Anorexia or Enlightenment?

Do Not Touch

Is what the sign says
In the Montreal Art Museum
Next to the gilded statue
Of a cross-legged long haired anorexic girl

Called “Along the Path to Enlightenment”
Like an ancient emaciated Buddha before the tree and morning star
Her ribs show breastless
As a vine winds up her torso

A passing woman pauses, then fervently touches
Our Lady of Starvation
And an elderly Japanese lady
Actually caresses the statue’s hands with her own

Then sits down, and imitates the mudra.
I catch the eyes of two friends
Pleasant looking, speaking French.
We’re shocked by these caresses. Don’t know
What to think.

Artist Marc Quinn’s “The Road To Enlightenment” in Montreal

About these ads