A modified rebellion

Posted on August 25, 2010 by Rob

There are some stories that as controversial as they may be, do need to be told. Before I begin, it’s important that you know a few things about the subject matter of the post. First off, the current Republic of Turkey wasn’t always a democratic nation. The area known today as Turkey was home to one of the earliest human settlements. Over the centuries many empires have risen and fallen, with the most notable being the Ottoman Empire, which ruled over 6 centuries until WWI. Following the first world war, and the defeat of the Ottoman Empire a military commander named Mustafa Kemal Atatürk led the country to become a democratic and secular nation. The Ottoman Empire had previously ruled under Islamic law, and when Atatürk became the first president of Turkey he moved towards the western style of democracy with the separation of Church and State. In the years following the foundation of the new Turkey, Atatürk pushed through a great many reforms to every aspect of life in Turkey. Civic courts replaced Islamic courts, women were grated equal status, and the official language was changed from Arabic to Turkish.

In the decades following Atatürk’s death, he has been acclaimed time and time again for his contributions towards cultural reforms. As for the Turkish government, it continued on following in the footsteps of it’s first leader. Over time the parties in power have changed, and currently the party in power wishes to revert the changes that Atatürk made, and return Turkey to an Islamic republic. The conservative Justice and Development (AKP) party has presently put forth a motion for a constitutional referendum that would allow them to alter the structure of the government.

As for which side in the debate is right, it is not my position to judge.

What I am here for is to share with you the reactions that of some of the Turkish people are having to these proposed changes.

More and more Turkish people, from all walks of life and socio-economic standings, are emblazoning their appendages with the signature of the controversial Turkish trailblazer Mustafa Kemal Ataturk who made Turkey the secular nation it is today. The tattoo reads simply enough “K.Ataturk” in a scripted text. The history behind the specific Ataturk signature that is used for the tattoos is as politically charged as the man himself. According to popular belief, it was the same signage that Ataturk used when he signed legislation to annihilate the Ottoman alphabet, which was in classical Arabic, in favor of a Latin alphabet that was in line with secular European nations.

The resistance to the AKP is so fierce in Turkey, that many tattoo parlors offer discounted prices for the Ataturk tattoo and some offer it entirely for free. Apparently the price for government-supported religious freedom is a price that some people are willing to pay for in blood.

I think this is the first nation-wide protest that I’ve heard of that is being spread through tattoos. Whether you agree with the position that the protesters have or not, the key thing to remember is that these people are showing to the world what their beliefs are, in the form of a permanent modification. As someone who has attended protests in the past, I’ve seen varying levels of commitment to the causes. From extremists who smash window and light cars on fire, to grandmothers holding up a sign on a lawn. I honestly can say I don’t think many of the people I have met are so passionate about their causes to have them tattooed on their bodies.

The thing to remember is that these tattoos are not just being done in protest. Many of the people getting them feel that Atatürk was the man that brought their country to the place it is now, and for them, their national identity is as much a part of them as their own skin.

Like I mentioned before, this subject isn’t one I can comment on, but what I can comment on is the level of commitment these people are displaying. Would you be willing to get a tattoo for similar reasons as these people?

The tattooed hurt locker

Posted on August 25, 2010 by Rob

Tattoos can have many different meanings to the wearer. Sometimes those meanings can even change over time. For example a tattoo that was done with a friend present may one day become a memorial tattoo if the friend passes away. Tattoos can mark significant events in a person’s life, the birth of a child, or journey taken. They can be about something the wearer is passionate about, or has played a major role in that person’s life.

Whatever the reason a person has for getting a tattoo, most of the time there is a story to be told. A while back I talked about modified members of the armed services. Today I found a story about one serviceman that I thought would be nice to share.

Sergeant Matthew Jackson, a bomb disposal expert from the 1st EOD Company, likes to quote Charles Manson in relation to his job – “total paranoia is total awareness.” It helps to keep his mind focused when he and his explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) team are working on one of the countless IEDs they have come across during their deployment in southern Afghanistan.

