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.

Facial Tattoos and Scarification.

jasn sent in these new shots of Andy (featured previously), updating us on his beautiful “Ta-Moko” and forehead skin removal.

Click on each photo above to enlargen.

Pacific Rootz Tattoo, Maui, Hawaii.

Comments

156 responses to “Facial Tattoos and Scarification.”

  1. RooRaaah Crumbs Avatar

    Jon P – It wasn’t my term, it was in the submission text.

  2. RooRaaah Crumbs Avatar

    Jon P – It wasn’t my term, it was in the submission text.

  3. Connor Avatar

    wow. thats gorgeous. and his eyes are amazing. =]

  4. Connor Avatar

    wow. thats gorgeous. and his eyes are amazing. =]

  5. Connor Avatar

    wow. thats gorgeous. and his eyes are amazing. =]

  6. Connor Avatar

    wow. thats gorgeous. and his eyes are amazing. =]

  7. Jon P Avatar

    Yeah, but Roo, you linked the wording to the BME Wiki articles I basically wrote. And it’s abundantly clear within those articles that there is a clear difference between ‘ta moko’ and ‘kirituhi’

    Though you wouldn’t even call this kirituhi as the design isn’t Maori based any more than it’s Celtic based, it’s the most simple of spirals and therefore doesn’t sufficiently resemble the koru patterns used in ta moko and kirituhi. There’s nothing remotely Maori about it.

    But judging from the rest of him, I guess white boys trying to go “tribal”. And for some unknown reason, everyone wanting to go ModPrim or “tribal” chooses to rip off te ao Maori. Shit, even Polynesians who aren’t Maori rip off te ao Maori and claim they have whakapapa Maori. There’s a couple IAMers like this, particularly Pauly_Unstoppable who claim whakapapa Maori but then say that they don’t know (or have no way of finding out, because their relatives are now dead) how they got said whakapapa Maori. Which is bullshit because (being Maori) I know that there’s only a single degree of separation between pretty much all Maori if you wanna find out who your relatives are. I can go to any Maori in my workplace who knows their whanau and mention ANY ingoa whanau (family name) and they’ll know someone from that whanau or someone related to me.

    Anyways, at the end of the day, there’s three Maori on IAM who can prove their whakapapa Maori. And only two of us know anything about it. The rest of the people on IAM sporting ‘ta moko’ are a mockery. They can’t even take the two seconds out of their day to read that Ta Moko entry on the BME Wiki. For shame! Kia whakakaakahuria raatau ki te whakamaa, ki te numinumi!

  8. Jon P Avatar

    Yeah, but Roo, you linked the wording to the BME Wiki articles I basically wrote. And it’s abundantly clear within those articles that there is a clear difference between ‘ta moko’ and ‘kirituhi’

    Though you wouldn’t even call this kirituhi as the design isn’t Maori based any more than it’s Celtic based, it’s the most simple of spirals and therefore doesn’t sufficiently resemble the koru patterns used in ta moko and kirituhi. There’s nothing remotely Maori about it.

    But judging from the rest of him, I guess white boys trying to go “tribal”. And for some unknown reason, everyone wanting to go ModPrim or “tribal” chooses to rip off te ao Maori. Shit, even Polynesians who aren’t Maori rip off te ao Maori and claim they have whakapapa Maori. There’s a couple IAMers like this, particularly Pauly_Unstoppable who claim whakapapa Maori but then say that they don’t know (or have no way of finding out, because their relatives are now dead) how they got said whakapapa Maori. Which is bullshit because (being Maori) I know that there’s only a single degree of separation between pretty much all Maori if you wanna find out who your relatives are. I can go to any Maori in my workplace who knows their whanau and mention ANY ingoa whanau (family name) and they’ll know someone from that whanau or someone related to me.

    Anyways, at the end of the day, there’s three Maori on IAM who can prove their whakapapa Maori. And only two of us know anything about it. The rest of the people on IAM sporting ‘ta moko’ are a mockery. They can’t even take the two seconds out of their day to read that Ta Moko entry on the BME Wiki. For shame! Kia whakakaakahuria raatau ki te whakamaa, ki te numinumi!

