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Starting from the connection and tension between the expression and the acknowledgement of pain, we explore the interpersonal space between the two: How it is that pain’s expression and acknowledgement are always inflected by the space between the one in pain and the other, and how, in turn, pain’s expression and acknowledgement inflect that space. To inflect, grammatically, is to mark words-by gender, number, tense, mood, indicating a constitutive difference: our words are always inflected somehow or other. In this sense, the expression or suppression of pain, its being acknowledged or ignored, marks interpersonal space and is marked by it. Through some examples, we raise questions about what we learn about interpersonal space-when that space inflects and is inflected by pain. We are especially interested in the absence of expression and/or acknowledgement, in the ignoring of pain and the constraints on acknowledgement. Examples that will be discussed are: Ignoring pain, love-making, and intimate space: We want to think about minor, incidental (non-eroticised) pain-that typically carries with it a determination not to express the pain, in order to avoid the distraction of its being acknowledged-the disruption of the space of intimacy. Inflicting pain, professional caring, and professional space: Again, we focus on the (relatively) mundane and morally unproblematic-the pain inflicted, e.g., by a doctor’s cleaning a wound or by a physiotherapist initiating motion in an injured limb. The interpersonal space is one of professional engagement, and both pain’s expression and its acknowledgement are and should be contextualised by expectations of appropriate care. Witnessing pain, face-to-face: Either professionally or by chance, one may become a witness to the newly bereaved. A risk here is an acknowledgement that collapses the interpersonal space where the pain calls for presence at a distance, respecting the aura of emptiness.

Starting from the connection and tension between the expression and the acknowledgement of pain, we explore the interpersonal space between the two: How it is that pain's expression and acknowledgement are always inflected by the space between the one in pain and the other, and how, in turn, pain's expression and acknowledgement inflect that space. To inflect, grammatically, is to mark words—by gender, number, tense, mood—indicating a constitutive difference: our words are always inflected somehow or other. In this sense, the expression or suppression of pain, its being acknowledged or ignored, marks interpersonal space and is marked by it. Through some examples, we raise questions about what we learn about interpersonal space—when that space inflects and is inflected by pain. We are especially interested in the absence of expression and/or acknowledgement, in the ignoring of pain and the constraints on acknowledgement. Examples that will be discussed are: I) ignoring pain, love-making and intimate space, ii) inflicting pain, professional caring, and professional space, iii) witnessing pain face-to-face, and finally iv) witnessing pain at a distance.