Jackson, on first meeting, looks just a tad eccentric. An English major at college, he is a big Hemingway fan. He wears thick black-rimmed glasses, and along the length of his left arm are a series of tattoos of the molecular structures of different types of explosives. Some call it his crib sheet, but he regards it as a portrait gallery of close friends, whom he refers to fondly as he lists their explosive properties and relative levels of oxygen content. In the center of his forearm is TNT – “the base of all explosives,” by his wrist are blasting cap explosives, nitroglycerin is further up his arm, but his personal favorite, he says with the enthusiasm of a professional collector, is RDX – the main component of C4 – “it’s just neat, it’s sensitive, it’s powerful…”

While Sergeant Jackson goes on to describe how the life of an EOD tech isn’t anything like it is in the film “The Hurt Locker”, he still is responsible daily for the lives of his company, and everyone else serving in Afghanistan. So while the sergeant’s tattoos are jokingly called a “crib sheet”, those chemical compounds are responsible every day for injuries and possibly death for any number of troops or civilians.

Sergeant Jackson’s arms tell a story. The story of a man who puts his life on the line every day to make sure people get home safely. I know that there are ModBlog readers who have served, and I can think of a specific IAM member that ended up coming home after being wounded by an IED. The stories that Matthew has are his own to share. So while we can see part of the story on the surface, it is what is underneath that carries the full tale.

This story is just like everyone else’s. Not everyone with a tattoo has a story that is tied to life or death, but we all have a story to tell. The ink is just the surface, the outer shell of the person inside. The tattoos are the story from inside being reflected on the outside. They are as much a part of ourselves as the stories that make up our life are.

Be still my beating heart

Posted on August 25, 2010 by Rob

Sometimes the daily grind can be overwhelming. Work, family, friends, bills, kids, and more can all be a joy at times and a curse at others. While we’re all flying through space on this spinning top we call home, sometimes it can feel great just to stop everything and be still.

To everyone the act of being still can mean many things. To some it is a form of release, allowing the stresses of the world flow out of their bodies. For others stillness can evoke feelings of anxiety, the calm before the storm as it were, the moment where everything just seems too good to be true. Even in nature stillness can have many meanings. Those early moments at dawn when a lake is perfectly still, just existing waiting for the world to begin again and reflect itself in its surface, the stillness of the night before still echoing across the glassy surface in the form of the mists. Then there are the predator and prey. The predator stalks its prey until it finds the perfect position to mount its attack, holding everything in and becoming a rock, immovable yet capable of motion. The waiting, the thinking, becoming so still with focus that the rest of the world falls away. While the predator waits, the prey becomes still as well, not with calm or focus, but with fear. Knowing there is danger around and that the slightest movement will set in motion a cascade of events that could be the end of its existence.

The stillness of the world cannot exist without the movement. The time after the world has stopped. The first fish leaping from the water to eat an insect, causing the first waves to break the surface, waves that will continue to move until the next morning when the cycle begins again. The moment where the stillness has fulfilled its purpose and the time to act is present, releasing all the energy locked within in one swift and sudden movement. When the fear changes from the overwhelming power to be still, to the realization that by remaining still will be the end, and movement is what is necessary to survive.

Looking at this photo of IAM: Radical Kiba, you can see the stillness in her. Lost within herself she is looking out on the world. There’s no way to know how she is feeling, but you can feel the stillness.

kiba

What is stillness to you? Is it the calm of the water at dawn, the anticipation of the predator waiting to strike, or is it the fear of the prey? Or is it something else, something that only you can feel?

The dragon tattoo and the girl

Posted on August 25, 2010 by Rob

I’ve intentionally been avoiding writing a story about the Millennium Trilogy for a while now. While I haven’t read the books, I have seen the films which are believably good, but despite the title, the tattoo in question doesn’t really play a major role in the films. Sure the character of Lisbeth sports a massive back piece, but seeing as how you only see it a couple of times and the actress, Noomi Rapace, didn’t actually get it tattooed on herself I just assumed that the entire thing was a non-story.

Today I was pleasantly proven wrong.

Before we begin, here’s the trailer for the first film: “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”

I use Google news alerts to flag stories that have specific key words in them. Tattoo of course being one of them. So you can imagine that with these films gaining international acclaim, the books being bestsellers, and casting rumors flying around for the American adaptations, my inbox has been filled for the past few months of stories about the trilogy. For the most part I just dismiss them, but since they finally got around to casting the role of Lisbeth in the American films, the e-mails have died down.

