Denise is currently working as a "bodyart consultant", helping shops get "up to spec" (trade skills, sterilization, etc.) and reviewing health board guidelines. Also, being female and fluently bilingual, Denise draws clients from all over this part of North America.

> Anyway, I guess we should start with your history and go from
> there...

> And that was seven years ago, right?

My outlook and life changed when I first met members of the Jim Rose Circus. After a show at Zaphod Beeblebrox, my roommate brought home Slug, Mr Lifto, and the Torture King to eat pizza with Canadian bacon and listen to Bauhaus. I ended up hanging with the lads and becoming fascinated with the Torture King. Originally, I had NO interest in seeing a freak show. I had read about them for a while, but was more interested in "real" circuses. I also have a weak stomach. We all went out for breakfast, spent the day together, and headed over to the club where I met the other members. I saw the show and had a rough time holding my lunch after watching the Bile Beer act, but watching the guys goofing off backstage made it somehow more palatable. I kissed the Torture King goodbye, and started reevaluating my perspective on things. A few weeks later I got a phone call from the Torture King (Tim) and was extended an invitation to visit Seattle.

I dumped my boyfriend and packed my 10month old daughter and I up and was there less than 48 hours later. I then spent three weeks exploring aspects of my sexuality that I never had the strength to admit to myself (largely blood play and play-piercing, and what better teacher than the Torture King!). I also was exposed to piercing on a larger scale (at that time if you sported a nostril ring in Ottawa you were punk!) and got my eyebrow pierced (I couldn't afford a tongue piercing!!). I also got my second tattoo by Ashleigh, the first logo of the Jim Rose Circus (two-headed skeleton) to commemorate this first important trip of my life (the first time I had travelled on my own, with a 10 month old in tow was a growth expereince!)

When I got back to Ottawa, I was the first person with a visible piercing, and started dating a piercer with whom I explored bondage, cross-dressing and pain. I got my navel pierced and my clit-hood vertically pierced to reclaim my self as being more than a womb, but a woman. A cutting of the sign of Sagittarius on my belly followed shortly, as did other piercings of less import.

I helped him with his piercings as well as booking appointments for him. When he started not bothering to visit, I asked the piercer from Seattle who had done my eyebrow to come up. He did so, and we also explored my pain limits as well as piercings.

My first solo piercing (in December ov 1992) was done on a lady whose first sexual experience was rape, from which she got pregnant. She wanted two inner labial piercings to reclaim herself. She sobbed as the needle went through, but explained that the piercing didn't hurt so much as letting out years of repressed anguish and pain. Thus was born my piercing career.

I pierced out of my home, then out of a tattoo studio in downtown Ottawa (Future Skin), then after some disagreements with the owners of the studio opened my own shop. After about a year of constant struggle, including a tattoo artist who never paid me and ripped off our autoclave, rent increases, bomb threats and people shooting out our windows, I decided to cut my losses and work out of my home. I find that not working out of a shop often seems to compromise my reputation, but when people see my set-up, they realise that I'm the best northeast of Toronto. It also offers me lots of free time to explore programming and spending lots of quality time with my two children.

> Why were people shooting out your windows?

I fought, but after I did my taxes realised that we just weren't pulling in enough people, and couldn't afford to pay for a new set of signs or another grand to replace windows, we looked at our client-base and realised that 80% were repeat clients and word-ov-mouthers, and knew that they would follow us anywhere.

The Kreator Story:

When I was working at Future Skin (March 1990 - April 1 1991), I was asked to train John from Kreator Tattoo (one of the stores that Future Skin partially owned) to pierce. "I've been tattooing for a few years now. I know skin." were his words. I said that I would train him in his store over the period of six-months to a year, with me (or one of my other piercers) doing all the work, but showing him what to do, and letting him help in time (provided he showed us that he was serious about caring for his clients and getting his first aid certificates). I never heard back from him.

Next I heard that Tanya, one of the Future Skin owners, was training him. She had never received any training about piercing, nor read any books, nor had any medical background. She had two piercings done, and watched about twenty others, and felt qualified to train someone. I set up a friend to play mystery shopper and ask for prices, training, aftercare, etc. The results were scary. He told my friend that he was trained by a piercer working out of Future Skin, but wouldn't give any names. To me, it sounded as though he was implying that I had trained him. I told Tanya that I was thoroughly pissed, and would not rest until he stopped making such false claims, and with any luck, until John stopped piercing.

