Tami sent me these pictures of a nice scarification piece done by JesseV at Thrive Studios in Cambridge.
I immediately noticed the scars behind her new scarification piece, and assumed you guys would too. Rather than let myself or the commenters make assumptions, I went on and asked her about them.
They are clearly self harm scars, self injury was something that I struggled with for the better part of the last 10 years. It has now been a year since I have hurt myself, and since I first learned about scarification (about 5 years ago) I had decided that someday I want something done to cover up the scars. Not that the scars were embarrasing, but it was just uncomfortable to me to have perfect strangers asking about them, and when I would reply that was just the way my skin was people seemed to be offended.
I have always liked the look of scars and decided that I wanted one that actually looked nice and wanted to show to people. It seemed to make more sense to me to cover up or disguise the existing scars with another scar instead of a tattoo.
To me, this is a perfect example of what body modification can be, an opportunity to reclaim one’s body. This piece turned something negative into something positive and beautiful and that, to me, is a big part of why I love body mods so much.
Rob and I both have made a few post about “beauty over harm” where someone took their self inflicted scars and either reworked them or covered them with a more artistic form of body modification. Yet, there is a whole other category of beauty over harm and that is those people who’s scars were not self inflicted. Often times we see women who have had nipple removal or full mastectomies due to breast cancer enhance there new altered appearance with tattooing. Sometimes it’s cosmetic tattooing to try and recreate what once was there, other times it’s artistic tattooing which takes the body part in a totally different direction than nature ever intended. Either way, it’s empowering to the wearer and something I whole heartedly support and encourage.
Below is a different example of that sort of mod, a tattoo over a colectomy scar.
What lies beyond the gates to “the biggest little city in the world”?, I am sure we can all guess, but I’ll put the full picture beyond a click through with the submitters description.
This is a tattoo of the Reno Arch done over the scar of my colectomy (colostomy surgery). It was done by Brandon Collins at Nightmare Tattoo in Reno, Nevada. The scar is about halfway up the R through halfway up the E. It is so awesome to have this instead of the scar to look at and I would like to share it with others interested in redoing scars, so I am submitting it to your blog.
The mainstream media just loves saline injection in the forehead, and because it’s so weird and rare — and most of all, photogenic — they just love printing it. It gives them permission to print human oddity freakshow photos without feeling exploitative. They don’t get to see it often, and thus every time they see it, they ignorantly and hilariously insist on calling it “the latest trend” — often “the latest Japanese trend” to be specific — and thanks to last night’s episode of National Geographic’s fun but clueless “Taboo” series, it’s all over the media, with sites like Jezebel running headlines about “Bagel Heads“. Here’s a screen cap from the show.
This story is so silly, and really, is ancient news. The short version of the history of “bagel heads” is that Montreal photographer Jerome Abramovitch (chapter9photography.com) created the concept for performance art and photographic purposes (and a little amusement), presumably after seeing fetish-scene saline inflation and artistically extrapolating the technique in new directions. He brought this to ModCon — many people first saw this on the cover of the ModCon book in fact (download a free copy here since it’s out of print) — and we later shot some fun footage of his doing it again for the still hibernating BME movie. Another good friend, journalist and charming body mod superenthusiast Ryoichi Keroppy Maeda, was here for all of that from Japan and brought the idea back home with him, where he walked many other people through it. For whatever reason — and Ryoichi deserves the credit for this I’m sure — it was much more popular in Japan, seeming to find a niche inside both the fetish and suspension worlds. Much of the footage floating around the net of forehead saline is from Ryoichi’s events in Japan, and you can actually see Ryoichi being interviewed about it in the clip above.
These pictures are from the ModBlog cover and Jerome’s video shoots with me.
In the photos on the right we’ve inflated his cheeks as well as just his forehead by the way. In the fetish community breast inflations (of both men and women), are also quite popular — as are the penis and scrotum, the clitoris, the anus, and the lips (both genital and facial). BME has massive galleries on this subject — literally hundreds of thousands of images, stories, and interviews, and my new book also covers it extensively. If you don’t have a BME membership yet, you can find some free saline content with the appropriate ModBlog search (although you’ll get some false positives talking about saline in other contexts), and this NSFW interview (a preview from the new book I just mentioned) also covers fetish-saline in depth: “Impgrin Inflated“
I probably should have started with this instead of mentioning it as a footnote, but for those that are unaware of what you’re seeing in these stories, it’s basically voluntarily induced pitting edema. Saline is dripped via a needle into the forehead (virtually any body part can be inflated), engorging the tissue dramatically until the body gradually reabsorbs it over about 24 hours. Like the medical condition pitting edema, while the tissue is full (of interstitial fluid in the case of an edema, saline in the case of an inflation), it is maleable and can be “sculpted” by pressing into it. Unlike a scrotum inflation, which is more of a “water balloon” when full, normal skin is more like a “sponge” than a “balloon”. Since the saline is held in place by the tissue and can’t flow freely, when you force it into a new shape, it holds that shape for a time. Assuming that proper sterile precautions are followed this is not particularly dangerous.
As to how it feels, well, few people would say it feels good. Most would say it’s mildly unpleasant, but not unpleasant in the way that suspension hurts and can lead to an altered state. More like unpleasant as in a headache. To be honest, it’s more of an “art trick” than a ritual experience. The sort of thing you do for great photos or curiosity, not the sort of thing that teaches you about yourself or gives you a high or all the wonderful things that people get out of suspension. Of course I’m generalizing and some people will get all of that, but overall this is just a cool looking trick that people have been doing for about fifteen years. It’s not new, and it’s certainly not a trend.
But all of this truth that I’ve just typed out is completely irrelevant to the media. Nothing I’ve said here is hard to find out with a minimum of research. But if I’ve learned anything in almost twenty years of first-hand dealings with the media, it’s that the truth is the very last thing they care about. The truth isn’t a virus. The truth is an irrelevancy. All that matters to anyone — be it trash media or be it fallen media aristocracy like National Geographic — is a dumbed down moment of meaningless amusement to sell advertising for garbage we’d be better off without.
Wow. Long time no see. My apologies about the lack of news posts so far this year, but as of today they’re back and are sticking around.
Well, since it’s been so long there may be a couple of stories that are a few weeks old, so I’ll be covering them as well as catching up on this past week in modification news the world over.
To get things started I’d like you to meet Lisa Khoury. Lisa is an assistant news editor for the University of Buffalo’s newspaper, The Spectrum.
Earlier this month Lisa caused a bit of a fuss with her article entitled “Why put a bumper sticker on a Ferrari?” Here’s a couple of choice samples from her piece.
I get it. It’s the 21st century. You’re cool, you’re rebellious, you’re cutting edge, you have a point to prove, and you’re a woman. Awesome. Ladies, I know you’re at least at the legal age of making your own decisions, but before you decide to get a tattoo, allow me to let you in on a little secret. A secret you may have not fully realized yet thus far in your life. What you must understand is, as women, we are – naturally – beautiful creatures. Seriously, though. Your body literally has the ability to turn heads. Guys drool over us. We hold some serious power in our hands, because – as corny as this sounds – we hold the world’s beauty.
But something girls seem to forget nowadays, or maybe have not been taught, is that women hold the world’s class and elegance in their hands, as well. So what’s more attractive than a girl with a nice body? I’ll tell you what: a girl with class. Looks may not last, but class does. And so do tattoos. An elegant woman does not vandalize the temple she has been blessed with as her body. She appreciates it. She flaunts it. She’s not happy with it? She goes to the gym. She dresses it up in lavish, fun, trendy clothes, enjoying trips to the mall with her girlfriends. She accentuates her legs with high heels. She gets her nails done. She enjoys the finer things in life, all with the body she was blessed with. But marking it up with ink? That’s just not necessary.
But at the end of the day, are you really a happier person? Has this tattoo, for instance, caused you to learn something new about yourself? Has it challenged you? Has it led you to self-growth? Nothing comes out of getting a tattoo. You get a tattoo, and that’s it. You do something productive, though, and you see results. That’s a genuine, satisfying change in life. Not ink. Invest your time, money, and effort into a gym membership, or yoga classes, or new clothes, or experimenting with different hairstyles if you’re craving something new with your body, not a tattoo. I promise, it will be a much more rewarding experience, and you won’t find yourself in a rut when your future grandkids ask you what’s up with the angel wings on your upper back as you’re in the middle of giving them a life lesson on the importance of values and morals.
God knows the last thing this world needs is another generation of kids questioning their basic values and morals.
Oh Lisa. Poor innocent Lisa. It seems that Lisa didn’t realize that not only do modified people read the paper, but they’re also capable of sharing it with their friends online. Needless to say the article went viral shortly after it was published. Now, to be fair this is an opinion piece, however instead of just giving her opinions based off any kinds of facts, she played the moral highroad and claimed that women who get tattoos are, essentially, immoral trash. The feedback she received online was staggering and forced her to write this “apology“.
I’m a 19-year-old college sophomore, I help run my family’s restaurant, I’m a writer and editor at my school’s newspaper, and a woman from Australia says I’m “sexist.” A professor from the University of Illinois wonders about my mental stability. A man double my age is calling me “ugly.” In the past 48 hours, authors, war veterans, mothers of small children have told me I’m ignorant, worthless, brainwashed, classless, disgusting, hypocritical, and judgmental. A man from New Zealand called me bigoted, self-righteous, conservative rubbish.
Alright, so the reaction was pretty harsh, however stating your her means she’s implying that because she’s young she shouldn’t be criticized for her opinion. But I digress, let’s see how she handled the rest of the apology. (Emphasis mine)
I wrote an opinion piece about tattoos for Monday’s Spectrum. As a female, I took the woman’s stance and said I’m beautiful without a tattoo.
I never meant to be vindictive toward an entire subculture. That’s why its response was so unexpected to me. Its words were different; it wanted to eviscerate me. I am sorry to anyone who took my words as a personal attack. I am sorry to anyone who felt disrespected in any way. This column was meant to express my opinion and explain how I live, not to tell you that my way of life is in any way superior to yours. I was misinterpreted. These strangers have slowly and in the most painful way possible ripped me to shreds within the past 48 hours. Their hate will be tattooed in me for a long time, but only as a learning lesson.
Many points, especially about feminism, were taken out of context and turned into something demeaning. My point about my body having “the ability to turn heads” stemmed from the fact that I wasn’t the healthiest teenager, so when I learned more about health and fitness after high school, I found meaning in that. Not because I was becoming skinnier (for the record, I in no way find myself slim), but I found that I was setting goals for myself, and, for once, achieving them. I felt happier because I felt healthier. Each day I felt like I would live a longer life, and my future kids wouldn’t have to worry about their mom dying from smoking cigarettes or not exercising regularly, the way I worry about my parents. The whole clothes thing? Well, when I lost weight, yeah, I was actually interested in dressing myself for once. Do I wear tight fitted clothes every day to school for the aesthetic, sexual pleasure of the men around me? Eww. I wore the same jeans for about 17 years and recently discovered there are other styles out there for me to try out, I guess what I was getting at was perceived as something much more shallow to my readers.
But no one was conversing about my points. Instead, they were taking certain lines out of context, and it was no longer a conversation, but an appalling backlash.
Dear Lisa. This half-hearted apology only tells us one thing. It tells us that you really don’t feel bad about what you said, and that the people who were understandably offended should apologize to you for being so mean. You say you were misinterpreted, and that you never meant to be vindictive, yet you state in your apology that you “took the woman’s stance”. So your opinion should be taken as you speaking up for all women? Or does it mean that all men have the opposite stance and believe women are only beautiful with a tattoo? You then go on the explain why you feel you’re beautiful without a tattoo, without actually giving any reasons that having a tattoo would make you feel otherwise. But if we go back to the original article, at no time do you mention that your opinions are just about yourself. In fact, you state multiple times that elegant women, women with class, etc. all have no need of a tattoo to make themselves feel beautiful. No mention of your own experiences at all. I hate to break it to you but you ARE being vindictive to a subculture, and there was no misinterpretation of your words.
I want to bring something up that ModBlog readers will know, and Lisa probably doesn’t. Tattoos aren’t always about aesthetic value or beauty. There are many different reasons for women and men to get tattooed. Lisa’s belief that tattoos are only for beauty reveal her willful ignorance, as well as her inability to see why she offended as many people as she did. To her a classy woman is one who works out, gets her hair and nails done, wears outfits that may be slightly uncomfortable, and put on make-up. I hate to be the bearer of bad news to Lisa, but all of those “classy” things are actually forms of body modification. Dying your hair, altering your appearance, changing your body through working out, wearing high heels, etc. all change how you look from your “normal” appearance. They’re the ones hiding who they are by putting their bodies through sometimes torturous rituals just to make themselves more appealing to others. At the end of the day, with all your make-up gone, heels off, and clothing on the floor, you’re only as beautiful as you see yourself. That beauty comes from confidence, and the feeling that when you look in the mirror you’re seeing the person who you want to see. Just because you see yourself without any tattoos doesn’t mean you’re better than those who do. We modify our bodies not because it’s cool or trendy, we modify ourselves to show the world, and that person in the mirror, that we can be exactly the way we want to be. The bottom line is that we respect ourselves and others not by how they look, but by how they act, and people like Lisa Khoury should do the same.
