Ingenious creative minds often come with eccentric habits; Van Gogh was said to nibble on and even eat his own paintings, and novelist Honoré de Balzac worked from 12AM to 6PM and drank upwards of 50 cups of coffee daily. Singaporean artist Ezzam Rahman’s unique habit is particularly visceral; Rahman constantly scrapes and collects all the skin off of the soles of his feet.This weird behavior of the 34-year-old multimedia artist goes beyond being just a grotesque habit or a deranged tic. Rahman integrates his own raw, peeled off skin into his artistic practice, using it as the primary material for his floral sculptures. Yes, you read that correctly, the mutilated, dead skin removed from the artist’s feet are combined with talcum powder and transformed into small, artificial flower arrangements incased in delicate glass bell jars. These flowers are now displayed at the Singapore Art Museum as part of Rahman's work Here’s who I am, I am what you see.
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There is a purpose in this contrast of material and form that transcends shock value. Functioning as a meditation on the “impermanent moment of someone’s presence,” Here’s who I am, I am what you see, depicts ultimate ephemerality.Despite the apparent disconnect between form, presentation, and material, they are all united in fragile impermanence and through the futility of preservation. The ornate jars that shield the delicate floral skin sculptures act only as slight deterrents against the ultimate effects of time. The dead skin cells will eventually rot and fall apart just like an actual flower will wilt and lose its form, no matter how hard one attempts to preserve it.
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