  9. Jon P Avatar

    Yeah, but Roo, you linked the wording to the BME Wiki articles I basically wrote. And it’s abundantly clear within those articles that there is a clear difference between ‘ta moko’ and ‘kirituhi’

    Though you wouldn’t even call this kirituhi as the design isn’t Maori based any more than it’s Celtic based, it’s the most simple of spirals and therefore doesn’t sufficiently resemble the koru patterns used in ta moko and kirituhi. There’s nothing remotely Maori about it.

    But judging from the rest of him, I guess white boys trying to go “tribal”. And for some unknown reason, everyone wanting to go ModPrim or “tribal” chooses to rip off te ao Maori. Shit, even Polynesians who aren’t Maori rip off te ao Maori and claim they have whakapapa Maori. There’s a couple IAMers like this, particularly Pauly_Unstoppable who claim whakapapa Maori but then say that they don’t know (or have no way of finding out, because their relatives are now dead) how they got said whakapapa Maori. Which is bullshit because (being Maori) I know that there’s only a single degree of separation between pretty much all Maori if you wanna find out who your relatives are. I can go to any Maori in my workplace who knows their whanau and mention ANY ingoa whanau (family name) and they’ll know someone from that whanau or someone related to me.

    Anyways, at the end of the day, there’s three Maori on IAM who can prove their whakapapa Maori. And only two of us know anything about it. The rest of the people on IAM sporting ‘ta moko’ are a mockery. They can’t even take the two seconds out of their day to read that Ta Moko entry on the BME Wiki. For shame! Kia whakakaakahuria raatau ki te whakamaa, ki te numinumi!

  10. Jon P Avatar

    Yeah, but Roo, you linked the wording to the BME Wiki articles I basically wrote. And it’s abundantly clear within those articles that there is a clear difference between ‘ta moko’ and ‘kirituhi’

    Though you wouldn’t even call this kirituhi as the design isn’t Maori based any more than it’s Celtic based, it’s the most simple of spirals and therefore doesn’t sufficiently resemble the koru patterns used in ta moko and kirituhi. There’s nothing remotely Maori about it.

    But judging from the rest of him, I guess white boys trying to go “tribal”. And for some unknown reason, everyone wanting to go ModPrim or “tribal” chooses to rip off te ao Maori. Shit, even Polynesians who aren’t Maori rip off te ao Maori and claim they have whakapapa Maori. There’s a couple IAMers like this, particularly Pauly_Unstoppable who claim whakapapa Maori but then say that they don’t know (or have no way of finding out, because their relatives are now dead) how they got said whakapapa Maori. Which is bullshit because (being Maori) I know that there’s only a single degree of separation between pretty much all Maori if you wanna find out who your relatives are. I can go to any Maori in my workplace who knows their whanau and mention ANY ingoa whanau (family name) and they’ll know someone from that whanau or someone related to me.

    Anyways, at the end of the day, there’s three Maori on IAM who can prove their whakapapa Maori. And only two of us know anything about it. The rest of the people on IAM sporting ‘ta moko’ are a mockery. They can’t even take the two seconds out of their day to read that Ta Moko entry on the BME Wiki. For shame! Kia whakakaakahuria raatau ki te whakamaa, ki te numinumi!

  11. Kero Avatar
    Kero

    Ummmmmm..JON P…bitching about “white boys trying to go “tribal”” and people who get ta moko tattoos would be like a tribesman from Kenya bitching because westerners stretch their ears or wear lip plates. Get off your high horse, its all fair game now.

  12. Kero Avatar
    Kero

    Ummmmmm..JON P…bitching about “white boys trying to go “tribal”” and people who get ta moko tattoos would be like a tribesman from Kenya bitching because westerners stretch their ears or wear lip plates. Get off your high horse, its all fair game now.

  13. Kero Avatar
    Kero

    Ummmmmm..JON P…bitching about “white boys trying to go “tribal”” and people who get ta moko tattoos would be like a tribesman from Kenya bitching because westerners stretch their ears or wear lip plates. Get off your high horse, its all fair game now.

