Quantification of Human Flesh
- Mixed Media
-
49.5 x 45.5 x 1.75 in (framed)
(125.73 x 115.57 x 4.45 cm)
- Johanna Vogelsang
Thank you to the Eyerman family--artist Johanna Vogelsang’s daughter Kirsten Eyerman, her granddaughter Kyra Eyerman, and her son-in-law Edward Eyerman--for the generous donation of this work.
Also, thank you to the Hudson County Office of Cultural Affairs and Tourism for the generous grant to mount this exhibit of works by Johanna Vogelsang dealing with Social Justice.
The views expressed in this work are solely those of the artist, and do not reflect the views of Hudson County Community College, the Hudson County Community College Foundation, anyone working at this college, or any local, state or government organization.
The artist based this painting on a photograph of a 28-year-old Vietnamese peasant woman during the Vietnam War. She is nursing a young child. According to the artist, the woman was paralyzed by shrapnel that hit her spinal cord the night before, “A few mornings later she was dead.” This woman, if her death was noted at all, would have been turned into a statistic, a “civilian casualty.”
The work's title, “Quantification of Human Flesh,” refers to a quotation from Peter Lowenberg who applied psychological analysis to historical events. Lowenberg wrote, “Quantification of human flesh is in itself a subject requiring psycho-historical analysis. The high degree of isolation of feelings permitted by the use of statistics gives them an attractiveness to…scientists who wish to avoid their own painful emotions.”
A critical educational question suggested by this work and especially this quotation is, “How can we use quantitative data and statistics to increase our human empathy?”
- Framed: 49.5 x 45.5 x 1.75 in (125.73 x 115.57 x 4.45 cm)
- Created: 1982
- Current Location: 2 Enos Place - 3rd Floor
- Collections: Art that Includes Writing, Mixed Media, Portrait or Figurative, The Totalitarian State, Works by Women