Tracing the Invisible

this paper, I will address Jacques Derrida’s deconstructive
reading of Merleau-Ponty, focusing on both philosophers’ treatment of
painting and drawing respectively. I will detail Merleau-Ponty’s concept
of the chiasmus as the intertwining relationship between the visible and in-
visible to deflect Derrida’s deconstructive analysis. For Derrida, the ‘trace’
of drawing is always haunted by an ambiguity, the aporia at the heart of
vision itself. I contend that such an ambiguity is already articulated by
Merleau-Ponty inherent in the visible, marked by the very opacity of the
body. I will argue it is an ambiguity never fully explored in Derrida’s decon-
structive analysis and while Merleau-Ponty insists on embodiment as the
disclosive force between the visible and invisible, Derrida remains on the
side of textual surface.