Date of Award
Spring 5-22-2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
Digital Media
First Advisor
Mariela Yeregui
Second Advisor
Megan McLarney
Third Advisor
Leah Beeferman
Abstract
This project begins with the doll as a way to think through assemblage. It has a human form, but it is not born as a whole; it is assembled from parts. Its joints, holes, and modular structure make it more like a puzzle toy. I use it to examine the act of “assembly” itself, and to understand the body as something that can be taken apart, adjusted, and replaced.
This logic of assembly also runs through real-life practices surrounding living bodies. Medical repair and treatment, through suturing, fixation, replacement, and transplantation, maintain and extend the body’s reconfigurability. In the plant world, grafting likewise depends on connection and compatibility, allowing two living systems to form a new relationship through an interface. Across these different examples, a shared tendency emerges, shaped jointly by contemporary technology and everyday life: the body is increasingly understood as a system that can be reconfigured and assembled.
Recommended Citation
Lu, Fangzhou, "Body In Process: Assembly, Control and the Medical Gaze" (2026). Masters Theses. 1549.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1549
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