That night, around 2am, I received a visit from John and a friend of his. Both were drunk. They berated me, ridiculed my experience, and threatened my life. I ended up calling the cops to report it, but didn't press charges... I was alone in the house with my two year-old upstairs, roommate out for the night, and couldn't get back to sleep...

When I opened my store a few blocks away from Kreator a year later, they made a point of ripping down every sign we would put on posts for a mile. No threats or actions would make them stop.

> Are you able to make it as a full-time piercer, or is it only a
> parttime career?

> What should a client expect when they come in for a piercing?

My interest in cutting was a natural extension of my interest in breaking the skin -- cutting actually is my favourite form of body art to perform, and receive, though I look forward to more brands at my birthday party. Blood and blood play are fascinating: there's something so powerful and moving about having the trust to say to someone, "here, spill my essence" you know? There's so much magickal about it, and the power exchange can be really heavy.

Whenever someone asks me to perform a cutting we deliberate over a design, then draw it out, and transfer it to the disinfected skin. I prefer a number 11 scalpel blade for control. After the cutting is done, I use a rubbing alcohol torch to flambé the area (handing a damp towel to the "client" so they can douse the flames if things get too hot!).

> Is that for "fun" or does it have a positive effect on the healing or
> scarification by some kind of low-level cautery?

Next is some hydrogen peroxide. Often I'll use some white, pink, or lavender ink to emphasize the scar. I've used black on a few cuttings, and really dislike it, because it quite often ends up looking like a jail-house tattoo. I can't tell my clients to deliberately let their cuttings get infected so it will scar better, since there's really no guarantee that the bumps will turn out as they like, and I like to think of myself as a professional body artist, and hate to advocate something so deterious to someones' health. I also tell my clients that I'm not their mom, babysitter, or doctor, and how they treat their body is all up to them, as are the results.

In October of 1993 I attended a "Modern Primitive" event in London, Ontario, and had a brand done on my hand by Raven from Urban Primitive. The brand is a V with a dot in the opening, and was done with three strikes. I always wanted a piece of bodyart that I could enjoy, and felt that a brand would be perfect, and my hand the ideal location since my hands are so important to me for healing and touching. The branding was when I truly understood how people could gain insight from pain, and have started on the road ov exploring the possibilities. The scar of my brand has become somewhat of an erogenous zone for me. Neat, huh?

> I've noticed the same thing with mine -- Incidentally, do you think
> that's common?

My personal body art collection has expanded to include tattoos of the new Jim Rose Circus logo on my lower spine (ouch!), a Pict design on my scalp, a monogram of my first daughter's name (Genevieve), a tribal-esque sleeve, aptation ov the Psychick cross, cuttings, tongue piercings, multiple inner labial rings, triangle, bridge piercing, septum, and stretching (slowly) earlobes.

I've kept in touch with most of the circus members over the years. Heck, my five year old, (the girl I brought with me to Seattle) still gets excited when the XFiles come on, hoping to see Uncle Slug! I've travelled with the circus round Quebec, Ontario, and even visited An Arbor with them. I always enjoy running away with them, or at least throwing a good party... Chances are, if the Circus is in town, there'll be a big party at Denise's place that night... We've got a great picture of The Enigma playing my piano... The Circus to me represents everything that I wish I could do, but am too home-bound or conservative to do -- travelling, body modification to the extreme... Slug bugged me when I was in Seattle to get my tongue pierced, and to this day asks me why I haven't got my face tattooed yet!

> Do you think that's a step you'll take someday?
> If not facial tattooing, what about 3d implants and some of the other
> more unique modifications circus members are beginning to take?

I now act as sort of a media watch and internet publicist for Jim Rose as well as maintaining the official pages and sending out a newsletter for fans.

