This might seem like I am stating the obvious, but is it just me, or does Shelley Jackson seem--in addition to being super interested in bodies, as Frabby pointed out--to also be obsessed with puzzles? It seems like if we were to simplify the concepts behind Skin and Patchwork Girl, then it would seem like Jackson is creating a giant jigsaw puzzle.

When I first looked at the frontpage of Skin, I was misled into thinking that her final project was supposed to be presented as a giant collage/puzzle of the people's tattoos. Pimm also linked us to Jackson's tatooed people's community blog, in which someone mentions that "I am we," which seems like the individual does acknowledge that he or she is like a puzzle piece in a larger collective identity. Not to strip people of their humanity and say that they're/we're all puzzle pieces, but it does seem like Jackson's hinting at this concept with her work.