#skinproject

Shelley Jackson, whose hypertext novel Patchwork Girl (1995) is often considered part of the hyperfiction canon, is known for pushing the boundaries of writing and has been featured in the first volume of the &Now Awards : The Best Innovative Writing. It’s not hard to imagine why, given her ongoing project Shelley Jackson’s Ineradicable Stain:“Skin” (launched 2003) which she categorizes as “a mortal work of art” on her  website. This is a piece of literature which Shelley Jackson publishes by recruiting a total of  2095 volunteers, who she dubs “words,” to have one word from the text of “Skin”tattooed on their body. Jackson assures her Words that only they, as participants, will know the full text. The guidelines are outlined on her website in full, but of note is the disclaimer that

They [the words] are not understood as carriers or agents of the words they bear, but as their embodiments. As a result, injuries to  the printed text, such as dermabrasion, laser surgery, tattoo cover work or the loss of body parts, will not be considered to alter the work. Only the death of words effaces them from the text. As words die the story will change; when the last word dies the story will also have died. The author will make every effort to attend the funerals of her words.

This project is a fascinating exploration of narrative translated through unconventional media—in this case, living, breathing, and dying people. The story “Skin” travels, eats, bleeds. More recently Jackson called for video readings of the words to be uploaded to YouTube #skinproject.