BOOK REVIEW
A Review of In Flux: American Jewelry and the Counterculture
By Kayleigh Perkov
A key tenet of counterculture thought was that modernity had severed the connection between subjectivity and the body, causing individuals to be disconnected from vital modes of self-knowledge and self-expression. [Thus] a purposeful engagement with sensuality loomed large, urging those who fully embraced the counterculture as well as middle-class Americans to reimagine what they wore and their perception of their bodies. Jewelry, with its intimacy to the body, was used by many to signal allegiance to these ideas and cultivate personal sensual experiences. In Flux treats us to the dynamic mixing that forms the background hum of this history, with an ultimate focus on the jewelers themselves.
Caption: Echoing a tension that is emblematic of the counterculture itself, the question of progressive politics also suffuses the book's examination of studio jewelry. Pages 110–11 of In Flux, image courtesy of Arnoldsche Art Publishers