Alright, so with that mess behind us, we’ve got lots more news to catch up on. So keep on reading.
To lighten the mood a little, here’s a commercial that IAM:Bubble_Toes sent me. They also added a translation for us non-francophone types.
Mom sees the tattoo at the bottom of her daughter’s back, and says : “What is this tattoo?! it’s bullsh*t!” Mom raises her top, shows off her tattoo to her daughter and says “Now HERE’s a work of artist”.
Ad motto : “times change. So does twingo”
Now that’s an ad I can approve.
Moving on to the “stupid crime” section of the news we’ve got a couple of people who really don’t understand the impact of tattooing another person is. First up is Chuntera Napier who thought it would be a good idea to let her son get a tattoo.
Chuntera Napier said her son, Gaquan Napier, wanted to honor his older brother who died after being hit by a car, and she had no idea it was illegal for him to get a tattoo.“ It made me feel good to know that he wanted his brother on him,” Napier said.
Napier said. “It’s not like he was asking me, ‘Can I get Sponge Bob? Like people getting all kinds of things on them. He asked me something that’s in remembrance of his brother. How can I say no?” When asked why he wanted to get the tattoo, Gaquan said, “Because it represents my brother.” Napier took her son to a tattoo artist in Smyrna where he got a tattoo featuring his brother’s old jersey number. Someone at Gaquan’s school noticed the tattoo and contacted authorities.
I see where the problem is, she didn’t know how to say “no”. So moms out there, when your 10 year old child comes to you and asks for a tattoo, it’s OK to say “no”. This concludes today’s public service announcement.
Now, allowing your son to get a tattoo is pretty bad and can easily lead to your arrest. An even easier way to get arrested? Become a drug dealer that will only sell to people that have your name tattooed on them.
Mario Sergio Freudenthal from Itapetinga, Brazil, has been arrested after police found his name inked on a number of clients’ bodies, which is thought to include more than 70 people. As a result of the officials finding his surname on robbery suspects and deceased people, police tracked him down. The task was made easier because he was the only man in Itapetinga with that surname.
He probably could have gotten away with it if he’d only have changed his name to “Smith”.
Now, while it isn’t a crime to modify your body (at least in most places), it’s not a good idea to allow someone claiming to be a doctor to inject tire sealant into your ass.
The number of victims of a fake Miami doctor who allegedly pumped dangerous chemicals into their bodies and sealed their wounds with Super Glue has jumped to as many as 30, reports say. Oneal Ron Morris, 31, who is transgendered and known as “The Duchess,” preyed largely on other transgendered women who hoped to enhance their curves and gain more feminine features, authorities said. But after Morris allegedly injected them with harmful chemicals, including Fix-a-Flat tire sealant, many ended up in the emergency room.
Police suspect the duo may be part of a network of scam doctors who have been offering black market surgical enhancements at home “pumping parties” for years. Morris’ case first came to national attention when an unidentified patient was rushed to the hospital after a mixture of tire sealant, cement, glue and mineral oil was injected into her buttocks, authorities said. Another Florida transgendered woman, Rajee Narinesingh, was traumatized after The Duchess’s alleged injections to her face left her disfigured. Nearly a year after receiving the shots, Narinesingh’s face began to swell and develop large lumps that burst. A doctor had to fix the botched job by literally pulling cement out of her face, reports said.
Cement. She injected cement into their bodies. Being a transgendered individual is tough enough, but to have someone target the transgendered community with this type of scam is unforgivable.
The country’s future movie stars hoping to enter the renowned Beijing Film Academy will be disqualified if they have had a facelift or tattoo, Beijing News reports. “We will conduct a physical exam to eliminate candidates with tattoos or facelifts,” said Vice-President Wang Jinsong. Candidates wearing heavy make-up will also be required to wash it off for the interview. Some 6,185 candidates have applied for the 85 places at the performing school of the college from, the report said.
In legal news Bettendorf County in Iowa is looking to place a ban on tattoos and piercings in public places.
The Bettendorf Park Board is considering a policy that would address the tattoos, piercings and attire that a guest is allowed to display at their city facilities. Last summer at Splash Landing water park, a patron complained about another patron’s tattoo – stating it was inappropriate. The staff member asked the guest to cover their tattoo but the guest decided to leave instead. Bettendorf Parks and Recreation Director, Steve Grimes says he understands every situation may not end like this. The new policy would help the staff members know how to handle the situation in the future. Grimes says the policy would address issues of “decency” of tattoos that are allowed to be displayed.
With the 9th circuit court ruling last year, I can’t see this policy ever seeing the light of day. It’s probably just some posturing to appease local voters in an election year.
In much sillier news a British man has found a way to always make sure he has his passport on him. By putting his passport on him.
Richard, 27, who had the tat of his old passport done while backpacking in Australia in March 2006, said: “I wanted something to remember my holiday by, but also wanted something patriotic. “My girlfriend at the time thought I was a bit daft, but eventually she found it hilarious. That seems to be the general reaction.” Richard, a personal trainer from Wandsworth, South West London, ran out of cash on his Oz trip. So he whipped his top off in a bank branch and used the tattoo as ID. He said: “The cashier gave me a strange look. She typed in my name and details after reading my tattoo and allowed me $50.” But in London, Richard — who was born in Sydney and has dual British—Oz nationality — keeps his tattoo covered up. He said: “I don’t walk around with my top off.”
Passport officials said he couldn’t use his tattoo to go abroad or enter the UK.
We’re just about done, but before I go I wanted to leave you with some reading for the weekend. This week I’ve got three articles that are worth sitting down to peruse.
The Queen’s Chronicle has an interview with Dr. Norman Goldstein about his medical studies into tattoos and tattoo inks.
And finally, Energy Publisher has a great write-up on a Vatican conference that was entitled “Into the Skin: Identity, Symbols, and History of Permanent Body Marks”. Essentially religious scholars got together at the Vatican to discuss the church’s views on tattooing.
So that’s it for this week. We’ll be back again next week with more news from around the world. Remember, if you see an article that you think should be included in the round-up, just send me an e-mail with the link.
By now the weekend will have started for many of us on the east coast, while the west is not far behind. Granted in Australia it’s already the future so they’ve already got a head start. This week’s news is fairly concise, with a couple of updates on past stories, as well as a look into the facial tattoos of Burma’s Chin province.
First up is more on TLC’s “Tattoo School”. Last night the program aired, and news agencies all over have started to notice the overwhelming negative feedback coming from the tattoo community. What surprised me the most is that every story I read is falling on the side of the tattoo artists, and joining in the condemnation of this show. This first article from the Jamestown, NY Post-Journal where they talk to artists in the area around the school, as well as former students of a tattoo school.
Ryan Gillikin has been in the tattoo industry for more than 20 years. Tattooing is a tradition, he says, and the only proper way to learn the skill – and to learn to administer the body art safely – is to be under the guiding hand of a master tattooist in an apprenticeship. ”My apprenticeship was a year,” said Gillikin, owner of Almighty Studios Tattoo and Body Piercing in Jamestown. ”And when I apprentice (others), it’s a two-year process.” Gillikin said there are several such high-profile tattoo schools around the nation, and that each has the same motive – to scam people out of money and to make them believe they are talented tattoo artists when they are not.
A haircut from an untalented beautician will grow back, however. A tattoo from an untalented artist could land someone in the hospital with an infection or a disease, Gillikin said. And he fears that people who open shops based on what they learn in tattoo schools are coming out without knowing how to stop that from happening. ”You can’t even learn the basics of sterile practices in two weeks,” Gillikin said. ”So when people take $5,000 from somebody and tell them they’re going to be professionals in two weeks, they’re just giving people a false idea that they know what they’re actually doing.”
Now over to The Examiner which takes a look at the what the community is doing to protest this show.
It’s completely impossible to be a professional tattooer in 14 days, at least not one who has been properly trained to produce quality work using safe sterile practices. Can an aspiring doctor become prepared for surgery in 2 weeks? Of course not. Professional tattooers pride themselves in being knowledgeable about the prevention of disease transmission and giving their clients a clean tattoo in a clean environment. Photos on the Tattoo Learning Center’s website show students tattooing without using standard protocols such as wrapping their machines and clip cord with plastic wrap. This is an easy way for cross contamination of blood and body fluids to occur. A second photo shows a student tattooing someone on a wooden stool, material that can not be cleaned or disinfected properly. Definitely a health code violation.
Tattoo artists and enthusiasts are uniting online through Facebook pages, Artists and collectors against TLC’s “Tattoo School” and Boycott TLC’s Tattoo School Show. Both pages have a combined total of over 45,000 fans and the number is growing by the minute. The anger being shown regarding the upcoming show has nothing to with fear of new competition but everything to do with fear of one’s livelihood being disrupted. If the tattoo school fails to educate their students about safe tattooing; diseases and infections can be spread.
Finally, a group of protesters formed outside the San Diego branch of the “school”, where they learned some new information about how they run their business.
Local tattoo artists are protesting a new school in Pacific Beach that plans to teach people the art of tattooing in two weeks. The group stood outside the Steady Flow Tattoo shop, also known as the Tattoo Learning Center, at Grand Avenue on Monday, protesting what they believe is an insult to their profession. “These people are teaching people how to tattoo for a lump sum of $5000, and within two weeks, they are supposedly professional tattoo artists,” said Randy Janson, a tattoo artist. “It’s not really possible. It is more of a scam.”
One of the school’s students and two women interested in getting a tattoo at the shop watched the group with a bit of concern. The student said he flew to San Diego from out of the country and was told when he arrived that his two-week class was canceled. The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, said the school told him to enjoy his free accommodations and that his tuition would be refunded. He said the shop owner told him to drive by the storefront to check it out and stumbled on the crowd growing outside the shop.
The student said he is already a tattoo artist in his home country, but he had hoped to come to the United States to become a licensed tattoo artist. In San Diego, you only need to fill out an application and pay the appropriate fee to be able to practice tattooing within the county limits, according to the County of San Diego’s Department of Environmental Health’s website.
Two young women interested in getting tattooed were also standing outside the shop amidst the protesters. They said they spoke to someone at the shop earlier in the week and were told they don’t take appointments; rather, they should simply stop by. When the girls arrived, they found the shop closed. After a second phone call to the shop, they learned Steady Flow would be closed for two weeks.
So not only does the school cancel classes at the last minute, it also doesn’t take appointments, which isn’t surprising as it seems to close on a whim when there aren’t students there to ruin someone’s skin. Following the links above will get you information on how to contact TLC and let them know how dangerous this show is, as well as links to online petitions. Some groups are encouraging people not to buy any products advertised on the show, as well as encouraging tattoo studios to contact suppliers and inform them that as long as their products are used on the show, they won’t be getting orders. What this comes down to is money. If TLC isn’t making any money off the show it will be cancelled. Hopefully that happens sooner rather than later.
More news to come, so keep on reading.
This next story is from my hometown of Toronto, ON. Two body piercing shops have been found not using proper infection controls, and Toronto Public Health is encouraging anyone who was pierced there to contact them.
The shops are NY NY Body Piercing, located at 1700 Wilson Ave., Unit 151, and New York New York (Accessories & Body Piercing), located at 423 Queen St. West. Anyone who received a piercing from the stores between Nov. 6, 2010 and March 1, 2011 should visit a doctor and ask to be tested for hepatitis B and C and for HIV, the public health authority said.
New York, New York has four shops in Toronto. Only the two listed above were part of the Toronto Public Health investigation. Piercing and tattoo equipment should be sterile and sterilizers should be tested every two weeks to ensure they are working properly, the public health authority said. Toronto Public Health recommended piercing and tattoo clients always check to ensure employees wash their hands, change gloves, use an antiseptic on the skin, and open sterilized packages of equipment for every client.
In somewhat disturbing news, I was informed that the queen street location is still open for business. Previously when a shop has been flagged by Public Health, they were forced to remain closed for the duration of the investigation. As such I’d encourage anyone in the city to avoid these studios until they’re cleared by the health board.
While on the subject of possible infections, scares like this have caused a German football club to ban players from getting tattooed.
Werder’s decision to scratch their players from getting anymore tattoos is a result of the infection that forced Hamburg SV’s Eljero Elia into a lengthy and painful injury break in March 2010. “It is a risk that we need to rule out,” the German club’s sports director Klaus Allofs told the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper. Several Werder players are fans of tattoos with Austrian Marko Arnautovic sporting several.
Moving away from tattoos for a moment, the Tel Aviv suscon was featured on China Daily. Not necessarily the first place I’d look for suspension news from Israel, but with local suspensions starting to take place in China we may be hearing more news from them in the coming months.
A man is suspended on hooks pierced through his skin at a suspension convention in Tel Aviv July 9, 2011. Some 30 people attended the convention, which offered the chance to be suspended or just watch. Captain Howdy, who organised the event, said the origin of the practice comes from Native American cultures that used to perform body suspensions as a rite of passage. He said the practice has been revived by people prepared to test the limits of mind over matter.