Yet here I am today, talking about the thing I promised not to discuss on ModBlog. The reason I’m bringing it up now? Well, I’ll let this article from The Mirror fill you in.

Winning a career-making role in the Dragon Tattoo films brought a strange mixture of pleasure and pain to rising star Noomi Rapace. The 30-year-old actress knew she had to nail the part of androgynous anti-hero Lisbeth Salander – or risk offending the many fans of the creator, best-selling author Stieg Larsson. So to really convince as the punky, chain-smoking, kick-ass computer hacker, Noomi embarked on a remarkable transformation. She went on a strict diet, trained in kickboxing and Thai boxing and even took her motorcycle licence. A non-smoker, she began puffing her way through “thousands of cigarettes” both on-set and off it. And she wouldn’t even consider faking all those piercings in Salander’s ears and nose because, as Noomi puts it, “I wanted to feel those piercings in myself.”

You’ll often hear of actors undergoing massive physical changes for a role. De Niro gained a significant amount of weight for his role in Raging Bull, while Christian Bale lost a frightening amount of weight in a short period of time for his role in The Machinist, only to gain it all back plus more in a couple months to be ready for his role in Batman Begins. Actors are required to change themselves to some degree for a role, sometimes it’s simply a costume, and others require a lot more commitment. So for Noomi Rapace, in order to fully transform into the character of Lisbeth she drastically changed not only her physical appearance, but also her behaviour months before filming.

While the diet and smoking is one aspect of the transformation, this being ModBlog I wanted to focus on her mods. You get a brief glimpse of them in the trailer but having seen the films it is obvious that she didn’t just opt for one or two piercings to personify the character. I counted about 10-12 seperate piercings spread out over her lobes, cartilage, nostrils and septum. While by ModBlog standards this isn’t anything too significant, to see an actress portray a character so well, and commit to that many mods is something significant. While the character of Lisbeth is certainly troubled, and goes through several drastic events over the course of the series, what we’re seeing is essentially a mainstream film that doesn’t treat modifications as some form of joke or used as shock value.

I’m sure we’ve all seen films where a “punk” character appears on screen wielding a vast array of facial piercings simply to appear intimidating to the viewer, yet in these films the piercings appear to be just a natural extension of the character. In fact, in the scenes where she isn’t wearing her piercings you get a sense of discomfort looking at her, as if something is missing. Which of course there is. I think an accurate analogy to this would be the NYC skyline post 9-11. The image of the skyline had been etched into the minds of millions of people, and now, looking at it, there is something missing. I’m not making any political statements or anything like that, but the idea that something is removed from an image that everyone was used to seeing makes one feel that sense of “not right”. Of course the NYC skyline itself evokes a lot of feelings, but I think you get where I was going with this. I really think that with Noomi Racpace’s commitment to the role, combined with a skilled filmmaker, that this may be the first portrayal of a modified person that actually captures the essence of the modified culture. Where the focus is on the character, and not the mods, yet when the mods are removed you can tell something has changed not only on her physical exterior, but something inside her as well.

If you were to take a look in a mirror one day and all of your mods were gone, how would you feel? What about those close to you, how do you think they would react if a modification you’ve had for years was suddenly gone without a trace? Because we don’t treat our modifications as something other than what they are, an extension of our ideal selves, we can sense the incompleteness that occurs with a mod is removed. Yes I realize people retire mods all the time, but even then, those first few days really can reveal how much our mods are a part of us.

Looking back at these films with the knowledge of the actor’s commitment to the part, it really shines a light on how a person who is modified isn’t defined by their mods, but by who they are as a person. While this isn’t anything new to us, there still is a large portion of the population that doesn’t realize it. Given that the titular dragon tattoo is the one modification in the film that isn’t a real mod, I thought I should close this post out with a real dragon tattoo from the BMEzine.com tattoo galleries.

dragon

I’m sure I’m not the only one who has seen the films. Can anyone else who has seen them weigh in? Did Noomi Rapace actually getting the piercings done change your view of the films and her portrayal, or does her performance stand out on its own without the piercings being a factor?

