The Body in Contemporary Art

A comprehensive, international, and critically praised survey of the body's role in contemporary art, fully revised, updated, and featuring full color illustrations throughout.

The Body in Contemporary Art presents a global survey of art made since 2000 that takes the body as its focus. Examining such areas as nature and technology, identity politics, and the grotesque, writer and critic Sally O'Reilly traces the body’s movement from a subject to a live medium of art, and highlights how sociopolitical and cultural developments, from contemporary scientific breakthroughs to the Russian-­Ukrainian war, have all had a profound influence on representations of the human form.

From painting and sculpture to installation, video art, and performance, O’Reilly reveals the myriad ways in which the body has inspired a generation of artists. Featuring the work of both renowned and up-­and-coming figures, including Marina Abramovic, Hew Locke, Jenkin van Zyl, Shirin Neshat, Sarah Lucas, and Shawanda Corbett, The Body in Contemporary Art shows how the human form continues to be pivotal to our understanding and expression of our place in the universe.

International in scope with color illustrations throughout, this edition has been comprehensively revised, with an updated selection of artists and five new chapters covering topics such as clothing, work and economics, the nude, and illness.