Heading back into tattoo news, according to AOL’s finance section, tattoos seem to be a recession proof industry.
New’s experience is not unusual. According to Time magazine, roughly 16% of people with tattoos eventually elect to have them removed. And that number is growing. Which isn’t necessarily surprising. Sometimes, the love of our life, whose name we permanently inked across our bicep, turns out to be a fling. Or that image of the Tasmanian Devil that looked so cool after a night of drinking is a little less appealing in the sober light of day.
Additionally, in today’s challenging economy, when unemployment continues to hover near 9%, people are also choosing to remove tattoos to appeal to potential employers. At least, that’s half of the story. At the same time, others see the recession as an opportune moment to get inked, arguing that it’s not only a relatively cheap splurge, but that the unemployed no longer have to conform to an employer’s standards.
In either case, the end result is the same: The tattoo industry continues to thrive, seemingly recession-proof. To better understand this strange dynamic, I visited Tattoo Lou’s, a family-owned chain of Long Island tattoo parlors that also offers laser tattoo removal.
Well, it seems that one studio is doing well, can the same be said for the ones in your area? Let us know in the comments below.
Now if you remember back to last year, there was a story about an Australian man who paid an acquaintance to tattoo him shortly after having a fight with him. What was supposed to be a yin-yang turned out to be something quite different.
AN IPSWICH man is enduring a series of painful sessions to cover up a lewd image tattooed on his back by a backyard operator. Matthew Francis Brady, 22, has admitted tattooing a 40cm-long image of a penis and a crude slogan on his former mate’s back. The victim had wanted a Yin and Yang design with some dragons but was horrified with the end result.
Upon hearing about the case, Ipswich business Ultimate Image Tattoo offered to do the cover-up work for free. The 26-year-old victim this week had his third appointment in a long series of visits to hide the offensive tattoo. Brady pleading guilty in Ipswich Magistrates Court last month to assault occasioning bodily harm while armed and assault occasioning bodily harm. He will be sentenced later this year.
After several more sessions the man will be able to proudly display a much more professional tattoo of a sword with a dragon wrapped around it. The sessions last for up to an hour – or however long the man can stand the pain. Tattoo artist Matty Tredgold said the final work would include a range of colours from blue, green, yellow and red and was inspired by one of the client’s favourite T-shirts.
I think my favorite part of the original story is the man who did the tattoo told him to keep it covered and not show anyone for 2 months. Thankfully he got someone to take a look at it right away.
Today’s final story comes to us from The National Post, about the women of Burma’s Chin province. While the custom of full facial tattoos on women is pretty much extinct, there are still some women who were born when the practice was being followed. It’s a great read that takes a look into a cultural ritual that may become completely extinct in our lifetime.
To many of us here in the West, it would be pretty unheard of for a woman to tattoo her entire face. But these women have been doing it for hundreds of years. Why?
When I asked, I got varying responses. But the consensus seemed to be that a long time ago they were known for their beauty, and kings in Burma found out about these Chin women and teenagers. The kings would then come and basically pick out the women he wanted and take them away. In response to that, the village elders who were women started tattooing the girls as a measure against the king coming to take them away. It was almost to steal their beauty.
How did the practice become more commonplace?
Although it was once something to make them ugly, over time these women have become to view themselves as beautiful. It came to be a symbol of strength, of beauty, of toughness. Some of the women even said to me “If I didn’t have this tattoo, men wouldn’t want to marry me.” It’s definitely a rite of passage in these villages. And it’s really really painful.
That’s all the news we’ve got this week. Have a great weekend, and as always, if you find a story you think should be included in the news round-up, just click here to send me the link, or simply send me an e-mail.
October is just about over, but there’s still time for one last edition of the ModBlog News of the Week for the month. Before we get started, I just wanted to thank everyone who sent in stories this week, Taylor, Christian, Lauranomaly, Botexty, and Nexizydrate to name a few. Submitting an article is easy, all you have to do is click here and fill out the boxes.
The first story today was submitted about 10 times, so there way no way it wouldn’t kick off the news of the week.
I’m sure most tattooed people, as well as artists, have joked around about getting tattooed with a penis instead of the intended design. It’s that running gag that nobody ever acts on. Until now.
Police allege the man, who was not a professional tattooist, talked his friend into having the tattoo while the friend was visiting him at home. After the 25-year-old victim got home, he was horrified to discover the tattoo was far from what he expected. Instead of a Yin and Yang symbol with some dragons, the tattoo featured a 40cm-long image of a penis and a slogan implying he was gay. He contacted police and they charged the 21-year-old Bundamba man with assault occasioning bodily harm.
I looked everywhere for an image of the tattoo, but it seems that most mainstream news sources have some policy against posting pictures of dicks. How lame is that? But wait, the story gets better.
Police allege the tattooing followed a disagreement between the pair that culminated with the Bundamba man taking offence at something the victim said. Ipswich CIB Detective Constable Paul Malcolm said the victim was extremely upset. “Apparently he went round to the other bloke’s house and somehow in the course of the conversation the subject of tattoos came up,” Const Malcolm said. ”The victim wasn’t interested at first but he was talked into it and he said he wanted a Yin and Yang symbol with some dragons. He rolled him on to his stomach and the bloke started doing the tattoo and there was another bloke standing there watching saying, ‘Mate, it’s looking really good’. He was told not to go out into the sun and not to show anyone for a few weeks. When he got home he showed it to the person he lives with and she said: ‘I don’t think it’s the tattoo you were after’.”
To add insult to injury, he was allegedly punched and thrown out of the Bundamba man’s house after he was tattooed.
So, to get this straight, after getting into a fight with someone, this man was then talked into getting tattooed by the same guy. I’m willing to put money that alcohol was somehow involved in this situation.
Next up, and in a completely unrelated story, PerthNow.com.au has an excellent photo gallery of the recent Phuket Vegetarian Festival. It’s absolutely worth checking out.
A devotee of the Chinese shrine of Sapam, pierces his cheeks with swords during the Phuket Vegetarian Festival on October 10, 2010 in Phuket, Thailand. (Getty Images)
We’re just getting started, so kick back and relax, and keep on reading.
Heading back to Australia, it seems that the Australian Red Cross is blaming tattoos for the current blood shortage they’re undergoing.
The Australian Red Cross turned away more than 2100 people in NSW when they went to give blood because of a little-known rule that excludes donors who have recently had a tattoo. The news comes as NSW battles with a low supply of blood products, especially types O and A, with the State’s stockpile only two-thirds full. Australian Red Cross Blood Service spokeswoman Lisa Borges said the knock-backs were because of the service’s strict rules around preventing potentially contaminated blood entering the stockpile. She said that with more people getting themselves tattooed, especially younger people, the Red Cross was being forced to turn away blood products it could desperately use, as each of those 2100 deferred donations could save three lives.
So while it is understandable that the Red Cross needs to have a grace period between getting tattooed and donating blood, to imply that the only reason there is a shortage is because young people are getting tattooed is a bit on the unreasonable side. I’m sure there are more people not tattooed than are that aren’t lining up to donate. Then again I could make some obligatory joke about Aussies and prison tattoos, but that would also be in poor taste.
It seems this week was a banner week for artists who like to sexually assault their customers. First in the UK, an artist has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting two girls (15 and 16) after he finished tattooing them.
Tattooist Andrew Simpson has been told to expect a prison sentence for two assaults on girls.
Simpson, of Kissingate, Burton Pidsea, targeted a 16-year-old girl on November 6 last year when he decorated her leg with a tattoo. At the end of the session he sexually assaulted her. On January 23, he sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl following a 45-minute session in which he inked a tattoo on her back.
Charles Lyndon Harper Jr. 41, was placing mineral oil and plastic wrap on one woman’s newly inked, upper leg tattoo when he slipped his hand inside her bikini and touched her without permission, a Pasco County Sheriff’s Office report said. The woman left the business at 11632 U.S. 19 and called authorities. Harper admitted touching the woman but said he thought he had permission because she was “flirty,” the sheriff’s report said.
He went on to admit he does this often. So for the time being, it may be best to avoid getting tattooed by him, unless you’re into that sort of thing.
In much more positive news, the San Francisco Chronicle has an interesting story about corset piercings, and surprisingly isn’t biased against them.
Photo: Mark Krauss. Monique Millier, 22, is a two-time corset piercer.
Familiar to body manipulation enthusiasts, corset piercing is now becoming more mainstream as young women, inspired by photos circulating on Facebook and other social media sites, are starting to wear them to prom, as Halloween or Burning Man costumes, or for weddings and gay pride parades.
This week also brings two looks into the history of tattoos around the world.
First, at the Zwaanendael Museum in Lewes, DE people can stop by this weekend to check out an exhibit entitled “Tall Tales and Tattoos“.
The program will feature Andrew “Spider” Miller who will spin tall tales and share his collection of “gaffs” — bizarre make-believe creatures that have been hand-crafted by skilled artisans. They are similar in style to the 19th century oddities known as “Fiji Mermen” which often featured animal heads crafted onto the bodies of fish. Such creations were conceived as pranks or side show curiosities at a time when sea captains were returning from the newly opened ports of East Asia with tall tales of exotic, never-before-seen creatures. An example is the Zwaanendael Merman, which can be seen at the museum in conjunction with Miller’s presentation.
The program will also feature tattoo artist Peggi Hurley of Ancient Art Tattoo studio in Lewes who will discuss the art and history of tattoos. Hurley, a native of Rehoboth Beach, was named the 1986 National Tattoo Association’s “Best Tattooed Woman.” She studied the art of tattooing with Don Nolan, Gill Montie and Bill Hannong and has operated a tattoo studio in Delaware since 1994.
If you have time in November and you live in or near London, you should head on over to the Russian Criminal Tattoo Archive, as they’re holding their first gallery showing of the works of Danzig Baldaev.
Danzig Baldaev grew up in a Russian children’s home, his father having been denounced as an enemy of the people. He was later ordered to take a job as a warden in Kresty, an infamous Leningrad prison, where he worked from 1948 to 1981. It was a job that allowed Baldaev to continue his father’s work as an ethnographer – by documenting the tattoos of criminals. Heavy with symbolism and hidden meanings, the tattoos depicted a complex world of hierarchies, disgraces and achievements. Mostly anti-Soviet and frequently obscene, they are a portal into a violent world that ran alongside the worst excesses of the Communist era.
The KGB found out about Baldaev’s tattoo project but, incredibly, they sanctioned it. “They realised the value of being able to establish the facts about a convict or criminal: his date and place of birth, the crimes he had committed, the camps where he had served time, and even his psychological profile,” Baldaev wrote, shortly before his death in 2005.
The Guardian has an excellent story detailing Danzig’s work, and how they became public.
Now, what would this week be if we didn’t have people screwing up royally with their modifications?
Everyone by now has heard of cosmetic tattooing. The practice has been going on for years now in beauty salons. But what happens if your brown eyebrow tattoos suddenly turn purple?
Question: I had my eyebrows tattooed in 2003. A few years later, they turned purple. I have ash-blond hair and wanted a medium-brown eyebrow color. I am looking for eyebrow makeup to cover the purplish color, which is especially noticeable when I go outside into bright sunlight. It’s embarrassing. Even my 5-year-old granddaughter said she likes my eyebrows because they are purple!
Of course it’s not just cosmetic tattoos that can go wrong. Take Manchester City fan Simon Hart. He’s a huge fan of his team, and will do anything to support them. The day he found out Wayne Rooney was to be traded to Man City, he did what any true fan would do: go out and get “Rooney City Legend” tattooed on his back. Nothing could possibly go wrong with this right?
Hart’s absurd body art depicts Rooney celebrating in a Man City uniform with the words ‘Rooney, City Legend’ emblazoned underneath.
Unfortunately, his crazy homage turned stupid real quick after Rooney signed a five-year contract extension with United last Friday.
But hey, it only covers his entire upper back. I’m sure nobody will notice. Heck, him and the penis guy can go out for beers.
Now when it comes to DIY piercings, knowledge is key. Knowing how to pierce yourself safely is the single most important thing. Of course, there will always be people who don’t care if they’re safe or not, or even if they’re doing it right. Unfortunately it’s people like them that end up in the news after being rushed into emergency surgery.
A month ago, without consulting his parents or a professional, he made the hole in his tongue and attached a metal ring, causing almost immediate pain. As he thought it would pass in a few days, he left the ring in. A few days later, an infection made it difficult for him to speak or eat, so he removed the ring; but when the pain receded a bit, he put it back in place. But this time, the tongue was so swollen and inflamed that the ring disappeared deep inside the tongue.
When he finally told his mother, she rushed him to the hospital, where doctors were able to observe the ring only in a CT scan. As his tongue was so large, it threatened to choke him, and he was sent to intensive care in serious condition. Dr. Miki Pecker said that when he was admitted, it was clear his life was in danger. Not only was the ring not sterile, but it was inserted into a part of the tongue not suited to piercing. It will take a while until the pain fades, he added.
