A black-and-white photo of a person mid-air in a Superman-style body suspension pose, supported by multiple hooks in their back and legs, smiling joyfully toward the camera. They are suspended horizontally in a large indoor space with high ceilings and visible rigging. A group of onlookers—some seated, some standing—watch with expressions of admiration, amusement, and support. The atmosphere is lively and communal, capturing a moment of shared experience and transformation.

Graveyard Corsetry

This set of photos from Melisa made me wonder, how would someone who died in 1886 feel about body modification and the way people choose (and are relatively free) to express themselves these days? It’s probably a rather pointless question as we’ll never know, at least not in my lifetime anyway.

Also, I’ve often thought how amazing it would to be thrown into a time totally alien to you, or to know how it feels to see a light bulb/Wii for the first time in your life! One thing I think is lacking these days is the joy of discovery, you can basically go through your entire life not having to really work anything out for yourself. Even employment comes with an instruction manual, that’s not necessarily a bad thing but there are limits..

If you need to do something invariably you will buy a product that will do it for you, if you can’t fathom out how to use what you’ve bought there are instructions, it’s all handed to us on a plate and it makes me a little sad.

Anyway sorry for rambling, my point is I’m sure people from the past would have much less trouble adapting to life in 2008 than we would if we were whisked to the 1980′s, even. We’ve got it pretty good, eh.

By Lisa Avilla (pictured after the break, on the left), Studio 13, Salinas, CA.

Comments

96 responses to “Graveyard Corsetry”

  1. HauntedxSoul Avatar
    HauntedxSoul

    very nice

  2. paul Avatar
    paul

    a cemetery – at least have some respect.

  3. Ania Avatar

    Roo, you should ramble like that way more often 🙂
    and maybe that’s why so many of us are into body modification – an opportunity to discover something about us and the world without any manuals and in not that easy a way.

    well, I’m not digging these pictures much but your post is kind of cool on its own

  4. Rew Avatar
    Rew

    Beautiful pictures. I agree with ania, Rew, your rambling is welcome.

  5. Coffee Avatar
    Coffee

    This post provoked thought.

    And other things.

  6. annabella Avatar
    annabella

    I think the real question is how would someone who died in 1886 feel about someone posing naked on their grave.

  7. dirtbag_danae Avatar
    dirtbag_danae

    I love Meli!
    I knew it wouldn’t be long before she ended up on modblog.

  8. bold Avatar

    is that her mom?

  9. Scarlet Thread Avatar
    Scarlet Thread

    Haha, I love your rambling Roo, cause I came to BME to procrastinate about a really shitty philosophy essay I’m supposed to be writing 🙂 That’ll teach me! Anyway, the questions that have no answers are usually the most important and interesting not the most pointless, imho :p
    As for the pics- photos taken in graveyards never really sit right with me, bit the piercings are stunning and I love this girl for getting completely nekked outside 😀

  10. RooRaaah Crumbs Avatar

    To the people mentioning respect, I understand what you mean (well, not personally but I can see where you’re coming from).

    But really graveyards should be places people can express themselves, more than anywhere. Again I’m saying this personally but I certainly don’t think they should be treated as hallowed ground. If I was buried (which I’m not going to be), but if I was and could look about the place, I’d love to see someone enjoying themselves.

    I don’t know. I just think people have a kneejerk reaction to seeing photos of a graveyard where something else other than mourning is pictured.

  11. Secret South Avatar

    Bottom Line. She is really hot and courageous. I love the photos.

  12. Monnica Avatar
    Monnica

    Beautiful piercings, and lord I hope that isn’t her mother…

  13. soeppel Avatar
    soeppel

    i like your rambling, roo. please don’t quit it 😀
    @6: how do you think they would feel? most likely the only naked thing this person has seen since 1886 is bugs. i’d get a heartattack if something naked suddenly showed up on my grave. oh shit, that’s too late!