Move over vajazzling, there’s a new sheriff in town

Posted on August 24, 2010 by Rob

Well it turns out that when Jennifer Love Hewitt appeared on a talk show ranting about her vajazzle, it was only a matter of time before someone thought to get creative with paint instead of jewels.

A while back I brought you some interesting news on the fine art of Vajazzling, which as we all know now, is the act of adorning one’s vagina with little Swarovski crystals. Enhancing the mons pubis has since been an explosive trend in 2010, and I’m happy to bring you the latest installment: vatooing (also spelled “vattooing!”). Vatooing, is also known as “twatooing,” “vatuing,” or simply “vagina tattooing.” Except these tats (vats?) aren’t painful because they’re applied painstakingly with an airbrush

So while this isn’t a permanent (or even semi-permanent) mod, it is always interesting to see what people will do to modify themselves when they know it has 0 chance of being permanent. The Completely Bare chain of spas in NYC are the ones trying to make this fad as popular as the gluing of crystals to your nether regions. Although after watching the video, I’m not completely sold on the “painstakingly applied” technique. As far as I can see they’re limited to using a pre-made stencil with an airbrush.

I know I’ve posted about body painting in the past, and in a lot of cases an argument can be made that it is a form of art. Can the same be said for this procedure? Or do you think that this is just a quick way to cash in on the fad of women who want to live on the wild side, but not have any real permanence to it? This also begs the question, is this trend limited to women? Essentially they’re only adding gems and paint to the area around the vagina, couldn’t men get something done down there as well? There’s already a debate going on as to whether this should be called “Vattooing” or “Twatooing”, if we add men to the mix, should it be called something else? Possibly “Dattooing”, no, that name is taken by the guys trying to create digital tattoos. What about “Cockattooing”, I think it has a nice ring to it.

Now if this temporary tattoo/gemming business really isn’t your cup of tea, there’s always our genital tattoo galleries where you can go to see the real thing.

Being heavily modded is a disease?

Posted on August 24, 2010 by Rob

First, watch this video until the end.

This ad, designed by Zeitsprung Commercial in Germany got sent to me last night by ModBlog reader Broodje. For those that can’t watch the video at work, allow me to sum it up for you. A man dressed in a bear costume is walking around the streets to cheerful music giving out hugs to people as he strolls along. Then, the lighting darkens as the man in the costume pulls off the bear’s head to reveal his heavily modified face. The tagline of the ad appears as he roars at the camera and stalks away: ”You can’t see H.I.V. But you can prevent it”.

I’m not sure how you may react to this, but I’m on the same page as Broodje, in that we’re both more than a little upset by the implications that this PSA gives off. While the message itself is a good one, the end result may be giving a lot of people a bad impression of the modded community. To me this is saying that not only can you get H.I.V. from a hug, but that someone who is heavily modified is probably infected and it is best to stay away from them.

As for the actor in the bear costume, I have no idea if he knew what the PSA was for, or if it mattered to him how he would be portrayed in the final cut. The fact remains that as much as we try to show the world that modded people aren’t any different from the rest of the world, things like this come along and tap into some base fear that people have of the unknown, setting any progress that has been made back in the process.

I think what troubles me most about this, is that this type of thing is exactly the reason that Jessie had such a huge media circus around his arrest. The media is consistently associating heavily modified people with as many negative connotations as they can. Now we’ve come to a point that not only are heavily modified people scary because they’re “all violent”, but they “all have H.I.V. and should be avoided at all costs”.

What do you think? Am I reading too much into the ad, or is there really an undercurrent in the media that is directly attempting to demonize a group of people just because they choose to take control of their bodies.

UPDATE: It turns out that this video was part of the 2009 HIVisible campaign, and is starring none other than BME’s own IAM:Sicko. So it appears I was completely off base with my interpretation of the ad. Thanks to Bastian for filling me in and clarifying the message.

The subtle art of the facial tattoo

Posted on August 24, 2010 by Rob

Last week I featured a facial tattoo that was not only large, but was also brightly colored. Today I want to look at the other side of the coin.