And that’s it for the real news, now onto the celebrity round-up!
Hillary Duff was shocked to discover that a fan whose arm she had signed went out and got the signature tattooed on himself. The rest of the world was shocked to discover that Hillary Duff has a fan.
David Beckham is starting to rub off on his kids, and of course the media blew it completely out of proportion. According to The Sun, that bastion of journalistic integrity, Beckham allowed his 11-year-old son to get tattooed. Of course rational heads seemed to have prevailed as someone pointed out that it was probably just drawn on.
Finally, everyone’s favorite singer, Miley Cyrus, has shocked the world by ditching her “clean image” and getting a “sleeve tattoo”. Of course, by sleeve tattoo they really meant some small script on her forearm that matches the one her mother has. I’m also pretty sure she ditched her “clean image” a few years back when she was pole dancing on some kids awards show. Then again, to some that’s just healthy behavior for a kid, while getting tattooed is a sign of moral decay.
That’s it for this week’s news. Everyone have a safe and fun Halloween, and we’ll see you back here Monday morning when we kick off Movember (aka No Shave November).
If you managed to miss the world tour, the first round of finalists or the final round of finalists, then consider yourself lucky that you don’t have to read the thousands of words that have been written about the project. In short, I decided to have a contest to select 4-5 people to tour the world researching, writing, photographing and making videos of body modification around the world. I got it narrowed down to the last 10 folks and I needed help to decide who would take the final positions. I asked people to make videos our of “a day in their life”. The assignment was to make a video, write a blog post and take some photographs to recreate what we’ll be doing on the trip.
As you know, I posted about the final 10 the other day when I had decided it was too hard to make my choice without giving the potential team members one final assignment. Ferg and I had been chatting about how to get around Australia when he suggested the train ride out to Perth, which I would love to do. His worry was that it would take two days of our valuable time and I told him 2 days over the course of 3 months wouldn’t be a big deal for an amazing train ride. Have I mentioned I love trains? It suddenly dawned on him that the trip was actually 3 months and not 6 weeks like he’d thought. He emailed me a few days later to withdraw from the competition. I’m sad to see him go but I know that he has an amazing tour of his own (not to mention what he’s been doing for years!) so I know he won’t be missing out. People have asked that I consider adding someone else in to take his place but I don’t want to do that because it only makes my own decisions that much harder.
Here are the assignments from the final 9. In some cases the finalists included their photos in the video and in others they’re separate. Both are okay but they’re all in this post grouped by the finalists. This post is automatically scheduled to go up at Midnight Friday morning on the 5th so if you see a finalists name and a blank space, then they didn’t get their submission to me on time and they’ve been officially disqualified.
Hopefully this helps me to narrow it down to the final four (or five if I can’t make up my mind, everyone is superb!). Cast your vote at the end for your FAVORITE application. Base your thoughts on everything you’ve seen so far and pick your favorite finalist. I’m only allowing one vote this time around. Good luck to everyone! The winners will be announced around Midnight Friday night. Don’t forget to help support the tour by using the coupon code worldtour and getting 30% off on almost everything in BMEshop!
P.S. Sorry for the weird formatting with the photos in some of the posts below. That’s entirely my fault and I’m not sure why wordpress kept eating up and barfing out the changes that I made to photos to try to fix the layout.
Click through to check out their videos and blog entries!
Finalist: Nae
Is my day nearly as exhilarating as what will be happening daily on the BME World Tour? Probably not, but it comes darn near close. Sit down for a bit and let me tell you about a typical Sunday in my life.
At 8:15am, the slight glow of Michigan’s cloud-covered sun attempted to light up my room and managed to successfully wrestle me out of bed. I groaned a bit as I dragged myself away from the loving arms of my stuffed animals, Otter and Gloomy Bear, but I was excited for my morning shower. Showers are really exciting to me. First of all, it’s naked time, and everyone loves naked time. Secondly, it’s the time that I give myself to plan out my day and to think through the upcoming events and people I’ll be running into- all while lathering myself up with my Lavender Dr. Bronners’ to make a fresh and clean Nae! Drying off and getting dressed are much less exciting to me because, well, I have to do them. I don’t necessarily have to shower every day, but I do have to be dry afterwards (or else it will happen naturally) and because I live in the frozen tundra of Michigan, I have to get dressed in generally multiple layers. Yes, picking out my clothing is fun, but there are better, more exciting things to do; showering, for example.
Anyway, by 8:40am I was all dressed and prepped for the day (I really don’t take much time or maintenance) and ready to go out to the real world! I headed out of my room and went to go check on the computing sites in my building. As an RCSC (Residential Computing Systems Consultant), it is my duty to maintain, protect, and defend both of the computing facilities within the residence hall that I have been trusted with… and to fill the printers when they need paper. The paper is really the important part; I think they just give me the other responsibilities to feel special (and boy, does it work!). Thankfully, it is spring break right now at the lovely University of Michigan and that means there are no students around – aside from yours truly – and that means that no one is printing and therefore no printers need to be filled.
Once I secured the computing sites, I ran up to my room to throw my laptop in my backpack and grab my things for the day. I then began my adventure to the art school! After frolicking down five flights of stairs, I left the mighty Bursley Hall and journeyed through the University of Michigan’s north campus forest till I found myself at the doors to the School of Art and Architecture building. It was an exciting walk! Spring is near which has been bringing out the squirrels and melting the snow away. I stopped in my studio to drop some sheet metal off (argentium silver, if anyone cares), then swung by the metal studio to see if anyone was around. Of course, no one was there because it’s spring break and I’m pretty much the only one left in this town.
I was starting to get hungry, so I grabbed my friend to go with me to one of my favorite Ann Arbor restaurants, Seva. We both had scrambled tofu with home fries, soy sausage, and toast – it was delicious! The server was fast and friendly, the food was amazing and yummy, and overall it was a great experience! Unfortunately, I had to be at work by 11:30am, so we left Seva and headed off to the Shapiro Undergraduate Library.
Not many people call the Shapiro Library by its full name; most just call it the UGLi. The acronym ‘UGLi’ stands for ‘undergraduate library’ and while yes, it is the main library for undergrads, it is anything but ugly. The curved glass on the front of the building allows for tons of light to shine in on students and to help reduce the ‘trapped in a cave’ feeling that many students studying in a library get after a while and the interior has been remodeled to create a warm and friendly environment. Unfortunately… I don’t have the privilege of working in the warm, sunny parts of the building. No, as a Campus Computing Sites Rover, we get shafted with a basement office with no natural light and the light outside of our office turns off after fifteen minutes if no one walks by. It’s okay though – I’m a ball of sunshine and I light up the room just fine! After providing my beaming light to my coworkers, I left to start my shift.
All I had to do in my four-hour shift was to visit the computing sites in the Michigan Union and the UGLi. Because all of the students are gone for spring break, not only was everything working properly, but nothing was broken! It was amazing! I came back to our dark, lonely office after completing my shift and sat around waiting to get an urgent page from someone on campus asking for me to be that person who could come rescue them from the depths of computer-hell…. but no one called… so I played around on tinychat.com with a bunch of people from iam.bmezine.com.
Upon completion of my roving shift, I headed on over to Angell Hall to work four more hours consulting in the Angell Hall Computing Lab, affectionately called the Fishbowl by staff and students alike. Because of spring break, the Fishbowl was excruciatingly slow and in my entire four hours in the Fishbowl I only spoke to two users. One user told me she didn’t need my help because the last time she needed assistance my coworker had helped her and she’d rather get his help this time for the sake of continuity. However, the other user asked me for some help with a long document she was writing, which helped end my boredom. Luckily for me, the internet is really cool and all of the downtime at work provided me tons of time to explore it!
After my consulting shift, I went back to the UGLi and did the exact same roving shift I had earlier in the day. Needless to say, more computer fun times were had. My coworker, Lou, was also done with his shift earlier and asked if I wanted to watch something online. It was around 11pm at this point, and our shift ended at 11:30, so he suggested watching a random episode of a TV show. We both sat at a computer, pulled up my Netflix account, and searched for something that was 30 minutes. Lou had this great idea of watching ‘Happy Tree Friends’. Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of this show, or if you’ve ever had the misfortune of watching it, but let me tell you that this is one messed up show. I sat in horror, unable to look away from the horrifically cute animated characters being mercilessly slaughtered one after the next for 22 entire minutes. Needless to say, I was very excited when I looked at the clock and saw 11:29pm. I packed up my things, put on my coat, and clocked out at 11:30.
After an exhilarating bus ride home, I walked into my room, sat down my backpack, set up my computer, and got to work on a project for my internship. I’m currently working on mapping out links in Adobe Flash to help organize course scheduling for architecture majors. My day has been long and exciting, and I am going to keep on going till I can’t keep my eyes open!
8:30 a.m.
Driving home this morning, the sun like a shotgun blast to my eyes. But it is warm, finally, winter nothing but a dirty, tired memory. There is a cup of free coffee sitting in the cup holder, Guns & Roses crooning through my speakers and me with my subsequent enjoyment of singing along, singing alone. I am behind a school bus at a stop sign, been following it for blocks now. Suddenly, I am not alone. I notice a gaggle of judgmental adolescent eyes peering at me from the rear windows. I felt thirteen again, being scrutinized and shamed by my peers for simple pleasures; singing while in a car? God forbid I should ever admit to sticking my finger in my ear to better understand earwax or remaining giddy after I’ve plucked an eyelash to examine the sturdy follicle.
I feigned an exaggerated yawn and quit singing just as the song reached my favorite part. Bastards. One part of me wanted to blow them kisses just to see their excited, petulant reactions. Another darker, more honest part of me wanted to follow them into the parking lot and cough exuberantly when they exited the bus. Hey, I may not have swine flu, but that doesn’t mean I can’t amuse myself with the social paranoia that epidemics inspire.
10:44 a.m.
Two hours later and I am in the car again, my destination outlined by labor vehicles and piles of wood, brick, cement. I am curious about the new addition to the local hospital that has recently become something of a landmark in this town, eager to invite a series of workers over to discuss my questions about their jobs. When they approach me, I smell the scent of blue-collar work on their skin; construction workers, truck drivers, machine operators. Men who reshape this Earth with their hands. Tugging, digging, building, destroying. I would be lying if I said that such rough-edged potential did not excite me.
There are various orange-shirted men milling about behind the gates, building new offices, lobbies, nurses’ quarters, areas of emergency and care. I hear a constant discordant symphony of vehicles scraping and turning over new earth only to cover it moments later with cement. I hear the hard smack of hammers and wood planks, I watch my coffee ripple in its glass when the vibrations reach maximum level. These constructs stretch upward, not outward, and the sky is being eaten away in square chunks.
1:25 p.m.
The energy I felt from my early morning triple-decker coffee has subsided. Nap time, to dream of warmer weather and, if my brain is feeling really generous, Hugh Jackman.
3:42 p.m.
Wake-up! Groggy, but loving the sunlight pouring in through the bedroom window. I stretch my limbs like a cat and curl into the brightest, warmest spot on the bed. Purr.
6:30 p.m.
Grocery shopping, a necessary evil. I want to dive bomb into the fruit displays and grab handfuls of cherries, grapes, plums, avocados. I pass by the vegetables and inhale the intoxicating smell of wet earth. Turnips look delicious tonight. Strange, as I usually dislike them. Note to self: take more vitamins.
8:00 p.m.
Video game marathon! Gears of War is a never ending love story for me, a challenge I rise to with plenty of curse words and high-fives to my fellow teammates. And it never fails to make me ravenously hungry. Grilled cheese sandwich time!
10:30 p.m.
Lemon yerba mate tea and a few chapters of a recently checked-out library book. My current before-bed novel is Lady Oracle by Margaret Atwood. I’m reading almost feverishly before I glance at the clock and realize that midnight is fast-approaching. So difficult to put this story away! Oh, you addictive imaginary antagonist! I will see you again, tomorrow. Same time, same place.
Finalist: Thaddeus
I decided to highlight one of my favorite days of the road trip rather than trying to fill you all in on two weeks of adventure in one post.
We are in New Orleans. Actually we arrived last night and went out and had some drinks with friends but we were exhausted so nothing amazing came from it. We were lucky to get a hotel in the French Quarter, because almost everything was booked due to some sporting events. I have been to New Orleans before but my friend Mason had not so we decided to head out and explore the French Quarter.
I was looking for the place I first had absinthe, but we ended up at Jackson Square to look at the street artists. The cathedral in the picture is Saint Louis Cathedral, it is one of the oldest continually operating catholic cathedrals in the United States. The not so pleasant weather we were having really helps the ominous feel. At this point I realize I should have brought my wider angle lens for the day.
Hunger was starting to set in so we grabbed some OJ and water from a smoke shop and asked the owner where we could get some good food near here. She said we had to eat at the Royal Street Deli about 2 blocks away.
We wandered over there but as soon as we sat down we heard horns, cheering, and clapping. A parade was coming down the street. New Orleans will have a party for any reason at all and this parade was in celebration of this lady’s birthday. She was turning 80 and it looked like all of her friends came out to celebrate. I hope when I am that old I can still have a great time.