  14. rachel Avatar
    rachel

    i don’t know, i’d feel pretty damn happy about having a beautiful naked woman standing on my grave

  15. Sarah Avatar
    Sarah

    I wouldn’t want anyone standing naked on my grave…but that all depends on the opinion of the person who’s buried there (not that you’d be able to ask…)

  16. RooRaaah Crumbs Avatar

    Yeah, I’d be well chuffed (and I don’t mean that in the naughty sense), just happy.

  17. solocard Avatar

    Just… Wow!

  18. cenobite Avatar

    That isn’t her mom. Thats Lisa, the owner of Studio 13. And the best piercer in the area!

  19. Jaimes Avatar
    Jaimes

    I mean, yeah its beautiful and all that but it is a bit disrespectful towards the dead.

    Cemeteries are places for the dead to rest, not a place to take sweet pix.

  20. RooRaaah Crumbs Avatar

    Cenobite is right – I’m not sure where the Mum comments came from 😛

  21. annabella Avatar
    annabella

    @13, well that went right over your head, didn’t it?
    How about this then, how would someone feel going to a cemetary to mourn their loved ones, and they see a naked chick posing for pictures over the grave. I’d be pretty damn pissed. If you feel the need to trot off to a cemetary for some naked fun, do it on someone from your own family’s grave.

  22. Amy Avatar
    Amy

    The dead don’t really need peace, quiet and non-nudity to rest do they? I mean, they’re dead. I would imagine they don’t mind. She and her piercings are gorgeous, the scenery is nice too. I think the graveyard is a nice touch, you don’t expect naked people in graveyards.

  23. Mark Avatar
    Mark

    Wow. She is incredibly hot, and the graveyard just seems to add to the eroticism

  24. Amy Avatar
    Amy

    Though annabella makes a good point. While the dead probably don’t mind, their families might.

  25. bevelsNbreakdwns Avatar
    bevelsNbreakdwns

    thats my meli!!! and if i died i would be HONORED to have her trot around my grave! =]

  26. Warren Hiller Avatar

    Cemeteries are about remembrance of loved ones who have past…And its hard to say how one who’s dead would feel…Perhaps there are many buried there who don’t really want people to “be having an amusing fun time”…Perhaps there are others buried there who DID want people to go there and have a good time in their name,etc.

    The question is this…Does the nude girl in this picture even KNOW the individuals in the grave-sites she’s strutting around on? Probably not. It shouldn’t matter if the person died in 1650 or 2008, personally I think its not cool for anyone to just do whatever they want one certain peoples final piece of property/land….Now if it was a family member, well whatever its a family member but you should still abide by how THEY would want you to behave…If that means tits and ass out for all to see, rock it like never before…But if the person was a bit more conservative then that, then you should respect that.

    Lord knows if I was dead and buried and some chick decided to get corset piercings all over her body and get naked…I’d turn into a zombie right quick and break a piece off…Now that could be taken TWO ways perverted and something else…I’ll leave that for people to mentally picture and decide.

    But I’m glad I don’t plan to be buried in a cemetery…Right now my choices are:

    1) Be cremated and compressed into a Diamond
    2) Be sent to a taxidermist and made into a life-sized talking doll (with pull string voice box and all)
    3) Put into a time capsule and blasted into outer space.

  27. MR.C Avatar

    i would love being crucified nd stay on my cross while rotting

  28. Ward. Avatar

    “it’s all handed to us on a plate and it makes me a little sad.” Say that after you’re grandmother has speant 2 hours trying to install her DVD player and won’t just let you give her the instructions or do it for her 😉

  29. MR.C Avatar

    oh yea…LOVE THE PICTURES

  30. esmeray Avatar
    esmeray

    I think we all went through this graveyard issue before, with those shirt ad pictures a while ago… that said, I also agree with those saying it’s disrespectful (unless in the very odd chance that it’s her relative, which I suppose is different).

  31. lippi Avatar
    lippi

    I love pictures of hot naked women.

    I love pictures of cemeteries.

    I don’t love them together, I too think it’s disrespectful.

