Body Worlds: shock horror or affirmation?

And so to Gunther von Hagens' and Angelina Whalley's Body Worlds Exhibition, The Cycle of Life, which is having an extended - and it seems a very successful - run judging by the long queue stretching along the pavement from the entrance two weekends ago. Body Worlds is stated as "focus[ing] on the body living through time - from conception to infancy, from adolescence to adulthood and old age".

What von Hagens has done is to take human corpses or "post-mortal bodies", with the owners' legal consent prior to death (more than 13 300 donors registered worldwide, so many that in fact no more are wanted) and "plastinated" them after partial dissection to show various aspects of their organs and other body parts. The whole bodies are then displayed in large glass cases in poses that include a ballerina, a dancer, a person on a swing, another playing a saxophone and even a couple copulating (the woman, somewhat bizarrely wearing what I immediately labelled in my mind as kinky boots).

Without skin, with muscles and organs exposed

Practically all the bodies have been flayed, that is they are without their skin with their muscles and organs exposed. With what must be artificial eyes staring at one, stick-on eyebrows and an unyielding plastic-looking appearance, it is hard not to slip into the mindset of thinking them to be just models, not the last remains of people who lived and loved, and had hopefully fulfilling lives. The artistry (Dr Whalley is listed as the exhibition's planner and designer) is there to be seen, really a tour de force.

After our viewing we went off for a discussion. The three of us considered what we had seen, what we had not seen, and what the messages were for us. We agreed that the lack of skin made the bodies look less real and, thus, less shocking, and remarked on the complete absence of any children: too shocking to have displayed or just too difficult to obtain consent from parents and guardians? Probably both. Whereas there was a series of foetuses in glass jars they did not extend to full term and there was no female body at the moment of giving birth. Again, perhaps representing death at the very moment of new life would have been too much for many viewers.

Smoker's lung, excessive alcohol, and fatty diet

But for us the main take-home memory was about our health. Glass cabinets with sections of a smoker's lung, what excessive alcohol does to your liver over time, videos of plaque forming and blocking blood vessels from too fatty a diet and the like got across a compelling message to anyone receptive enough to receive it, but not in too preachy a way. A side display has pictures of centenarians and a world map of hot spots for 100-year-olds. A pity there are none in Africa!

For me, the most disturbing item on display came right at the end of the exhibition. It was the head and torso slice of a 150kg man who had died of complications from obesity at the age of 50. As an erstwhile couch potato before a midlife crisis topsy-turvied my whole lifestyle at the age of 48, I realised that I could have gone down that route - and perhaps no longer be alive today. Thankfully, I am still here due to a pair of running shoes and a bicycle. And where have I seen that fatty neck roll before?

Body Worlds has been displayed worldwide for 15 years and is said to have been viewed by more than 35 million people. The Cape Town exhibition is situated in the Breakwater Parking Garage building in the V&A Waterfront. Its runs until 10 March: go to see it and learn how our species works under the skin and how to improve your health!

John Cooper
Vital statistics: 66 yr, 69 kg, HRrest 43, BP 110/70, Total Cholesterol <3.0, Glucose 5.2, PSA 1.34

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