Plastination
Morbid and Fascinating Body Worlds
Human plastination is one of the most fascinating scientific phenomena out there. Gunther von Hagen is the man who created Body Worlds. He wanted humans to KNOW humans from the inside out.
Some of my most popular photographs at Flickr are the ones taken at Gunther von Hagens’s Body Worlds exhibit while it was showing at the Natural History Museum here in San Diego.
You can see the skin peeled back on a gymnast. There’s a soccer player kicking a ball, a pregnant woman, a yogic master and even a fetus.
Also on display were the lungs of a smoker, the capillaries in a human head, and assorted human organs.
All kinds of people visited the exhibits, including children. In fact, Body Worlds was so popular, the museum extended the exhibit.
Morbidly fascinating, perhaps controversial, and certainly educational.
“Body Worlds” is Not the Same as “Bodies”
If you are interested in attending a Body Worlds exhibit, make sure that it really is “Body Worlds” and not some knock-off show like “Bodies.” Why? The bodies of Body Worlds were donated by their original owners. Even Michael Jackson wanted to donate his body and was in the process of doing so when he died all too soon.
Whose bodies populate the knock-off exhibits? The bodies of prisoners and homeless people from the alleys of China, more than likely. Certainly those people never gave permission to have their corpses plastinated. So there’s a moral controversy sparked up here. Spiritual people find this scenario rather reprehensible.
I personally would never attend any plastination exhibit with unsanctioned bodies. You can take your own chances and make your own decision about that.
Patty Mooney is a Vice President and Video Producer at award-winning San Diego video production company, Crystal Pyramid Productions.
