.org/article/def7e936084147e5a4c6af2d4d20621f2019-09-01T00:00:00Zhttps://tidsskrift.dk/KKF/article/view/116311https://doaj.org/toc/2245-6937 Contemporary textual and visual representations of cancer engage self-reflectively with death and dying, yet they often rely on normative notion of death as the end of an individual life. This article focuses on stylised cancer portraits of the young German Nana Stäcker which she took in collaboration with her mother and professional photographers during her chemotherapy and until her death. Intervening in the field of Queer Death Studies this article explores if and how these images allow us to rethink normative Western notions of death. Drawing on Rosi Braidotti’s posthuman theory of death and of female subjectivity, I argue that the photo shoots recast Nana’s illness and dying as a gendered and creative process of subject formation beyond individual death. Through creating aestheticised and eroticised camp images, Nana playfully performs und subverts a range of iconic Western femininities and styles both life and death as a constant becoming. Portraits of Nana as virtual female corpse further highlight this continuity of life and death by reinserting death into life. While these images resist a necropolitical engagement with cancer and dying, they suggest an impersonal and affirmative understanding of death that opens up bioethical questions about contemporary cultures of longevity and health. Katja HergesThe Royal Danish LibraryarticleCancer photographycancer aestheticsRosi BraidottiPosthuman DeathBecoming-imperceptibleBecoming-womanSocial SciencesHDAENNBSVKvinder, Køn & Forskning, Vol 28, Iss 3-4 (2019)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	DA EN NB SV
topic	Cancer photography cancer aesthetics Rosi Braidotti Posthuman Death Becoming-imperceptible Becoming-woman Social Sciences H
spellingShingle	Cancer photography cancer aesthetics Rosi Braidotti Posthuman Death Becoming-imperceptible Becoming-woman Social Sciences H Katja Herges From Becoming-Woman to Becoming-Imperceptible: Self-Styled Death and Virtual Female Corpse in Digital Portraits of Cancer
description	Contemporary textual and visual representations of cancer engage self-reflectively with death and dying, yet they often rely on normative notion of death as the end of an individual life. This article focuses on stylised cancer portraits of the young German Nana Stäcker which she took in collaboration with her mother and professional photographers during her chemotherapy and until her death. Intervening in the field of Queer Death Studies this article explores if and how these images allow us to rethink normative Western notions of death. Drawing on Rosi Braidotti’s posthuman theory of death and of female subjectivity, I argue that the photo shoots recast Nana’s illness and dying as a gendered and creative process of subject formation beyond individual death. Through creating aestheticised and eroticised camp images, Nana playfully performs und subverts a range of iconic Western femininities and styles both life and death as a constant becoming. Portraits of Nana as virtual female corpse further highlight this continuity of life and death by reinserting death into life. While these images resist a necropolitical engagement with cancer and dying, they suggest an impersonal and affirmative understanding of death that opens up bioethical questions about contemporary cultures of longevity and health.
format	article
author	Katja Herges
author_facet	Katja Herges
author_sort	Katja Herges
title	From Becoming-Woman to Becoming-Imperceptible: Self-Styled Death and Virtual Female Corpse in Digital Portraits of Cancer
title_short	From Becoming-Woman to Becoming-Imperceptible: Self-Styled Death and Virtual Female Corpse in Digital Portraits of Cancer
title_full	From Becoming-Woman to Becoming-Imperceptible: Self-Styled Death and Virtual Female Corpse in Digital Portraits of Cancer
title_fullStr	From Becoming-Woman to Becoming-Imperceptible: Self-Styled Death and Virtual Female Corpse in Digital Portraits of Cancer
title_full_unstemmed	From Becoming-Woman to Becoming-Imperceptible: Self-Styled Death and Virtual Female Corpse in Digital Portraits of Cancer
title_sort	from becoming-woman to becoming-imperceptible: self-styled death and virtual female corpse in digital portraits of cancer
publisher	The Royal Danish Library
publishDate	2019
url	https://doaj.org/article/def7e936084147e5a4c6af2d4d20621f
work_keys_str_mv	AT katjaherges frombecomingwomantobecomingimperceptibleselfstyleddeathandvirtualfemalecorpseindigitalportraitsofcancer
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From Becoming-Woman to Becoming-Imperceptible: Self-Styled Death and Virtual Female Corpse in Digital Portraits of Cancer

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