there is a sense of horror which apparently comes from the fact that your body is a physical thing with porous boundaries. nobody in the world can be completely insulated from the atmosphere; the atmosphere can be influenced by any living body. therefore each body is involved with every other living thing on earth.

i thought i might be able to capture the second body, trapping it inside a real body, by looking at it as a part of animal life. to be an animal is to be in the possession of a physical body, a body which can eat, drink and sleep; it is also to be integrated within a local ecosystem which overlaps with ecosystems which are larger and further away. to be a living thing is to exist in two bodies.

this is not how it feels on the ground, however. you live in your own individual body. you are distinct from other animals.


daisy hildyard,
the second body