Image galleries
-
A journey through history from early modern anatomy, when the skin was regarded as an expendable covering that hid the body's inner truth, to the modern re-evaluation of skin as an independent object of scientific and artistic interest.
-
With its wrinkles, colours, scars, spots and decorations, skin has been seen throughout history as a way to identify diseases, to interact with others, and to establish collective identities - but also to stigmatise social groups.
-
Skin is alive and allows us to interact with the world, indicating our emotions and giving us our sense of touch. Skin also dies, but it can be preserved, reinvented or re-appropriated beyond its natural, biological life.
-
A selection of Wellcome Library images from the 'Skin' exhibition.