BORN AS TRUNKS is inspired by a late medieval mythological creature called Blemmyes also known as the mythical headless men. They were described to have light-yellow, golden skin, measuring 370cm tall and 210cm wide. Described as lacking a head, with their facial features on their chest or back.
“The fallen ones came down and began creating hybrids with the animals. God became upset with the amount of horrible monsters existing in this realm and so he brought the flood.”
“The monstrous races” were a big part of early christianity.
Medieval christian writers were completely faithful to the belief that monstrous human races lived far beyond the horizon. Some believe they looked like that due to their sins of their ancestors, or the deformity to be some type of curse. According to the bible, the place where they lived was exactly where the flood happened
They also believed that the blemmyes could have been a outcome of cults. They would transform the cults enemies (christians) to the headless men, because these creatures were to believed to exist the furthest from god and they needed to be condemned to an afterlife of torture and suffering in the deepest bits of hell.
Today, very few would seriously believe in the existence of such a creature as the Blemmyes. Nevertheless, this has not stopped speculation about what made the ancient authors write about such beings. One science fiction author, wrote in a short story that the Blemmyes were aliens. Another explanation is that the Blemmyes were human beings with shoulders raised to extreme heights, an anatomical modification that may have been done on their infants.
The hand-made print is my interpretation of the Blemmyes in the 21st century.
ph: inna tarakanova
mua: kristiina tali