After they came by we finally got down to ordering some food. We were starving at this point. The lady that recommended the restaraunt to us said we had to have a shrimp po boy, and that’s exactly what I ordered.
Amazing is the only way to describe it. The french bread was perfect, soft yet crusty at the same time. Now that we finally had some great food, we were ready to go on our next adventure. There was one last surprise though, our amazing waitress Michelle had some Otter pops for our desert.
I don’t know how we got to this idea but we decided that a airboat tour of the bayou country would be something interesting. With some quick iphone googling we found a place called Jean Lafitte’s Swamp Tours, which was about 30 minutes outside of New Orleans.
The weather is getting even worse but we had to experience an airboat ride through the swamp. We finally arrive and we are greeted with an albino alligator and a giant standing stuffed gator inside their welcome center.
After we filled out all the necessary paperwork we are taken out back and shown our trusty boat. Hearing this V8 start up was killer. The motors didn’t really have any muffling and they were super loud.
Soon we were introduced to Captain Lou. His family grew up on these swamps and was very familiar with getting around in the bayou. Jokingly we asked, “Why are alligators so ornery?” Without missing a beat he said, “It’s their medulla oblongata.” I guess Captain Lou has seen Waterboy too.
We were off on our airboat adventure. If you have never ridden in one, I can tell you they are fast. It is a weird sensation, it doesn’t feel like a boat going through the water but more of a skimming over the surface feeling. You really cant use anything else to get around due to the shallow water and all the grass. Your prop would just get stuck.
After seeing some wildlife, Captain Lou said it was time to find some gators. He said it might be difficult due to the colder weather because the alligators like to hibernate. It didn’t take us long to find one. He would toss a marshmallow towards the gator and the vibrations from it hitting the water would draw them closer. After they would get curious, the Captain would make this weird barking sound to interest them even more.
Before we knew it there was a gator right next to the boat.
Unfortunately we couldn’t stay that long. We were informed that there was a tornado warning and we should probably head back in. Captain Lou didn’t seem very unnerved by it, so neither did I.
After we got back to shore we were asking about some interesting roads to take towards Memphis, luckily the guys at Jean Lafites gave us a unique route to take. They said we had to stop at a place called Middendorf’s. Everyone that worked at Jean Lafitte’s agreed that this is the only place to get friend catfish in Louisiana. That was a good enough reason for us to go.
The drive there was like nothing I have experienced before. All the roads were these highways elevated above the swamp. There would be small islands but almost the entire highway was above water. If your car broke down you would just have to wait for someone to rescue you. The weather really turned on us and it started pouring but we eventually got to our destination.
Everyone here was incredibly nice. We even met the owner. She could tell we were not locals and brought us some of her homemade banana pudding to thank us for driving all the way out here to eat. Southern hospitality is not dead. Everything was cooked perfectly and delicious. I highly recommend making the drive out here if you are near New Orleans.
After stuffing our faces it was time to turn North and head toward Memphis. We jumped in the car, turned on some Elvis and headed off into the night.
Finalist: Ed
When I got word that I was in the top ten finalists, my heart skipped another beat. Closer and closer to a trip around the world. I could feel my passport tugging on my sleeve, “can we go!? can we go!? please please please!”, but I calmly explained to my anthropomorphized government document that the decision was not up to me. I still had one more assignment to prove I was worthy of such a trip: a blog entry, video, and photos of a day in my life. Luckily the next day had potential to be interesting enough to share with the Internet.
My day started with my fiancée, Heather, waking me up early with the video camera rolling. It was one of those cherished beautiful San Francisco days where the sun was shining and it was actually warm. In between my half-awake grunts, she said goodbye as she was off to hike around Alamere Falls with friends. Shortly after she departed, I crawled out of bed and made myself a gourmet breakfast of Lucky Charms and soy milk. A quick shower and shave and I grudgingly sat down in front of the computer to do some work. The curse of working for yourself is that every day is a possible workday. Luckily addressing my emails and other chores only took about 2 hours this time and I was soon out the door.
Down the three flights of stairs with a laptop, camera, and flip video and tow; I jumped into my car and trekked across the Bay Bridge to Oakland. I was headed to NIMBY, an industrial art space in south Oakland, to work on one of Interpretive Arson’s fire art pieces, 2pir.
For those not familiar with it, 2pir is “a blisteringly interactive large-scale fire toy”. It consists of two circles: an inner circle fitted with motion sensors and an outer circle comprised of 16 large flame effects. When a participant waves their hands, feet, or any other body part over the motion sensor it triggers a large column of flame. While on the inner platform, many people perform their best sorcerer imitation, summoning fire with their hands, while others choose to dance and twirl around, flames following their movement. The beauty of the piece is that the performance is different everytime.
2pir was designed and built by Interpretive Arson, a Bay Area fire art group that I’m a member of. It was originally built in 2006 and has since undergone several upgrades. This year it’s time for another one of those upgrades as the ignition system was no longer up to our standards for reliability. In addition, several components needed to be upgraded in preparation for our second international run in Denmark later this year at Smukfest.
The previous day we had spent some time finalizing a design for new flame effects and built a single prototype for testing. We wanted to make sure one new flame effect worked successfully before building the other 15. Today it was time to actually test this prototype and see how well it performed.
We dragged the prototype outside, hooked all the plumbing up to a tank of propane, plugged in the electronics and hit the switch. The resounding sound of combustion echoed off the walls of the warehouse. Success! But it wasn’t perfect. Ignition wasn’t 100% reliable and we wanted the best shape of fire we could get. After a period of tweaking, adjusting, and experimenting we were mostly happy with what we had. We made a quick run to Home Depot to grab a few materials and then stopped off for some burritos to refuel ourselves.
Back at NIMBY, the sun had set and the darkness of the seemingly deserted industrial section of Oakland was just asking for some noise and light. We fired the flame effect back up and enjoyed lighting up the yard and bouncing the percussive sounds of explosive propane combustion off the walls. After a bit of fun it was back to work: grinding, cutting, drilling, and welding the frames for the new effects.
Finalist: Megan
I was considering not going to pull/suspension last Saturday night.
I was left with one lens, and I could always use more sleep. Sure, it would be good to show support for some really great friends but I also could have a very successful night with a bottle of booze and some Lifetime Movie Network.
After weighing the pros and cons of each, possibly interesting photographs won out over an early morning hangover.
I arrived at Freaks on 39th and was pleased that the book should not be judged by it’s cover (it looked like a tiny shack with water-stained wooden shingles). The epic selection of jewelry was tastefully displayed in wooden, almost steam punk looking, shadowboxes and the photography wasn’t half bad either.
The piercers (Eric Wolff, and Chelsea-apprentice) were super chill and attentive to all of the kids doing the pull and suspension, and they also let me set up as much lighting equipment as I wanted so long as it didn’t get in the way or cause a safety hazard.
After a lot of waiting the girls (Amanda and Trista) were finally hooked up, and I halfway expected it to be some sort of epic battle to see who could pull the hooks out of each other’s backs first (my terrifying, competitive nature?), but in fact, it was one of the most serene experiences…I had ever…experienced? Miss Meg compared it to something like good sex, and if I had ever had good sex before, I’m sure I would agree. The soothing music, gentle swaying, and dim lighting was one of the sweetest things I had seen in a long time.
I found the suspensions to be a different story. they seemed to be much more a test of will. Cary went first and after a few tentative steps down the ladder and a bit of adjusting he started swinging and Adrian (the other kid suspending) made sure to give him a few good shoves.
The birthday boy decided to go last, and after much heart-wrenching pain felt like the slow combustion he felt in his chest probably wasn’t a smart thing to ignore. He had to stop before fully suspending. But you made for a great model, kid.
All in all, for me, the entire night made me feel like the world’s biggest pussy.
Finalist: Kaelah Bee.
You know it’s going to be a great day when you wake up to a barking dog and killer sore throat, and then you realize you slept for 12 hours. It all started yesterday… the sore throat really came out of nowhere. It was not a welcomed visitor, however. Like most people, I really do not enjoy being sick. It hinders my plans for the day; No one likes that. I braved through it and headed to Portfolio class anyway. I didn’t really have too much to show but I was able to get a bit of feedback on a CD design from my classmates nonetheless. After class, Mike picked me up from school and we headed to Goodlettsville so I could have some sleeve work done by my artist, Jason. Fairly uneventful for the most part, but the sickness started to really sink in. We paid a visti to what could be classified as the most ghetto mall in the world before we headed home. By the time we reached Franklin, Mike was feeling lightheaded and dizzy. We were both in pitiful condition. A hot bubblebath to try and soothe it all and then we settled onto the big sectional sofa in our room and watched Wristcutters: A Love Story. I took some Nyquil and I managed to sleep a solid half-day.
I woke up at 10am today to prepare for what was going to be a solid day of getting stuff done. I managed to slink on a dress and head out the door to class. I had to get to school early for a Student Government meeting (Yeah, I’m one of those girls) and go over the budget for the Spring Cocktail. By 1pm it was off to Print Design 2 where the 7 of us (Yes, I really said 7… My school is tiny!) brainstormed over creative headlines for a high-profile real estate brochure we’re having to create. Mike decided to be a sweetheart and drive me all the way to the Sweet CeCe’s in Belle Meade (20 minutes away) because they had Pomegranate Raspberry Sorbet and it’s my favorite. We literally live less than a quarter-mile from Sweet CeCe’s in Franklin; Sadly they only had Orange Sorbet! Yuck! It was a fun adventure trying to find it, but I won’t lie… the rest of the night got juicier.
Upon arriving home, I was greeted by the fact that my slime-ball exboyfriend had listed the Macbook computer he stole from me onto Craigslist. He lives in California now and it’s been this ridiculous battle for months. I’ve contacted an attorney and I’ve tried waiting it out… Nothing works. I let him know (very firmly) that I found out about him trying to sell it and he should prepare for a fun little legal battle. I gave him until 5pm CST tomorrow to send a tracking number for the computer to me or I’d get to work. It’s so frustrating when people try to take advantage of you, ya know? I’ve been trying to avoid any kind of legal mumbo-jumbo-hullabaloo but now I’m just ready to give him what he deserves. Ugh!
Mike is playing Grand Theft Auto while I write my little blog. I just finished up the video to go along with this thing. It’s all music and video (Nothing of me talking) because I’m quite the sick one still. I can barely speak, and when I do, it’s not pretty. I sound like an octogenarian who has smoked since she was 12. Not to mention I can’t smell a darn thing (This could be good though… Mike just scolded Georgia for what is most likely her “signature scent”… if you know what I mean…ha) I wish something more exciting could have happened for you all to read about… It was really just a regular ol’ Wednesday though. Tomorrow will most likely be more of the same. Portfolio class and then hopefully more sleeve work. I’ve always got rambles at my blog though… Feel free to visit and see that I’m not a totally illiterate being. XO Kaelah
Finalist: Chez
Wow. The last few days have been pretty hectic! We arrived into NYC on Monday for a partial day off. We were booted off the bus immediately upon arrival so the drivers could head to a hotel in Secaucus that had parking for all the buses and trucks. I picked up my room key and headed to my room. The room was super cute but the bathroom was really weird… The toilet was so high that I couldn’t touch the ground!
Once settled and showered, I headed out for a meander. There was still snow on the ground!
I headed towards St Marks to hit up S’mac and get my standard nosh, the all-american with slab bacon!
After lunch, I wandered around St Marks for a bit and laughed at all the tattoo shops that sold bongs. This was my favorite, buy one get one! I just wonder, is that for the bongs or for the tattoos? SKETCH!
I did a little shopping, wandered down broadway and finally was so exhausted that I grabbed a cab and headed back up to midtown.
I spent the rest of the day danger napping and eventually went to bed around 11. We had our gig at Madison Square Garden that day and it was nuts. When working at the garden, you work with 3 different unions to get your work done. For all the PA and FOH work, you get IBEW. For all the work on the stage or monitor requirements, you work with IATSE Local 1. For truck loading, you get teamsters. It’s very convoluted and can be dramatic. If you piss of the unions, they will make your life a living hell. Fortunately, the show went off great and all of my union hands were great to work with.
And in the fine words of Jay Z, we were “on to the next one”… Washington DC! The most important aspect of my day:
For more insight into what my day is like on a show day, feel free to check out my audition tape at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whi3M5xAru8.
Everything was filmed with my fuji finepix and I apologize about the crappy audio in the first minute of the video. The mic on the camera leaves a little something to be desired! All photos from this blog post were taken on my iphone, nothing has been retouched! Hopefully that shows you that I can frame a photo, and with the proper equipment, I could probably get some pretty awesome photos too!
Finalist: Richard
For this assignment, I wanted to emulate a possible excursion to a tattoo and piercing establishment for an interview. Visiting a shop in my own backyard would be a good place to start.
In my first video for the BME World Tour audition process, I briefly introduced a body piercer named Kati Vaughn during the final montage. We had planned a short interview when I visited, but time constraints prevented it from happening. Well, in this second video I got the chance to sit down my friend, Kati Vaughn.