  14. Kero Avatar
    Kero

    Ummmmmm..JON P…bitching about “white boys trying to go “tribal”” and people who get ta moko tattoos would be like a tribesman from Kenya bitching because westerners stretch their ears or wear lip plates. Get off your high horse, its all fair game now.

  15. Gemmer Avatar
    Gemmer

    Wow, I find that very aesthetically pleasing 🙂

  16. Gemmer Avatar
    Gemmer

    Wow, I find that very aesthetically pleasing 🙂

  17. Gemmer Avatar
    Gemmer

    Wow, I find that very aesthetically pleasing 🙂

  18. Gemmer Avatar
    Gemmer

    Wow, I find that very aesthetically pleasing 🙂

  19. Jon P Avatar

    Nah, fuckface (I mean Kero), it ain’t fair game. Look at the G8 meetings and their move to further the case for intellectual property rights. Albeit in an online context, this also applies to intellectual rights in the forum of culture.

    Maori went after Lego when they blatantly ripped off te reo Maori for use in their ‘Bionicle’ packaging. And they won, though Lego still sneakily used shit anyway.

    Barry Barclay wrote an extremely good book on the subject called ‘Mana Tuturu’ which boils down to a clause which can be inserted ANY time Maori intellectual or cultural property is used in ANY medium.

    See, to me, its anathema for a modprim to take ta moko when it’s not theirs to take. For people who supposedly respect indigenous cultures (enough to want to replicate parts of those cultures), it’s ludicrous that they’d steal something sacred from another culture, misappropriating it blatantly.

    Also, I’m going to assume you don’t also have a degree in Cultural/Social Anthropology here, the practise of stretching earlobes isn’t an exclusively Maasai practise. Maori stretched their earlobes also (not for aesthetic purposes, it happened as a by-product of attaching their toki/chisels from muka cords in their ear piercings, which gradually enlarged the hole) but I’m not “bitching” about that because it’s not an exclusively Maori custom, nor was it a tapu/sacred custom. Ta moko itself is exclusively Maori. No other culture on Earth EVER did ta moko except for te tangata Maori. It’s inherently and EXPLICITLY Maori.

    What I’m saying here, is that the term ‘ta moko’ is itself sacred. Words hold meaning, there’s some things you don’t say. There’s definitely some things you don’t do. Any critically thoughtful, ethically minded, empathically acting person wouldn’t say that everything is fair game now. Because it’s not.

    So, fuckface (whoops, there I go again, haha), there’s no horse of any height on which I’m sitting. I’m just stating what has been argued in courts since the 1800s when Te Tiriti O Waitangi was signed which, in Article Two, guarenteed te tino rangatiratanga of Maori over all of their taonga. And that is that stealing cultural property is just plain wrong.

    Calling something ta moko when it isn’t, and doesn’t even resemble it, is wrong. An apple is an apple. Unless it’s a pear. In which case you wouldn’t call it an apple unless you were fuckin’ retarded or something, right?

  20. Jon P Avatar

    Nah, fuckface (I mean Kero), it ain’t fair game. Look at the G8 meetings and their move to further the case for intellectual property rights. Albeit in an online context, this also applies to intellectual rights in the forum of culture.

    Maori went after Lego when they blatantly ripped off te reo Maori for use in their ‘Bionicle’ packaging. And they won, though Lego still sneakily used shit anyway.

    Barry Barclay wrote an extremely good book on the subject called ‘Mana Tuturu’ which boils down to a clause which can be inserted ANY time Maori intellectual or cultural property is used in ANY medium.

    See, to me, its anathema for a modprim to take ta moko when it’s not theirs to take. For people who supposedly respect indigenous cultures (enough to want to replicate parts of those cultures), it’s ludicrous that they’d steal something sacred from another culture, misappropriating it blatantly.

