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The Shell of an In-Essential Void: The Disappearance of the Body and Its Traces in Alina Szapocznikow’s Photosculptures

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Abstract

In 1971, Alina Szapocznikow’s Photosculptures series captured chewed gum, molded by her teeth, in stark black-and-white close-ups. These works evoke Bataille’s informe and vanitas-like dissolution, tracing the body’s internal motion while resisting symbolic reduction. Informed by her awareness of terminal illness and Holocaust survival, Szapocznikow transforms ephemeral matter into a clinical, anti-realist testimony, where disappearance is suspension rather than absence. This study examines the ‘white’ of these images as Warburg’s ‘Denkraum’, a conceptual space where latent temporality and unfinished subjectivities emerge. Employing Mieke Bal’s narratological framework, the series is approached as visual fiction that reconfigures the body as residue and potential.


Open access

Submitted: Oct. 15, 2025 | Published Dec. 15, 2025 | Language: en

Keywords Cast • Still life • Formless • Body • Entropy

Copyright © 2025 Mattia Cucurullo. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


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