Currently, Miss Vaughn is piercing out of Sacred Tattoo and Pure Body Arts. In the interview, she explains her beginnings at Body Piercing By Bink in Tallahassee, Florida and how she ended up in New York City. Kati and I met in Tallahassee through mutual friends in the local roller derby league. We quickly formed a strong friendship through a mutual love of leather jackets, bourbon, and body modification. She is an upstanding professional, an inspiration, and my piercer. I’m proud to introduce her in the video below.
The most exciting part of today will be visiting Sacred Tattoo. Its a 3000 square foot studio right off the main drag of Canal St. in Chinatown. Before going, I gained permission to film to shop for the purposes of constructing a short profile section in the video. Thankfully, they were very cool about it. Took a train over the East River and arrived in the late afternoon. Business was slow at the time, so it gave me the chance to conduct the interview without interruption. Plus, I was not in anyone’s way.
Filming wrapped within an hour or so. By that point, customers had started to trickle into the shop needing various work done. I made sure to thank everyone at the shop before leaving. Hopped on the train back home and contemplated the work in the days ahead. Bartending, editing, and paying this months bills will consume my time until Thursday’s deadline. Looking forward to seeing what the other contestants create. This has been a spirited competition. I consider myself very lucky to be apart of it.
Alright, alright… enough rambling. Time to get to work. Good luck, everyone!
Finalist: RobW.
Today started like any other. Well, except for the camera pointed at my head, I’ve only had that happen a couple of times. I was really exhausted, and climbing out of bed took way too much effort. I had stayed awake until around 5am last night learning how to work with Adobe Premiere. I’m still not an expert in it, but I definitely think I’ve learned enough to make it through the editing process later tonight.
After finally rising from my slumber and crawling to the shower, I was able to get my breakfast bagel in the toaster and really start my day off. The first few hours passed like they normally do, read the news while eating, then buckle down and begin to write. The past few weeks I’ve been so focused on becoming an intern for BME that my writing has fallen to the wayside. Not to say that I haven’t been writing, I just haven’t been working on the projects I have started. Currently I’m working on several stories, juggling them daily to determine where my focus will be for the day. They’re all various forms of fiction, but as the ideas flow in one tale, I’m struck with an idea for another. The way I write is very stream of consciousness oriented. I’m still in the early stages of these projects, as I’m not sure which one I really want to finish first. I know that once I make that decision the rest will have to wait their turns. Like I mentioned, the BME world tour has been on my mind so much, I haven’t really been able to sit down and focus on my fiction. Instead I dedicate at least an hour daily to some form of writing. What is produced is strictly for me as I use it as a reflective exercise. I talk about what’s happening in my life, what’s on my mind, heck I even talk about the news I just read. Whatever it is, I put it down. So today’s writing was mostly about last night, and my trials and tribulations learning a new piece of software.
I received a phone call from a close friend letting me know that he was available to help me out for my video today. He rushed over as I started editing in the morning clips I had shot. When Trevor arrived, we quickly got to work talking about the plan for the day, how I wanted things to look, etc. After sorting out the video equipment, and giving Trevor a refresher course on how to take the lens cap off, we sat down to have a quick chat to catch up with each other. I told Trevor about the internship, and how excited I am to be a finalist. Now Trevor and I have been friends for about ten years, and in that time we may not have been close all the time, but when chips were down, we knew we could count on each other. I knew that he wasn’t working steady at present, but he had just filmed a commercial (he’s an actor), and had gotten himself a new job close to home. The big news came when he revealed that he was interviewing out of town tomorrow to work at a radio station in Woodstock, Ontario. As long as I’ve known him, he’s always wanted to work in broadcasting. To have the opportunity to finally achieve a dream is something we’d all be lucky to have. So we talked about places for him to live once he got the job.
Checking the time we realized we were burning daylight, so we headed out to begin our day of filming. The first stop, the mall! I know, it’s not very exciting, but it did provide some interesting events. I knew that I needed to pick up a few items; little did I know I would only have the chance to actually get one thing on my list. After filming for a while we were approached by mall security asking why we were walking around with a camcorder. It turns out that one of the stores we went into thought we were taking footage to use against the store or the mall. We were politely asked to leave the mall, and the security guard was kind enough to show us our way out.
Now Trevor had never actually been to the mall, nor had he been to the area around it. So I took the opportunity to take him to a park near where I grew up. To describe the area as a park is a bit of a misnomer. Along the western edge of Toronto runs the Etobicoke creek. This runs from north of the city, all the way down to lake Ontario. The park that we went to is the northern tip of a series of parks connected by a path that follows the creek. This time of year it isn’t much to look at, but when spring and summer arrive, the park is constantly filled with families spending a day walking the wooded trails. I don’t get to come over to this area as much as I used to, as I’m now living in another area of Etobicoke, so it was a treat to be able to wander my old stomping grounds. Growing up so close to a park meant in every season there was something to do. Tobogganing in the winter, baseball in the spring and summer, and biking the trails in the fall. It’s a serene experience no matter what time of year you visit. Although today, because of the sun, the ground had started to melt and wandering off the paved trail put you as risk of losing a shoe to the mud.
After spending some time in the park, we headed back to my place to quickly change discs in the camcorder, grab a bite to eat, and hit the road up to the tattoo studio. While we were in the park my artist, Matt Ellis, called to let me know that he had a cancellation and I could come in early. Seizing the opportunity, Trevor and I ate quickly and hopped in the cars, only to find that the highway was backed up from an accident on the other side of the city. Luckily the accident had been cleared, so we only were in stop and go traffic for an hour. In Toronto gridlock, that’s a lucky break. Needless to say all hopes of getting to Matt early were dashed and we ended up being late.
Thankfully Matt understood, and we quickly got started. Today was a day I had been looking forward to for a while. The C’thulhu themed sleeve that Matt has been doing has been coming along great, but there was a huge section without color: the deep-sea diver. So I sprawled out on the bench, Matt fired up the gun, and Trevor flipped the camera on. Now Trevor had never seen a tattoo being done on someone before so Matt and I got to answer a lot of questions. The obvious, “does that hurt” came up, but we ended up getting into a really good discussion of techniques and styles. Of course I didn’t realize at the time, but Matt was doing something to my arm that I can only describe as incredible. I’ve never seen anything with the color palette and shading that he was able to accomplish with the diver. Unfortunately the discussion had to be cut short as Trevor’s band was rehearsing soon and he needed to get going. We said our goodbyes and Matt got right back to work. Thankfully there was no ditch work to be done today, so I breathed a sigh of relief.
At one point we took a quick 2 minute break to stretch and I grabbed the camcorder to talk for a little bit about the experience. Little did I know that the disc was full, and the spare discs were in my car a few blocks down the street. Not wanting to break the rhythm of the session, we got back to work and finished up the 5 hour session. Following the session Matt and I had a quick talk about the internship and when it would be taking place, so we put off the final appointment until after the tour ends, as we both agreed going on the road with flaking skin might cause some problems.
The drive home was uneventful, except for the burning hatred of cab drivers that was reignited as I drove through the downtown core. Getting home, I unwrapped the gooey mess that was my arm, grabbed a quick snack, and sat down to write this out.
So that was my day. It was an atypical day, but it was definitely an enjoyable one, and I’m lucky to have a video copy to remember the experiences. I’m getting tired and I still have a lot of editing to finish up before I finally submit my final assignment for the contest to Rachel, so I’ll wrap this up. As I mention in the video, I am extremely grateful for all the support I’ve been given over the past few weeks towards the competition. I just hope now I’ll be given the opportunity to show everyone I was worth their support.
Here’s a small gallery of some of the pictures I took today: Click Here.
Place your vote for your favorite finalist. You can only pick one finalist to vote for this time!
Initially founded by Darrin Fowler and now run under the supervision of Mark Anstrom, the 2009 BME Scholarship winner has been decided. Here’s Mark’s write-up, followed by the winning essay. Huge thanks to all involved, and congratulations to the winner on an excellent essay!
Each year, the IAM community comes together to award $1,000 USD college scholarship to a deserving member of our community. Available to all IAM members worldwide, this year marks the fourth year we’ve been able to help a promising student cover the costs of college.
Donations to the BME Scholarship Fund can be made through our website: BMEscholarship.com.
The IAM College Scholarship is scored each year based on a variety of factors, ranging from school grades, community involvement, and the individual’s role in our community. Candidates each year are also asked to write an essay on a selected topic related to body modification.
The last several years have seen a marked change in the acceptance of body modification in the workplace. As members of the WWII generation are retiring from the workplace, members of Generation Y are stepping up to replace them. For this generation, piercings and tattoos are mainstream; however, for their Baby Boomer coworkers, they are not. Especially in this tough job market, being modified presents challenges and risks to people in the workplace that unmodified people do not have to face.
For this year’s scholarship essay, we asked applicants their thoughts on career management and navigating the workplace as members of the modified community. This year’s scholarship question:
“Many kinds of visible body modifications have yet to gain general acceptance within society. What things should visibly modded people keep in mind when starting a professional career? Do visible modifications necessarily exclude people from any careers? Feel free to discuss any aspect of this question, including choosing a profession, handling interviews, dealing with co-workers and management, the expression of personal identity in the workplace, or any other aspect.”
This year’s slate of candidates was particularly strong. While all candidates this year were well qualified, and each showed unique strengths, in the end there can be only one winner of the BME Scholarship. So here it is…
It is with pleasure that I announce and give congratulations to this year’s winner: Sidra Mahmood!
Sidra is a student at the University of Toronto, majoring in environmental policy and practice, with minors in biology and women and gender studies. Sidra has served the modified community by conducting workshops and demonstrations on play piercings, blood play, use of proper equipment, and safety/biohazard education. Sidra has also served as a volunteer counsellor for Camp Oochigeas, a Toronto-based organization for children living with cancer, and has volunteered with many other worthy organizations as well.
Here is her winning essay:
* * *
Sidra Mahmood
May 1, 2009
The Halo Effect: A Guide to Career Seeking for the Visibly Modified
While attitudes towards more mainstreamed forms of body modification have evolved positively in the past decade or so, it is fair to say that visible body modification has yet to gain full general acceptance within Western society. Rules surrounding the standardization of how an individual is supposed to physically present are inherently embedded in society and are driven by the mass media.
Body modification culture acts to reject these standards. It does this by providing an alternative to the heavily gendered, classist, and often unrealistic standards of beauty typically embedded in contemporary culture. This is not to say that mainstream culture inherently rejects all modification. In fact, it is able to enforce identities on individuals by imposing what type of body modification is acceptable and unacceptable (e.g. lobe piecings on women), thus stigmatizing appearances and behaviour that differ from this norm. In this case, this applies to more extreme forms of body modification which in turn, affects the ability of modded individuals to be given fair consideration when seeking a career on the basis of how they choose to present themselves.
With this essay, I aim to provide some insight on why individuals with body modifications may face substantial difficulties in getting involved in the working world, and shed some light on how they can overcome this. In the first part, I discuss reasons why visible body modification is stigmatized in the professional world, and in the second part, touch on ways that the modified individual can operate against these discriminatory practices.
For this essay, I conducted a number of informal interviews with business owners who have varying attitudes towards hiring employees with visible body modification. I also spoke with some modified individuals who have been discriminated against or have undergone negative experiences at their jobs relevant to their decision to be visibly modified. It is important to note that the names of those interviewed have been changed in the interest of privacy.
Concerning Employment
We cannot deny that in the mainstream, there are certain connotations attached to individuals who choose to modify themselves. These connotations range far and wide, and almost every modified individual has likely experienced difficulty where they have been judged unfairly on the basis of their modifications.
Interestingly, body modification culture encourages an individualistic idea of ownership over one’s physical self by way of adornment and ritual, acting to reject impositions of normativity. Since it is an experience that is arguably so inherently integrally connected to an individuals spiritual and mental well-being, it is rationally difficult to consider this to be an impediment in the abilities of an individual to be engaged in the career they choose for themselves. However, discrimination against modified individuals in the workplace tells that not all employers feel this way, and there are a number of reasons for this:
There are stigmas attached to specific forms of body modification that may lead potential employers to judge an individual unfairly. These stigmas can be damaging because they may cause speculation in the potential employer to as to how a modified individual may carry themselves in the workplace, their priorities, and their ability to work under authority.
The mainstream working world has a tendency to strip individuals of uniqueness to enforce a hierarchy of power. Indeed, there is an almost Orwellian insistence on sameness in the workplace – the very sameness that body modification culture rejects. Individuals who choose to introduce elements of individuality in how they choose to present themselves may subsequently be perceived as disobedient or a threat to the organization’s infrastructure.
Because body modification rejects the imposition of mainstream standards of beauty and normalcy, it threatens the values of individuals who are comfortable with the normative social structures they already live within. These threatened individuals proceed to make judgement and create false allusions to paint individuals who are different then them. This may sound familiar; homophobia, racism, and xenophobia are the results of similar thinking.