  32. PuncturedPrincess Avatar

    The photos (from an artistic pov) are fantastic. The grave part.. I’m on the fence about that one. The grammatical errors in the description bothered me more than the “disrespect” to the deceased.

  33. Angiebabynz Avatar
    Angiebabynz

    I buried my Mum a few days ago, so the thought of someone standing naked over her grave, be it tomorrow or in 200 years time, really hits me in the guts.

  34. Needle Fetish Avatar

    Is that a tat of cherru blossoms on her thigh?

  35. Jessica Avatar

    I seriously hope she can hear my eyes roll.

  36. anametamystik Avatar

    Sunday morning, 5AM, out of the way graveyard, really quick on a holiday. It’s not that difficult to get graveyard photos without offending relatives or being arrested. I believe that the dead can’t think or feel.

    If the choice of location offends, shocks or creeps out a majority of the population, then the majority of the population deserves to be offended, shocked and creeped out and get over that a young women decided to use a cliche location for her photoshoot.

    Like everyone here, I’ve been there when relatives were being buried. I would easily shoot a photoshoot in the same cemetery. Death does not bother me.

    Regarding the photos, my curiousity revolves around how long she kept the corsets.

  37. maz Avatar

    Why would it matter if it was her mum? Surely the one person we should be comfortable being naked around would be our mothers? Not everyone is..Obviously, but it wouldn’t shock me at all if it was her mother.

  38. DK Avatar
    DK

    It’s a shame she wasn’t born with a front.

  39. k10 Avatar
    k10

    beautiful

  40. Kat777 Avatar
    Kat777

    i think the girl, and the pictures, are both beautifull.
    i look at it this way, cemetaries, just like funerals, are for those still living, a dead person is just that, dead, why the hell would they care? they cant!
    besides, i think the obviouse contrast in these photos between death and life make them all the more beautifull.

  41. Bogrin Avatar
    Bogrin

    Beautiful figure, and nice piercings.

    The only problem I would see here has nothing to do necessarily with respecting the dead, but rather, respecting their families. Most people don’t spend the money on graves and markers for their loved ones intending for complete strangers to go traipsing about on them for a fancy photograph.

    I don’t particularly find this as offensive as some of the things I have seen done in graveyards though.

    I myself want to be cremated and spread across my favorite looking point. So, if my family respects my wishes, they won’t have to worry about anyone disrespecting their plot.

  42. chinaa Avatar
    chinaa

    it’s not like shes peeeing on the graves; she’s just taking pictures. the people in the graves had bodies tooo.

  43. RooRaaah Crumbs Avatar

    Esmeray is talking about this post..

  44. taal Avatar
    taal

    I have to admit that if I knew somebody was posing naked on top of my grandmother’s grave, I’d be a little angry about it. Death doesn’t bother me, nudity doesn’t bother me – good job to her for having the guts to pose nude, outside. But people don’t shell out thousands of dollars on grave and a casket, tombstone and funeral to come back in a few months and hear that some girl was taking naked photos on it. Even if that exact family doesn’t come back and catch her at it, it still strikes as disrespectful.

  45. taal Avatar
    taal

    And what I meant by “catching her at it” was that it’s comparable to talking behind your best friend’s back, or a crime, or something like that. If you never had a chance of getting caught, does that make it okay?

  46. Kat777 Avatar
    Kat777

    seriously, do people still visit the graves of someone who died in 1870 something?

    i guess i just dont get it….i guess some people are a little more uncomfortable with the human body then they would like to let on…if people being naked doesnt bother you, why would it matter were they do it?

  47. beyond_repair Avatar
    beyond_repair

    it’s kinda funny to discuss what humus soil would say about a naked girl…but maybe there are some very prudish worms around.

  48. anametamystik Avatar

    Anyone from Charleston, SC?

    I was on a ghost tour there once. The guide, as we were walking to a cemetery, pointed out that the street we were walking on had graves underneath it.

    A cemetery is as good as any place to take artistic nude photos.

  49. Lk Avatar
    Lk

    anf…

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