The human body is a sophisticated organic machine whose abilities are often under-appreciated or misunderstood. Taken for granted while operating normally, our bodies become noticed when they show signs of failure or need.  What makes us pay less attention to the imperfections or the unexpected?  When does a surface and the marks that adorn it become less noticeable and more familiar?  Why are assumptions made about sites of intervention before we know the cause?  Vulnerability often accompanies thoughts of proximity and exchange; however, there tends to be desensitization within repeated exposure. Shared experiences enhance insight and value through the act of exchange, the submission to vulnerability, and recurring encounters.  This work is placed within the in-between, questioning before and after, repeating our glance and wondering about the body’s ability to adapt, accept, reject and repair.  

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Kelly Temple's work questions our various levels of comfort with medical interventions from non-elective to elective procedures; focusing on interactions between the living and nonliving; the human and machine. Surface is an access point, initiating dialogue about before and after a corporeal intervention. Through growth, manipulation, and mimicry, the production of artificial leather allows her access to past moments of the failed, repaired, and supplemented body. Her methods of making are steeped in self-reflection as a means of coping and acceptance; to revisit provides time, reevaluation, and desensitization.