Whole Body
Sonya Savina

A scar that forms at the site of an injury differs from the surface of healthy skin due to the unique physiological process of wound healing. After trauma, the body regenerates the skin on its own and chooses the fastest way to protect the wound from external threats, such as infection. To close the wound more quickly, the body uses scar tissue instead of regular epidermal cells, as the growth of normal skin cells is a slower process. Thus, the distinct appearance of a scar, which stands out like a patch on healthy skin, arises from the body’s attempt to save itself.

Similarly, articulating the memory of a traumatic event and its mark can serve as a way to displace the actual occurrence and replace it with a narrative about the scar. The focus of this work is on people’s stories about the origins of marks left by past traumas. Even a minor physical injury caused by an everyday incident can, for some, become an experience of confronting the fragility of their own bodies and exposing the fear of no longer being whole.

The physical traces of trauma—scars on human bodies—were documented using a scanner. On one hand, this method provides a factual and reliable image of the object (one meaning of the word “scan” is to examine closely). On the other hand (another meaning of “scan” is to break down into parts), the scanner merely captures a flat imprint, translating the object into a two-dimensional copy stripped of the living essence of the original.

Through this approach, scanning scars becomes an attempt to create distance from the trauma while preserving its memory.

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