    Also, I’m going to assume you don’t also have a degree in Cultural/Social Anthropology here, the practise of stretching earlobes isn’t an exclusively Maasai practise. Maori stretched their earlobes also (not for aesthetic purposes, it happened as a by-product of attaching their toki/chisels from muka cords in their ear piercings, which gradually enlarged the hole) but I’m not “bitching” about that because it’s not an exclusively Maori custom, nor was it a tapu/sacred custom. Ta moko itself is exclusively Maori. No other culture on Earth EVER did ta moko except for te tangata Maori. It’s inherently and EXPLICITLY Maori.

    What I’m saying here, is that the term ‘ta moko’ is itself sacred. Words hold meaning, there’s some things you don’t say. There’s definitely some things you don’t do. Any critically thoughtful, ethically minded, empathically acting person wouldn’t say that everything is fair game now. Because it’s not.

    So, fuckface (whoops, there I go again, haha), there’s no horse of any height on which I’m sitting. I’m just stating what has been argued in courts since the 1800s when Te Tiriti O Waitangi was signed which, in Article Two, guarenteed te tino rangatiratanga of Maori over all of their taonga. And that is that stealing cultural property is just plain wrong.

    Calling something ta moko when it isn’t, and doesn’t even resemble it, is wrong. An apple is an apple. Unless it’s a pear. In which case you wouldn’t call it an apple unless you were fuckin’ retarded or something, right?

  21. Jon P Avatar

    Nah, fuckface (I mean Kero), it ain’t fair game. Look at the G8 meetings and their move to further the case for intellectual property rights. Albeit in an online context, this also applies to intellectual rights in the forum of culture.

    Maori went after Lego when they blatantly ripped off te reo Maori for use in their ‘Bionicle’ packaging. And they won, though Lego still sneakily used shit anyway.

    Barry Barclay wrote an extremely good book on the subject called ‘Mana Tuturu’ which boils down to a clause which can be inserted ANY time Maori intellectual or cultural property is used in ANY medium.

    See, to me, its anathema for a modprim to take ta moko when it’s not theirs to take. For people who supposedly respect indigenous cultures (enough to want to replicate parts of those cultures), it’s ludicrous that they’d steal something sacred from another culture, misappropriating it blatantly.

    Also, I’m going to assume you don’t also have a degree in Cultural/Social Anthropology here, the practise of stretching earlobes isn’t an exclusively Maasai practise. Maori stretched their earlobes also (not for aesthetic purposes, it happened as a by-product of attaching their toki/chisels from muka cords in their ear piercings, which gradually enlarged the hole) but I’m not “bitching” about that because it’s not an exclusively Maori custom, nor was it a tapu/sacred custom. Ta moko itself is exclusively Maori. No other culture on Earth EVER did ta moko except for te tangata Maori. It’s inherently and EXPLICITLY Maori.

    What I’m saying here, is that the term ‘ta moko’ is itself sacred. Words hold meaning, there’s some things you don’t say. There’s definitely some things you don’t do. Any critically thoughtful, ethically minded, empathically acting person wouldn’t say that everything is fair game now. Because it’s not.

    So, fuckface (whoops, there I go again, haha), there’s no horse of any height on which I’m sitting. I’m just stating what has been argued in courts since the 1800s when Te Tiriti O Waitangi was signed which, in Article Two, guarenteed te tino rangatiratanga of Maori over all of their taonga. And that is that stealing cultural property is just plain wrong.

    Calling something ta moko when it isn’t, and doesn’t even resemble it, is wrong. An apple is an apple. Unless it’s a pear. In which case you wouldn’t call it an apple unless you were fuckin’ retarded or something, right?

  22. Jon P Avatar

    Nah, fuckface (I mean Kero), it ain’t fair game. Look at the G8 meetings and their move to further the case for intellectual property rights. Albeit in an online context, this also applies to intellectual rights in the forum of culture.

    Maori went after Lego when they blatantly ripped off te reo Maori for use in their ‘Bionicle’ packaging. And they won, though Lego still sneakily used shit anyway.

    Barry Barclay wrote an extremely good book on the subject called ‘Mana Tuturu’ which boils down to a clause which can be inserted ANY time Maori intellectual or cultural property is used in ANY medium.