Okvit uploaded this image of his facial tattoo, which I think is a good example of a smaller, subtle piece.

face1

Before I talk about this specific tattoo, I want to take a step back to look at the art of facial tattoos and the significance they play in the wearer’s lives. Now I obviously can’t speak from experience, and I would love to hear some stories from those of you who do have facial tattoos. Now when it comes to visible modifications, the facial tattoo is probably one of the more drastic changes, at least to the unmodified world. Our face, for the most part, is what people notice first about others. When talking to someone, unless you’re a woman talking to a guy at a bar, chances are they’re looking at your face. So when one chooses to modify their face, they are in essence changing the part of them that is seen the most.

The ramifications of this change differ from person to person, but the fact remains that any kind of facial tattoos are an intentional modification that will permanently alter the way you are seen by others. But I’m saying things we already know. What I want to focus on is what constitutes a subtle facial tattoo, or is any kind of facial tattoo significant enough to go beyond the realm of what most would deem “subtle”.

So looking at the lines above Okvit’s brow, would this fall into the same category as the girl who has the bright flowers covering half of her face? Or does this qualify as a smaller piece that isn’t as significant? Then again, I suppose it is all about context and who is viewing the tattoo vs. the wearer’s own feelings about the tattoo. To the modified community, I think it’s safe to say that this piece is much more subtle than the other image, yet to those who are unmodified, does the same apply?

In the end, does it really matter? I suppose the person sporting the tattoo cares about what it looks like to themselves, and the views of others are secondary. Yet in a cultural sense, facial tattoos have always held a position of significance. Be it the facial lines of the Ainu, or the masks of the Maori, over time many cultures have adopted facial tattoos as a means of transformation. The tattoos can show familial and tribal ties, they can denote when a boy becomes a man, when a girl is ready to be married, or in many cases, as a form of intimidation towards their enemies. So while today’s world is drastically different in many ways from the past, the facial tattoo has remained in a position of denoting a significant change in the wearer’s life.

I know that ModBlog has a lot of readers with facial tattoos and I would love to hear some of your stories about how things have changed for you, or if they haven’t at all. Those without facial tattoos, what are your thoughts on them? Are they something you would consider getting, is there a reason why or why not?

Around the world

Posted on August 24, 2010 by Rob

The urge to travel. Some of us have it, some don’t. Those that do can have it more than others. To those that do, sometimes the journey is more important than the destination.

Read that again, only this time replace “travel” with “be modified”. Of course it could be applied to a great many things, which is what happens when you talk in generalities. But lets get back to the travel bug. I’ll admit I enjoy getting away, be it a road trip, camping, or hopping on a plane. No matter the destination, there’s this thrill involved in putting your life into a suitcase and leaving everything else behind.

Personally, I like to keep track of the places I’ve been. Be it little mementos, photographs, or just dots on a map. Whether the experience is good or bad, to me just being able to have the journey is enough to satisfy me. So when I see a tattoo like this one, I can’t help but think to myself, where have I been, and where would I like to go.

map

Obviously this is still a fresh piece, and I don’t know if it is completed or not, but just looking at it makes me want to hop on a plane. I traveled around the US this summer camping in a lot of national parks, so I think my next trip will either be spent visiting friends, or grabbing the first flight overseas and seeing where my travels take me. Of course if I ever meet the anonymous submitter of this tattoo, I may ask if I can use a sharpie to mark off all the places I’ve been.

It’s interesting to think of the ritual of travel, and how it varies for each person. Like I mentioned I try to keep some form of memento of the places I’ve been. For others, just the experience is all they need. To some, packing as much as possible is the only way to go, others pack as little as possible to allow for some freedom while going across a country. Then there’s the technology question. Which in this day and age is becoming more and more significant a question. When you travel do you bring your electronic gadgets? Obviously those travelling for work would, but what about the rest of the people? Do you “need” your iPhone if you’re hiking through the rainforest? Is your laptop vital when you’re walking the streets of Prague? These are all questions travelers are faced with now. 20-30 years ago, these weren’t even options available to those going on a journey. Have things changed so much that we can’t live without them, or is it still possible to just disappear off the grid for a while and enjoy where life takes you?

Is there a special place you’ve been to recently? Maybe one you’ve always wanted to go to? Can you point it out on the map that’s tattooed on the person above?

