Foreign Body by British artist Antony Crossfield investigates the mutable relationship between body and identity through digitally manipulated images of nude figures. Before AI reshaped visual media, Crossfield was already using digital tools to blur the line between fact and fiction, challenging photography’s claim to objectivity. In doing so, he paralleled debates in critical theory and visual culture about the constructedness of identity and the instability of bodily norms.
Crossfield's images reject stable subjecthood, depicting the human form as porous, fragmented, and in flux. Bodies often appear merged or duplicated, suggesting identity as contingent and relational rather than innate. By emphasizing imperfection and aging the work exposes the tensions between physical vulnerability and dominant bodily ideals.
He combines analog and digital processes: images are first shot on a medium format film camera, then digitally manipulated into montages constructed from elements photographed at different times and angles. These components are meticulously cut, pasted, and reorganized digitally. The final works are printed as Lambda prints. The post-production process is labor-intensive and painterly, underscoring his hands-on approach to image-making.
Foreign Body has been exhibited internationally and featured in the academic volume Bodies We Fail (2014), where it linked Crossfield’s work to broader critiques of bodily "failure" and visual norms in contemporary culture.
