Orlan

the long version

"Orlan, born on May 30, 1947 in Saint-Etienne, France, has lived and worked in Paris since 1983. She began her highly unconventional career at the age of seventeen with a series of staged photographs of her own body, which has become her art "medium," her primary creative voice. She continued to make her body the center of public debate with works and performances staged in the most prestigious art galleries in France. Orlan's art has taken myriad forms: painting, sculpture, poetry, theater, dance, yoga, photography, video. Exploring multiple voices through the rich variety of media, Orlan's work addresses the recurring theme of sexuality, questions of female identity, Catholic symbolism, disfiguration and refiguration, and the dialectic between the virtual and the real."--BOOK JACKET.