Intertwining penises, tongues, mouths and anuses between which spiny viruses and swarming microbes move, drawn in bright black lines on clean white paper and animated in vibrant colours, but also executed in 3D as almost abstract sculptures. They are in one space with a long series of almost X-ray-like prints showing a spectrum of ever slightly different developed intersex genitalia. Together, they form the first two chapters of an important new inclusive anatomy lesson, or the world's first Atlas of Queer Anatomy.

Artist/designer Kuang-Yi Ku and Prof Dr Henry de Vries, who specializes in sexually transmitted infections (STIs), pooled their knowledge and skills to challenge the medical patriarchy, heteronormativity and white Western dominance of anatomy education by constructing an ambiguous, uncertain, fluctuating anatomical system. With their Atlas of Queer Anatomy, they offer an ironic reflection on the globally still widely used classic anatomy textbook Atlas of Human Anatomy drawn by medical illustrator and surgeon Frank H. Netter that first appeared in 1957.

Medical anatomy á la Netter defines a clear body boundary. It suggests the power to determine what constitutes a clean, healthy and complete body. However, this hierarchy of medical anatomy leads to underrepresentation of marginalised groups. It causes not only cultural discrimination, but also serious problems in (access to) clinical treatment and public health. For instance, intersex has always been pathologized rather than considered as proof of the diversity of human anatomy.

Moreover, classical anatomy often completely ignores our extremely symbiotic dependence on the non-human. After all, where does our body end and the flora of bacteria living in, on and with our bodies begin? It's not a binary boundary. It is a spectrum, says De Vries. But the artist/designer and scientist do not decide on their own what the Atlas of Queer Anatomy will look like. Part of the project are participatory performances and workshops, they call "Queer Anatomy Lessons", in which they encourage young medics and creatives as well as wider audiences to draw and make queer anatomical collages themselves, which they then incorporate into the atlas and website. The aim of this comprehensive fictional anatomy textbook is to increase the inclusivity and diversity of anatomical interpretation in and outside the medical system.

Project description

Anatomy in medicine defines a clear body boundary. It has the power to claim what a clean, healthy, and complete body is. However, the hierarchy of medical anatomy results in the underrepresentation of marginalized groups. It causes not only cultural discrimination but also serious problems in (access to) clinical treatments and public health. For example, intersex has always been recognized as a pathological existence instead of the diversity of human anatomical structure. In this project, as gay men, designer/artist Kuang-Yi Ku specifically focuses on sexual minorities in anatomy, with Prof. Dr. Henry de Vries who specializes in sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in order to propose new speculations on queer anatomies.

The project "Atlas of Queer Anatomy" aims to challenge the medical patriarchy and heteronormativity of anatomical education by constructing an ambiguous, uncertain, fluctuating anatomical system. There are three parts to this project. The first part is the new textbook "Atlas of Queer Anatomy" which is a speculative and ironic reflection on the classic anatomical textbook "Atlas of Human Anatomy" drawn by Frank H. Netter (1906-1991), a white male scholar. "Atlas of Human Anatomy" was first published in 1957 and has been widely used in medical education until now. Although it is a classic textbook, it shows the lack of inclusivity in anatomical visualization. Hence, the new "Atlas of Queer Anatomy" is a collection of anatomical drawings which emphasize sexual diversity in order to criticize the limitation of "Atlas of Human Anatomy".

"Atlas of Queer Anatomy" is a long-term ongoing program including multiple chapters with different themes of gender and sexuality. In this project, Kuang-Yi Ku and Henry de Vries have already started the first two Chapters as a starting point of this growing program. Chapter 1* is on STI transmission and Chapter 2** is about intersex.

In the second part of this project, the team transformed the drawings of Chapters into a series of 3D sculptures and installations in the exhibition. The 3D interpretations of queer anatomy are critiques of the rigidity of existing exhibitions of human anatomy. The last part of this project consists of multiple participatory performances called "Queer Anatomy Lesson". These activities were arranged during the project development by collaborating with diverse organizations and institutions, such as MU Hybrid Art House(NL), National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University(TW), National Congress STI*HIV*Sex 2022(NL), and so on. In these events, they have developed a toolkit to guide the participants to learn the concept of queer anatomy and to draw their own interpretations of interspecies anatomical imagination. All of those visual results were collected in the textbook "Atlas of Queer Anatomy". Therefore, this fictional anatomical textbook is not only produced by the artist/designer and scientist but also by the general public and other professionals from different backgrounds. The purpose is to increase the inclusivity and variety of anatomical interpretation in the medical system.

* Chapter 1 explores the symbiosis between humans and microorganisms resulting in unstable body borders and experiments with how to visualize and materialize microbial migration through body contact.** Chapter 2 envisions the anatomical interpretation of intersex.

Originality, innovation, artistic and scientific significance of the project

Kuang-Yi Ku and Henry de Vries share the same research interests regarding LGBTQ+ rights in medicine. They both think the lack of queer representation in biomedicine results in severe problems for patients' health, not the least access to health. For example, heterosexual physicians are often afraid of or prejudiced toward homosexuality and transgenderism. As a result, they neglect essential health issues. LGBTIQ+ bodies have to deal with alternative transmission routes of STIs. To increase diversity in medicine, they propose "Atlas of Queer Anatomy" to visualize and materialize STI transmission routes and the anatomical interpretations of intersexuality. The transgressive artistic interpretation in this project not only contributes to the esthetic value but also uses criticality and irony to challenge medical patriarchy and heteronormativity. It also has a strong potential to guide the general public and healthcare workers to better understand the culture of sexual minorities and their specific health issues.

From concept and theory to methodological development

Two paradigm-shifting biological concepts that have gained wide public attention recently are "Queer Theory for Lichens", where David Griffiths used the symbiosis of algae and fungi in lichen as a metaphor for the co-living condition of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) and humans. This comparison is used to explain the queerness of different symbiosis and to establish the normality of symbiosis between microorganisms and humans. The other is Lynn Margulis who proposed the "endosymbiotic theory", which describes the origin of eukaryotic cells starting with a symbiotic relationship at the cellular level. Two different microbes gradually abandoned their own independent existences and merged into each other to create eukaryotic life. In such an argument, different creatures are inherently intertwined. This kind of instability can be described as a queer, diverse and adaptive quality inherent in nature. With our project, we comment on these emerging and fruitful concepts by adding the microbiome to classical anatomical depictions, microbiota-host symbiotic systems, and microbiological transfer between bodies creating new anatomical boundaries.

The artist/designer and scientist explore STI-related stigma and the underrepresentation of intersex bodies in medical anatomical depictions, through a multidisciplinary project. This work involves a strong component of methodological development, aiming to combine aspects of anatomical visualization, microbiology, speculative design, and public engagement. This new method results in 2D imagery and 3D sculpture as an artistic interpretation of speculative "queer anatomy" and challenges current medical patriarchy and heteronormativity.

This project also combines a performative approach to redesign a set of speculative methods to teach anatomy that breaks down rigid, and outdated concepts of body boundaries. By placing themselves in fictional medical representations, the audiences are able to reacquaint themselves with their own bodies. Therefore, the final outcome provides the audience with new pathways to understand our bodies from more-than-human perspectives.