CWA must-see: “Fashion, Tattoos and Piercings: Body as Billboard”

By Haleema Mian in Front Page, News on Apr 10, 2013 0:53 / comments

The 65^th Annual Conference on World Affairs will be present “Fashion, Tattoos and Piercings: Body as Billboard” at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday in the University Memorial Center Gallery.

Lameese Akacem, a 22-year-old 1st year graduate integrated physiology student who said she looked forward to the conference all year, is looking forward to the panel despite personal reluctance for the subject of discussion.

“I don’t particularly support the idea of tattoos and piercings, but I believe it’ll be important to discuss what role they play in our society,” Lameese said. “I think that tattoos and piercings are becoming so widespread in America that they are no longer an original piece of art.”

Jeff Lieberman, Clare Muireann Murphy and Jenni Schaefer will lead the discussion.

Lieberman was previously a host on a Discovery Channel show called Time Warp. He has received degrees in physics, math, mechanical engineering and media arts from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He specializes in technology and how it can aid in the prevention of human suffering.

Murphy specializes in storytelling and performance and has performed at the Globe Theater, The Barbican Theatre and the Soho Theatre London.

Murphy is a member of the executive committee for the Federation of European Storytelling. She also runs a salon for artists in London and has worked as a producer, director, consultant, project manager and a few other related jobs. She has been an artist in residence and a lecturer at universities such as University of Manitoba at Winnipeg, Canada and Vanderbilt University.

Nathan Wang, a 21-year-old junior biology major, looks forward to attending the panel.

“From the title itself, I think it’s going to be about individualism or maybe something about advertisements of companies,” Wang said. “I saw one person who allowed a company’s logo to be tattooed on the back of her head.”

Schaefer focuses on how we, as individuals, perceive our own bodies and the food we put into our bodies. She highlights key issues of eating disorders that many face.

Schaefer wrote two bestselling novels that established her as a leader in the recovery movement, How You Can Too and Life Without Ed: How One Woman Declared Independence from Her Eating Disorder. Schaefer presents herself as a motivational speaker at many universities including Harvard and Yale and has been recognized by publications such as The New York Times and Cosmopolitan.

For more information on Wednesday events and panelists, click here.

Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Haleema Mian at Haleema.mian@colorado.edu.