First Impressions and the Halo Effect
Consider this scenario: Job Seeker A applies for an administrative secretary job with a relatively conservative insurance broker, and attends the interview dressed in modest yet professional attire. She has a visible nose piercing. Job Seeker B attends the same interview dressed appropriately, but she does not have any visible piercings. Both candidates possess comparably impressive credentials and perform well on their interviews. Who gets hired?
Initially identified by the psychologist Edward Thorndike, the Halo Effect is defined as a “cognitive bias” that occurs when a strong trait in an individual influences how their other traits may be perceived, regardless of how true or false those perceptions may be. Someone who is tall, for example, may have perceptions attached to them that portray them as strong, confident, and sometimes intimidating. Similarly, someone with visible modifications as Jennifer*, a small business owner I spoke with mentioned, may look like they are “[a] troublemaker, affiliated with the criminal system… might be involved in drugs… doesn’t follow rules very well…potentially violent.”
The type of modification an individual possesses can also lead to incorrect and biased perceptions of that individual’s character and affiliations. These perceptions can be further augmented by the agency with which individuals choose to modify themselves: Sarah*, a secondary school student who is employed part-time with a popular clothing retailer recalls how a male colleague was asked to remove his nose ring when he was hired. Two other members of staff had visible nostril piercings as well, but both of them were women. When asked why he had to remove his piercing but the other staff members didn’t, he was not given a clear explanation. Instead, the employer mentioned that it just “didn’t give the right impression on customers”. We know that the garden-variety nostril piercing likely has no effect on the way this employee serves customers and completes his work-assigned duties, so the vagueness of the employer’s explanation can likely be linked to a number of reasons that can range from perceptions surrounding the employee’s sexual identity to his mental and physical health- keeping in mind that many uninformed individuals often liken body modification with self-harm.
In 2001, the employment website Vault.com conducted an internet survey, asking employers to offer up how tattoos and piercings influenced their impressions of potential job candidates. Almost 60% of employers surveyed said that they were less likely to hire someone with tattoos and piercings. The reasons offered by these employers defending their hiring practice included concerns regarding the candidate’s morals, mental well-being, ability to follow rules, and potential criminal affiliations. Many employers also mentioned that they wanted employees to represented a professional image of the company, and that this was not possible with employees who had tattoos and piercings.
When I asked John*, a local coffee shop owner about how visible modifications would compromise the ‘professional’ image he was attempting to give customers, he mentioned that he found that “[modifications] look unrefined… ‘tribal’. People with them don’t look very educated.” John added that as the coffee shop caters to mostly retired clientele, the ‘[older] clients don’t like those looks”, and that these attitudes did affect his hiring practices. John took care to mention that he personally had no agenda against individuals who chose to modify themselves, but claimed that hiring visibly modified people would compromise the reputation of his establishment against his clientele.
So what’s a Modded Person to do?
Know your rights. Depending on where you are, an employer cannot legally fire you on the grounds of visible body modification. However, be aware of the fact that you can be reprimanded on the basis of not following a prescribed dress code (which may ask you to remove or cover visible piercings and tattoos). Visible modifications may also prevent you from getting hired in the first place.
Present well. During the interview stage, be prepared, well-spoken, respectful, educated and enthusiastic. When at work, be punctual and responsible. These qualities will present clearly and most employers will likely pick up on them, and you may find yourself being a catalyst for change when you challenge people’s negative ideas about modified individuals.
Ensure that what you have does not compromise your safety in what you do. 1” lobes may not matter in a public consultation job, but this may be different in a factory environment. The last thing you want is to have something ripped out painfully because it got caught in a skid. Working with young children may carry similar risk when it comes to visible piercings, as infants typically adore grasping and tugging at dangly items.
Remember, the ability to modify your body is a privilege and not a right. While progressive employers will recognize visible modification for its aesthetic and sometimes spiritual merit, many others continue to see it as a show of rebellion and your employability may be affected by associated stereotypes. With the current stagnation in the job market, finding employment is fairly difficult to begin with, and if you are fortunate enough to be provided with an opportunity, consider compromising and covering up if need be. This is the ‘as-long-as-you’re-under-my-roof” model of reasoning.
Be willing to accept responsibility for what you decide to do. Come to terms with the fact that certain forms of modification such as facial tattoos will likely compromise your ability to get work, so measure out your priorities and decide how, when, and where you modify yourself accordingly. If you are a young person, remember that the process of getting a part-time student job versus finding a career can be substantially different, and that you may not be a Suicide Girl forever, so it is best to review your desired modifications in accordance with your future aspirations.
Remember that modification itself can be a career too! However, speak with established tattooists or piercers in the area to learn about what is involved. You will likely hear learn that it isn’t as easy, or as financially rewarding as Miami Ink may make it look, and that typically, apprenticeships involve long, unpaid hours of doing very little that relates to direct tattooing or piercing in the first while. Additionally, you are expected to participate in necessary health and safety training that you may be paying for out of pocket. There is no doubt, however, that the job is rewarding for the right people. Lastly, patience, good interpersonal abilities, decision making skills, and artistic talent go a long way, no matter where you work or what you do.
Considering working for progressive companies. Do your research beforehand, and if you need to, bring up the issue of acceptable visible piercings or tattoos during the interview if the dress code is unclear about this. Retailers and companies catering to alternative subcultures are also a good choice. Similarly, working in academia can also be a great career choice providing you have the interest in and commitment to what you are studying. Some other industries that seem to be less concerned with body modification as an impediment to your ability to work include web development, software engineering, research, beauty and cosmetics… the list is seemingly endless.
Consider self-employment. Possess a skill, product, idea or technology that you think could cater to a specific market? Have patience, and organization skills? Start-up funds? Consider working for yourself. Owning a small business can be rewarding, and you can work without worrying about compromising your ability to express yourself through your modifications to satiate someone else.
Consider management or higher-up positions. With this, In addition to challenging stereotypes regarding the abilities and capacities of modified individuals, you may be given the privilege of implementing the dress code in the first place.
Become a rock star.
In Summary:
So why is it that individuals who choose to visibly modify their bodies are stigmatized to this extent in the working world? Especially since this treatment does not apply to all body modification: breast enhancement and liposuction are seen as a perfectly acceptable forms of body modification – has someone ever been denied a working opportunity on the basis of them having had a facelift?
It seems ironic, especially since body modification is not a particular tenet of any one such subculture. In this day, great-grandmothers are just as likely to get tattoos as are members of bike gangs. Middle-aged professionals are just as likely to sport visible modifications as are teenaged skateboarders. Modification is illustrative of an individual’s vitality and creativity and employers are doing themselves a disservice when they fail to recognize this.
Finally, one simple browse through the membership of IAM, BME’s community portal, tells us that individuals who modify themselves come in all sexes, ethnicities, sexual identities, shapes, sizes, education levels, and socio-economic backgrounds. The members of IAM include PhDs, sex workers, models, artists, doctors, hair stylists, small business owners, educators, tattooists, dog trainers, writers, musicians, chefs, and much more. Body modification culture does not discriminate and one can look to the cultural and ritual significance of body modification throughout history and around the world to understand why it has always been an important tenet of any society’s development.
Markus Cuff has been cooperative so far, but now he’s stiff-arming me. We’ve been on the phone for a good half-hour or so, having a perfectly pleasant conversation about his 15 years as one of the top photographers at Tattoo magazine, and now this? He gives me the high-hat over a harmless, standard interview question?
“How old are you?” I ask with my typical childlike sweetness and wonder.
“I’m, uh….” He stops himself short. What have you got to hide, Cuff? “I’m 103,” he finally says. “My age is a closely guarded secret.”
“You can be vague,” I tell him. “Just say you’re ‘something-ish.’”
“‘Something-ish,’” he repeats, and pauses again. “A hundred and three.”
Whatever, wise guy. I’m only asking because his story makes it seem like he’s lived through (and contributed to) a number of seminal cultural moments, and these life experiences just seem a little incongruous with his lively, almost boyish voice. But, sure…103.
What he tells me is by the time he got around to photography, he already felt like he was late to the game. If he’d started in earnest as a teenager, he could have been going to concerts and shooting bands like Led Zeppelin and Cream, guys like Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn, and maybe he could published a retrospective book by now, making money off portraits of rock gods. He saw others go that route, but while his potential peers were chasing fame as photographers, Cuff, the boy from suburban Maryland, home of Link Wray, took a detour and made a name for himself as a musician instead. He spent two years handling the drum kit for Emmylou Harris’s band, touring and playing on her Pieces of the Sky album. Some time in the late seventies/early eighties, he moved to Los Angeles and ended up playing in The Textones with Carla Olson and Kathy Valentine (the latter of whom would go on to join The Go-Gos), hitting the L.A. club circuit with bands like X and The Blasters.
It was there in L.A., though, that he made friends with some kids who were taking photo classes at Santa Monica College, and Cuff, who had once long ago learned how to develop prints from black and white film, felt that old passion start to warm. “I looked at their work,” he says, “and thought, ‘Damn! I know I could do as well as that! I think I’m a lot more artistic than these people!’ And I think it just sort of clicked with me—no pun intended.”
As a teenager in Maryland, Cuff would spend a lot of time in D.C.’s cultural institutions—the National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian, the Freer Gallery of Art—that allowed visitors in gratis. He developed a taste for Hokusai woodcuts and other Asian-style pieces, but more generally developed and nurtured an inclination towards the visual arts—an inclination that would lie dormant during his musical excursions, that is, until he joined his friends at SMC, where he excelled. He got a lot of A’s. He immersed himself in photography. He sorted out his influences: Ansel Adams and Edward Weston, Robert Frank and Walker Evans, and, of course, the master as far as he’s concerned, Irving Penn, who he calls a “dynamo of photography.”
“I don’t think anyone’s ever been as versatile as he is,” he says of Penn, who’s shot everything from portraiture and fashion to cosmetic ads and the “mud men of New Guinea.”
None of this should come as a surprise. A young, eager photographer falling in love with the classical beacons of the art form? Sure, and next you’ll tell me there are freshman philosophers with things for Freud. But what happened next was Cuff, instead of shooting tulips and teapots, got picked up in 1990 by the magazine Easyriders and started photographing motorcycles. “That was fine with me,” he says. “I needed a job.”
Except it was luckier than that. When he wasn’t hanging out at galleries or playing drums in his younger days, he was going to car shows, reading hotrod magazines and trying to copy the custom car designs of Ed “Big Daddy” Roth on white T-shirts with felt-tip pens. He had experience dealing with insular communities of people who liked to go fast—motorcycles were a breeze. But Easyriders didn’t just traffic in bikes; their roster of magazines also included Tattoo and its sister publications, Flash and Savage. In 1994, Billy Tinney, the editor-in-chief and senior photographer for Tattoo, tapped him for a special assignment: To start shooting profiles of tattoo shops in Los Angeles for the magazine. It was an era, Cuff says, when tattooing was still somewhat underground. “This was before you were seeing [tattoos] on every basketball player, every football player,” he tells me, “and way before things like Ed Hardy shirts and Affliction.
“I thought to myself, ‘This is mighty…niche. I wonder where this could ever go?’”
Cuff’s first assignment was to shoot Greg James and the crew at Sunset Strip Tattoo, or, as he describes it, “baptism by fire.” He was accompanied by two other editors under the Tattoo umbrella, Frenchie Nilsen and Dave Nichols, to make sure he knew what he was doing and that he was the guy for whom they were looking. Sure enough, he didn’t freak out or soil himself or anything of the sort. And the tattoo artists? Well, they took to him quickly, too, he says. But I’m not buying it. If he’s not going to tell me his goddamn age, I figure the least he can do is give me some dirt about the vicious hazing he must have faced at the hands of these old school bad-asses…except he doesn’t budge. “I’m kind of a get-along guy,” he says with such sincere cheer that I know it has to be the truth. It’s becoming apparent that this is a guy who trades in gaining access to the famously inaccessible, and that’s the sort of station that requires either authenticity of personality or a high tolerance for fakery. After nearly two decades behind the lens, though, it strikes me that the latter would be too exhausting to cling to.
With Sunset Strip Tattoo in the can, Cuff was anointed “the local guy.” He hit shops all over the city, photographing their interiors, exteriors, staff and clients, building records for each. There are only so many local shops to cover over a year’s worth of issues, though, let alone four or five years’ worth, so the magazine started sending him on the road, first to San Francisco and San Diego and Santa Barbara, and eventually to Phoenix and Portland, New York City and Boston, Hawaii and Tahiti. He learned as he went along, though he still says he wouldn’t consider himself an expert. When he went to Tahiti, he picked up a book about the history of tattooing on the island and, when taking refuge from the heat, read about the English and Russian explorers who came to the island and left with tattoos, only to be gawked at back home like circus animals. It’s in these more “exotic” locales that he typically feels more compelled to educate himself about the culture. “The more literal kind of old school, classic American-style tattoo is a little more understandable,” he says. “It has symbolism, but it’s something you grow up with. You see someone walking by with a sailor-style tattoo and you don’t think it’s that strange. With the island tattooing, I felt like I had to study it a bit more.”