The Travelling Gnome

Posted on August 23, 2010 by Rob

I’m sure most of us in North America have heard of the Travelling Gnome. The idea is you steal someone’s garden gnome before you go on vacation, then take pictures of the gnome in places all over the world, which you send back to the person you stole the gnome from. Then, when you return, you bring back the gnome and replace it as if it never left. The result, you end up with a great story and experience, and the person who thought their gnome was gone for good gets a surprise in the mail (and their gnome back). Of course over the years the gnome stories have spread all over becoming so popular that a travel booking website uses a gnome as its mascot.

Well it seems the gnome is still on the go, and it looks like his latest spot was in Italy, paying a visit to IAM: Lady_FlameThrower. You may remember her from a ModBlog post a while back about her Watchmen scarification piece. You can see in the photo below that the photographer Alex Hen is featuring not only the gnome, but also Lady_FlameThrower’s surface bar and dermal anchors.

gnome

So has the urge to steal a gnome ever crossed your mind? The idea of stealing a gnome is only scratching the surface of what travelers do for fun with their photos. I’ve seen collections of people holding up cardboard cutouts of friends, other keepsakes from houses, and more. Well ModBlog readers, have you taken a gnome or something else on your travels to document the journey?

The Tell-Tale Heart

Posted on August 23, 2010 by Rob

But even yet I refrained and kept still. I scarcely breathed. I held the lantern motionless. I tried how steadily I could maintain the ray upon the eve. Meantime the hellish tattoo of the heart increased. It grew quicker and quicker, and louder and louder every instant. The old man’s terror must have been extreme! It grew louder, I say, louder every moment! –do you mark me well I have told you that I am nervous: so I am. And now at the dead hour of the night, amid the dreadful silence of that old house, so strange a noise as this excited me to uncontrollable terror. Yet, for some minutes longer I refrained and stood still. But the beating grew louder, louder! I thought the heart must burst. And now a new anxiety seized me –the sound would be heard by a neighbour!

– Edgar Allan Poe – The Tell-Tale Heart

Normally I would hesitate to post two images that as so similar this close together, but given the material presented, I couldn’t help myself given the connection between the two images.

Below you’ll see a portrait of Edgar Allan Poe that Godsandmonsters uploaded. Now because I was a lit major in university, tattoos tied to works of literature tend to catch my eye. So when I saw Poe looking back at me, I knew I had to take a closer look. One of the great things about Poe (aside from his writing) is that he always has a sort of haunted look about him. Throughout his troubled life he was orphaned, served in the military, eventually started writing, married his 13 year old cousin who died still very young, became an alcoholic and eventually died in a bizarre manner. You see, the night that Poe died, he was found on the street rambling about someone named “Reynolds”. He was rushed to the hospital where it was discovered that he was wearing someone else’s clothes. The eventual cause of death was determined to be some sort of brain trauma, although all records have since been destroyed. In the years following his death, a jealous rival came into control over Poe’s literary holdings, and worked hard to destroy Poe’s reputation.

But let’s take a step back. While Poe was writing a good deal of his works dealt with death and loss. These of course intensified after the loss of his wife. Given his personal history, it was clear that his abandonment when he was a child, and the deaths of those around him contributed greatly to his works, but he also drew upon the works of others for inspiration. In one specific instance, Keats’ poem “The Lamia” played a significant role in the inspiration of one of Poe’s sonnets. ”To Science“, one of Poe’s earlier works, specifically refers to Keats’ poem (lines 229-238) in addition to using lines that echo lines from “The Lamia”. The argument behind Poe’s sonnet is that as science is expanding it is taking away the mysteries of the world, and in doing so is ruining the world for poets as they look to the mysteries of the world for inspiration.

So now look to yourself. Do you think Poe ended up being right? Did science and the modern age ruin the mysteries of the world? Or is it still there, waiting to be discovered again by poets and artists all over the world?

poe

As for myself, I still think there is enough mystery out there, maybe not the same mysteries that Poe was searching for, but new ones for a new generation to discover.

While we’re on the subject of artists, do you happen to have any art on yourself that you want to share? BME is always looking for new submissions, and if you’re not a member yet, head on over to the main page and sign up. Those of you who are members can also check out Godsandmonsters‘ story of getting tattooed. While ModBlog shows of some of the great pieces submitted every day, there are hundreds more submitted all the time that are just as good, if not better.