My interest isn't solely limited to Jim Rose, though. I look forward to visiting NY next summer to see the Coney Island Sideshow, and every year at my Steel Ball I feature the fire eating talents of an old friend I introduced to the Circus. I put together my freak pages for fun, and have been flattered with the positive feedback I've received from around the world, particularly Jim Rose! There's something romantic about running away with the circus, particularly when its one of freaks. "Gooboo gabboo, we accept you, one of us..." The success of the Jim Rose Circus, as well as the appearance of freakshow images in tv and videos over the past few years, I think, says something about our subculture...

> You're not worried that the Jim Rose show cause "legitimate"
> modificactions to be seen by the public as some kind of a freakshow
> or marginal activity? (I don't think this, but it is an accusation
> that gets made).

<soapbox size=+2>
A common theme in history and science-fiction alike have been the problems a lack of understanding of a new technology can create. I love the work that people like Stelarc, Jon Cobb, and Steve (hmmm... and Tom [Brazda, of Stainless Studios], I guess!) are doing. But should the artist be responsible for the repurcussions? Stelarc describes a future where metal is better than meat. Steve's 3D modifications are pushing the envelope, as are some signature piercings -- but what about the consequences? Should pioneers be held accountable? New techniques and ideas are great. Evolution, not stagnation is important. But ther should be some consideration of reposibility as well.
</soap box>

There will always be some ground-breakers, who chances are will be embraced by a subculture. Part of it is the good old phenomenon of each generation and/or subculture needing some way of marking themselves as being distinct from their parents. What better badge than a piercing, or pair of horns? <g> Every innovation when it comes to culture (particularly music and fashion, it would seem) gets broken in by the "true alternative" culture, then gets bandied about "Mainstream alternative"-ites, then made more palatable for the world. The mainstream appropriation of alternative culture is an old idea now, but it does work in our favour.

Sure, the Circus is showing off this stuff as being freaky, but pretty soon others will imitate, and the additional exposure will prove beneficial to those in the industry (I still prefer to refer to body modification as an art, though), and those who don't want to be viewed as being freaks for wearing what they feel comfortable with. I'm sure that piercing and tattooing have little to worry about! Tattooed ladies have been around forever, and magazines and music videos are rife with piercings. I can hardly wait to see if Jean-Paul Gauthier will come up with some way of emulating implants in his next season... Or how Madonna or Aerosmyth will portray them!

> Where do you see body modification going over the next twenty years
> or so, and how have you seen the public's opinion for it change?

The public's opinion is more accepting for piercing: the same girl who freaked about the implants wants me to pierce her nostril or navel... My sister, who looks like a total Barbie Doll who works out and is doing her Masters in Commerce had her hood pierced and sports a tiny tattoo on her breast. One of the first PAs I did was on a Doctor, and when I was in DC piercing at Perforations, I pierced (no kidding) five ladies' navels, all of whom worked at different legal offices, most as lawyers.

Most now accept that piercing is here to stay. The big rush is over, but its now a mainstay of the body modification community. Heck -- the fact that there even is such a thang as a bodmod scene is probably indicative of that acceptance. Its more than tattooing, and I don't think that there are many tattoo artists who still believe in the "freak" aspect of piercing anymore...

> What role do you see public or private organizations playing in body
> modification (both in the US and Canada, but more in the US).

Membership of a group rarely implies competence, but if I knew that every operating piercer (and body artist) in Canada complied with the procedural guidelines set out by the APP, I would feel a heck ov a lot more comfortable going to other studios! To me, the main point of professional body art organisations should be to keep the standards of cleanliness and professionalism high, to offer a standard and a name of quality that people could refer to, as well as offer professional resources of information exchange to help keep up on industry developments as well as offer a unanimous voice to the public, particularly legislators.

I really hope that CABA [the Canadian Association of Body Artists] can gain some impetus and members, since I find that there are concerns specific to Canadians that need to be addressed, and it would be a shame to be drowned out by APPers... If I recall correctly, there isn't any professional Canadian tattoo organisation, right? I think that a body artist organisation which would cover piercing, tattooing, and alternate bodyart for Canadians would be fantastic, and really hope that CABA will kick off soon. I know that I've got some hefty plans for the new year, including a massive anti-ear-gun campaign, as well as studying in more depth alternative medicine, particularly acupuncture, pressure, and aromatherapy, especially with regards to healing piercings.

Anyhow, its getting late, and I think I'm rambling. That's it 4 now!