One of his greater thrills was getting the chance to photograph The Dutchman and his Dutchman Tattoos Studio and Gallery in Burnaby, British Columbia, a few years ago—partially due to admiration, but also because no one had photographed the artist in years. “He pointed to an old article on the wall,” Cuff says of The Dutchman, “and said, ‘See? We’ve been done before.’ And it was from the ’80s! I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’”
But some of his favorite studios are back on the mainland. He raves about Mike Rubendall’s Kings Avenue Tattoo in Massapequa, New York, to which he’s made several professional visits. “The level of the artistry is just so high,” he says. “There’s never one image that comes in front of my lens where I think, ‘Oh no, how am I going to do this?’ or, ‘I’m going to delete this after I leave.’ Because that does happen.” One of Cuff’s biggest pet peeves when shooting clients’ tattoos is going home afterward, looking at the images on his computer, and realizing that someone has tried to sneak a cover-up past him.
“All power to those who can do cover-ups,” he says, “but for me it doesn’t work. I see something underneath the other image and it bothers me, especially nobody’s told me it was a cover-up.”
At this point, he’s got shop-shooting down to a science. Shops are approached far enough in advance to allow time for the artists to contact clients to come in and be photographed, and once shows up and sets up his lights, it’s all business, blowing through an average of 25 clients a day, in addition to any supplementary photos of the shop itself and staff. There are no assistants, no make-up artists, no hair dressers, so part of his success and peace of mind can hinge on the cooperation of his subjects, some of whom, he says, go above and beyond. It’s not uncommon for shops to assign counter staff to handle photo releases and other paperwork and to supply him with coffee and muffins. Beyond that, though, the ingredients for a great photo shoot are somewhat expected. “Some hot girls are always fun,” he says. “It’s always great when you see someone who has it all together. Great makeup, hair, cool clothes…it’s a great feeling and makes my job pretty easy.”
Most shops, he says, have had a convivial atmosphere during shoots, but there have been exceptions. Occasionally, he’s had shoots where he’ll take a staff photo early in the morning, and then need to take another one in the evening—because someone was fired or quit during the day. “That’s not a horrible thing for me,” he says, “but it definitely makes you think, ‘Hey, there’s some drama going on around here.’”
All of this—the travel, the education, the meetings and greetings and inside baseball—and yet, Cuff himself does not have a single tattoo of his own. Sure, he has his reasons—he’s very light-skinned and prefers long-sleeved shirts, so he wouldn’t ever show one off; he doesn’t work out assiduously and isn’t going to be flexing in the weight room with a pinup girl on his biceps—but he largely abstains because he considers himself a sort of cultural anthropologist in the tattoo world. “I’ve dropped in via photography,” he says, “and I’m documenting a world. I don’t necessarily have to participate actively to document it well.” He analogizes the fact that he doesn’t have tattoos to the common phenomenon of great fashion photographers who neither (1) dress well nor (2) walk the runway. “The idea that you have to be a motorcycle rider to shoot motorcycles,” he says, “or a tattooed person to shoot tattoos is kind of a holdover idea from the ’50s and ’60s, when the tattoo and motorcycle cultures were so underground that the only people who were interested in capturing them were from those worlds.” When Easyriders came around, however, Cuff’s focus wasn’t on becoming a biker: It was on becoming a great photographer. “I’m a beauty fiend,” he admits. “I’m not trying to expose an underbelly, and I’m not trying to get at somebody and expose their weaknesses. I’m just trying to document things in the most beautiful and flattering way I can.”
Following Cuff’s immersion into the world of tattoos, however, he’s experienced a dilemma all too common to the heavily tattooed: a relative lack of mainstream acceptance. Some photographers are able to stack their portfolios with tattoo imagery, he says, “but I don’t think if I sent in my portfolio of images and they were all loaded in that direction that I could get a job with a mainstream ad agency.” He’s approached gallery owners in Los Angeles about potential gallery showings, and has frequently been told of the catch-22 inherent in this sort of work: the people who are more likely to enjoy his work are the least likely to buy it. “It speaks to a certain crowd,” he says of tattoo imagery, “and it’s largely a younger audience, who, in general, is trying to pay their rent, trying to feed themselves, and they don’t have the kind of disposable income an older, moneyed crowd has. So if I print an image fairly large and I mount it and I matte it and frame it and I charge ‘X’ amount of money, it’s something that’s going to appeal to an older audience as far as the quality and presentation, but it’s something that a younger audience is more likely to buy…if they could afford it.”
It’s a tough spot, he admits—all the more reason to not allow himself to get stuck in one niche. As a photographer, he’d love it if people looked at his tattoo work and, in that, saw someone talented enough to do fashion or advertising, or looked at his motorcycle shots and entrusted him with a car campaign. It’s a conundrum for the photographer who worships the versatility of an Irving Penn, yet maintains, “I don’t necessarily want to sell out, I don’t necessarily want to be watered down.” The common thread through all his work, he says, is that he seeks imagery with an edge—work that speaks to what he calls a “knowing audience.” The sort of thing that can be off-putting to people in the “straight world.”
And sure enough, he has branched out: Within his portfolio is his “Wasteland” series, which focuses on broken down, dilapidated rural scenes (with some shots of Hank Williams III included for good measure), as well as some of the live concert photography he missed out on in those early days. “It’s like big-game hunting,” he says of shooting concerts. “You’ve got three songs at the front of a concert. That’s all. You get the thing in your sights and you get it…or you ain’t gonna get it.
“There’s an adrenaline rush when Madonna jumps out on stage; you’ve gotta get a charge out of what you do.”
Nonetheless, he still feels like he’s hustling to catch up and build his body of work. “It’s almost like their classic rock photography is my classic tattoo imagery,” he says of those who jumped on the photography train ahead of him, the artists close to him in age—whatever that is. “Maybe if I live to be 100,” he says, laughing, “there’ll be a retrospective.”
Editor’s note: Earlier this year, Helsinki played host to a truly amazing night of sideshow performances, featuring appearances by Maleficent Martini and Lucky Mladineo, Operafication, Pain Solution, The Saviours and Swing Shift Sideshow. This is an account of that evening, written by Lucky Mladineo, with accompanying photos by Riina Aarrekorpi and Tatu Blomqvist.
On a chilly Saturday night in September, within the walls of famous rock venue Nosturi, sitting imposingly on the edge of the docks overlooking the Baltic Sea, the scene was set for the first Helsinki Sideshow Night. Before things got too hectic, I walked through the crowd. As with the general feel of Helsinki, diversity was present and every type, stereotype and non-stereotype you could pick was there to see what this Sideshow fuss was about.
As Jussi took some time to welcome the crowd and introduce the first act, behind the curtains everyone that was not a part of the Operafication performance left the stage. As the curtains opened, silence swept through the room. The Operafication show is not one you can really explain: it has that special quality that requires you to be there and experience it in the flesh. So all I can say is that the expression on the sea of faces in the crowd varied evenly between confusion, appreciation and awe, and in the end, applause was somewhat stifled by shock, as beauty and sadness were brought together with mainstream theatre story telling through a very abstract medium. In the end, an Opera star, on the most bizarre of stages, impressed the hell out of everyone, especially those sceptical, “What is this Opera shit” few. As the curtain closed for the 20-minute break, you could almost hear the collective deep breath out of everyone watching.
The break ended, and Miss Martini and I got ready to do the opening act we had come up with for the Sideshow extravaganza. I secured my fake beard, climbed into the prop-box and waited for the music to start and curtains to introduce us. Martini delicately stepped point-toe by toe onto the stage, while I was having a hard time pretending to be asleep in the box — I was so excited and wanted to watch! As I climbed out of the box, all our choreography went out the window but it didn’t really matter and it all came together when we got into a nice, old fashioned cat-fight. Some punches, ballet shoes and abuse was thrown back and forth, some hair was pulled, but in the end we reconciled, letting out a collective “Aw!” and fumbling our way through a dance routine to welcome everyone at the microphones, screaming together, “Welcome to the Helsinki Sideshow Night!”
I sat high up side stage for the best viewpoint to watch and take notes for the show, and I was also attempting to get some backstage footage. Spotting Jussi’s bunny ears above me, fumbling with my pen, notepad and camera, I leaned forward to make the artsy shot and just about fell onto the stage — oops. Eye on the job, not the Bunny!
Pain Solution took to the stage in their usual charming manner and got right down to some don’t-try-this-at-home instruction. A little glass eating from The Maniac and some comedic narration from The Headmaster (“Bling in your poo” — that was a good one, Håvve) and the crowd was up and clapping. Pain Solution’s stage presence and international appeal was evident within the first 10 minutes of their show, their re-creation of the all time classic Human Blockhead act into a Blues Brother’s dance-along is testament to their originality and style.
As I watched Håvve put out a giant torch in the trunk of his underwear, I wondered, was he born on stage? The smell of singed hair (or flesh?) floats in the air but the crowd didn’t seem to mind, and they were going wild. Applause and yelling quickly became screaming and downright vocal chaos, either from the half naked Headmaster with a torch down his pants, or at the introduction of Swing Shift Sideshow to the stage. Actually I think it was the latter, as I do remember hearing someone cry out “Las Vegas, FUCK YEAH!” from the middle rows at the mere mention of their name. But really, they had no idea what they were in for. Miss Kelvikta the Blade and Andrew decided to give them a little taste of the Swing Shift style, both swallowing flaming swords. And if the crowd thought it couldn’t get much better than swallowing flaming swords, the Headmaster proved them wrong, breathing fire onto the flames igniting massive fireballs and even more frenzied reactions. Everyone just started screaming maniacally and aesthetically a stage couldn’t really look any better — now the night had really begun!
The night was divided up seamlessly, and with an ease of flow that is not usual to first time events of this size. Pain Solution and Swing Shift commanded the stage interchangeably, to address, entertain and scare the hell out of the very enthusiastic audience. Both groups have pushed side show and showmanship creatively to larger than life status and both in somewhat different directions, but the two worked contagiously together. Bouncing from one to the other, stunt to stunt and having a total stranglehold on everyone’s attention by not giving them any kind of break and really setting the tone for madness. Each stunt had at least a few over-stimulated viewers covering their mouths and eyes, and many having to turn away completely more than once. The screams and Finnish cursing (e.g. “Vittu” = “Fuck,” “Ei Saatana…!” = “No fucking way…!”) were heard frequently from where I was sitting way up in the wings, and were definitely escalating as the night continued and the side show rolled on …
After all that excitement, it was time for a bit of a romantic interlude. Slow music hit the amplifiers as Helsinki boys, The Saviours, set up their stage of love. PooPoo the Bunny sat down at a table, looking his furry best, kicking back with a big bottle of liquor and pills, while Lassi, in his German-style get-on-it pants and ever so insinuating smile, casually tried to slip his arm around the uninterested though intoxicated bunny. The Saviours mimed their show and it translated effortlessly — you could feel the love from the crowd at their brand of dark, slightly romancing comedy, which is totally at home in Finland. Everyone knew just what was going on when Lassi took to his zipper and to a beer keg. As Foghat hit the chorus of “I just wanna make love to you” and the beat dropped in, Lassi dropped his balls to the sound of screaming fans. From my experience in Finland, people simply cannot get enough of Lassi and his penis. But perhaps PooPoo was a little disturbed by this gratuitous show of genitals, because a fight broke out between the two, and Headmaster Håvve had to come in and remove them, Lassi by the ear, PooPoo by the bunny ear.
Once order was regained, Headmaster set up his stage to start the audience on a journey to even more chaos. Håvve standing on swords and demanding at the audience, “So do you want blood?!” getting them ready for the next instalment of madness. When Andrew and Kelvikta re-appeared, the reaction was something like hysteria. Andrew S. took the microphone and once the small talk was laid out, he pulled out the big gun, or in his case, the big coil, and the excitement was unavoidable, Andrew never fails to impress within a few minutes of getting to know the audience. Again, I couldn’t decide what to watch, the show or the reactions of the crowd. Swing Shift were once again amazingly well received and this has a lot to do with Andrew’s much loveable stage presence, his very brave attempts at using Finnish under pressure, and of course, Miss Kelvikta is always a big crowd favourite. When she asked for a cigarette, she had a whole packet thrown at her. Are we sensing a theme here?
The feeling of “Oh my god!” had started to filter onto the stage by the second half of the show and exploded with Swing Shift’s first few death defying stunts. If there was a climax to this feeling being emitted from the audience, it was definitely with the 30-kilogram anvil eye lift. I just remember everyone screaming like murder victims as Andrew swayed the Acme-style anvil, and Kelvikta threw up the metal hand.
Shrieking, screaming, laughing and having to turn away completely, the audience were both entertained and a little tormented through the night, having their boundaries pushed and testing their limits and opinions of what’s shocking. More than a few found out the fun way at the first annual Helsinki Sideshow Night.
Photos by: Riina Aarrekorpi and Tatu Blomqvist
All photos are copyrighted. Full resolution versions and more photos are available. To obtain them, please contact the photographers via e-mail: [email protected] / [email protected].
