Calligraphy on Vellum by Denis Brown

The Leprosy Texts, Leviticus 13-14

Many of the Leviticus texts will seem strange, at the very least, to the modern reader. The graphic explanations of unpleasantries may put off some, and the underlying ideologies will repulse many more.

For example, in the chapters dealing with leprosy, the Lord commands that those diagnosed (by a priest, not a physician) must be degraded in numerous ways. Forced to live outside the community, to wear torn clothes and a shaven head, the leper had to cry out that he was 'defiled and unclean'. These laws were presumably intended to safeguard the community from what was then thought to be a highly contagious disease. But presented to the socially minded reader of the 'caring nineties', this meaning is deconstructed, and cruel injustice rather than righteousness, is perceived.

My works using these texts are normally on vellum skins. Traditionally the finest surface for calligraphy, vellum supports countless medieval manuscripts and works of art. I selected skins with pronounced graining (caused by skin pigmentation and hair follicles) and present them whole and untrimmed to emphasise the animal origins. Typically, the skins are riddled with representations of sores, suggesting that the ideologies presented by the texts have fallen ill in themselves.

While it is conceivable that one response to these texts would be of glib satisfaction that our modern sensibilities preclude the continuation of such stigmatisation, I trust that the viewer will look beyond the specifics of leprosy. In our time for example, the discovery of AIDS raised new phobias of contamination leading to continuing discrimination. Thus, though we perceive the leprosy texts as cruelly unjust, how much has society really developed?

In this age where TV and magazine images elevate clean skin and a beautiful appearance to an importance perhaps never seen before, the Leprosy texts take on a new significance.