Anna Ullman

Anna Ullman, Printmaking BFA 2010

Self Portrait

Scars are permanent marks that people have to deal with for their whole lives.  Scars shape who a person is, and therefore can be the most interesting things about a person. Anna Ullman loves the idea of documentation on a body. The theme of scars, whether superficial or emotional, has played an influential role in her work.  This self-portrait is very personal. It exposes the most difficult obstacle that she has ever faced and at the same time has made her the person she is today.  These prints are about her life and how it may have been a bit different from yours.

In the 5th grade Anna Ullman was diagnosed with a serious case of scoliosis.  Because she was too young for major surgery, she was placed in a brace as an alternative. Ullman is only her true height (5’ 2”) when she wears her back brace.  It is a scar that she was born with and will have to deal with for the rest of her life.  The two three-color, full-scale wood relief prints are meant to resemble antique anatomy posters.  There is an uncomfortable stiffness to old anatomy posters that mimic the way she felt having to be placed in a back brace. The brace itself is represented as an ironic void, yet one can still understand the amount of pressure that is being inflicted on the body.