Vera Vincente

It’s a simple matter, or is it? Like a seed that only grows through surgery. Start with the genitals for any number of symbolic reasons. Spread outward in both directions. Trim here, adjust there… rebuild the body. (Ah, but when it grows? What then? Distressing crack of bone separating from bone; well, nevermind. It happens sometimes during birth, anyway. God proposes, man disposes.) It helps to choose your subject well for this. A high tolerance for pain or a high demand for something close to perfection. We are working not just with skin, here. Oh, so much more! Shorten some bones, lengthen others, this is an art, not an exact science. It takes a sculptor’s eye.

Next, the face. Lips, eyes, nose, cheeks… all wrong, all wrong. Throw it all out, start over. Make it beautiful. None of it means anything if the face is not beautiful; more perfect than human. Nothing in moderation!

Finally, everything else. How to move, how to stand, how to talk, eat, gesture, be. It’s a matter of training, and of will. It must be constant and eternal. Every day in every way, I am getting better and better.

Repeat!