    See, to me, its anathema for a modprim to take ta moko when it’s not theirs to take. For people who supposedly respect indigenous cultures (enough to want to replicate parts of those cultures), it’s ludicrous that they’d steal something sacred from another culture, misappropriating it blatantly.

    Also, I’m going to assume you don’t also have a degree in Cultural/Social Anthropology here, the practise of stretching earlobes isn’t an exclusively Maasai practise. Maori stretched their earlobes also (not for aesthetic purposes, it happened as a by-product of attaching their toki/chisels from muka cords in their ear piercings, which gradually enlarged the hole) but I’m not “bitching” about that because it’s not an exclusively Maori custom, nor was it a tapu/sacred custom. Ta moko itself is exclusively Maori. No other culture on Earth EVER did ta moko except for te tangata Maori. It’s inherently and EXPLICITLY Maori.

    What I’m saying here, is that the term ‘ta moko’ is itself sacred. Words hold meaning, there’s some things you don’t say. There’s definitely some things you don’t do. Any critically thoughtful, ethically minded, empathically acting person wouldn’t say that everything is fair game now. Because it’s not.

    So, fuckface (whoops, there I go again, haha), there’s no horse of any height on which I’m sitting. I’m just stating what has been argued in courts since the 1800s when Te Tiriti O Waitangi was signed which, in Article Two, guarenteed te tino rangatiratanga of Maori over all of their taonga. And that is that stealing cultural property is just plain wrong.

    Calling something ta moko when it isn’t, and doesn’t even resemble it, is wrong. An apple is an apple. Unless it’s a pear. In which case you wouldn’t call it an apple unless you were fuckin’ retarded or something, right?

  23. Lynn Avatar
    Lynn

    Wow. This pictures leave me speechless! I love his forehead scar and the eyebrows. It all fits so perfectly with his beautiful eyes.

  24. Lynn Avatar
    Lynn

    Wow. This pictures leave me speechless! I love his forehead scar and the eyebrows. It all fits so perfectly with his beautiful eyes.

  25. Lynn Avatar
    Lynn

    Wow. This pictures leave me speechless! I love his forehead scar and the eyebrows. It all fits so perfectly with his beautiful eyes.

  26. Lynn Avatar
    Lynn

    Wow. This pictures leave me speechless! I love his forehead scar and the eyebrows. It all fits so perfectly with his beautiful eyes.

  27. Randy Avatar
    Randy

    And I repeat, these are OLD pictures, not NEW pictures. Explain that one, Roo.

  28. Randy Avatar
    Randy

    And I repeat, these are OLD pictures, not NEW pictures. Explain that one, Roo.

  29. Randy Avatar
    Randy

    And I repeat, these are OLD pictures, not NEW pictures. Explain that one, Roo.

  30. Randy Avatar
    Randy

    And I repeat, these are OLD pictures, not NEW pictures. Explain that one, Roo.

  31. RooRaaah Crumbs Avatar

    Randy – My mistake, sincere apologies!

  32. RooRaaah Crumbs Avatar

    Randy – My mistake, sincere apologies!

  33. RooRaaah Crumbs Avatar

    Randy – My mistake, sincere apologies!

  34. RooRaaah Crumbs Avatar

    Randy – My mistake, sincere apologies!

  35. Random Avatar

    Enlargen? Is that sort of like embiggen?

  36. Random Avatar

    Enlargen? Is that sort of like embiggen?

  37. Random Avatar

    Enlargen? Is that sort of like embiggen?

  38. Random Avatar

    Enlargen? Is that sort of like embiggen?

  39. Gummo Avatar
    Gummo

    this kid looks so much like saloman from gummo

  40. Gummo Avatar
    Gummo

    this kid looks so much like saloman from gummo

  41. Gummo Avatar
    Gummo

    this kid looks so much like saloman from gummo

  42. Gummo Avatar
    Gummo

    this kid looks so much like saloman from gummo

  43. Tray Avatar
    Tray

    to jon p
    I found your argument to be absolutely arousing.

  44. Tray Avatar
    Tray

    to jon p
    I found your argument to be absolutely arousing.

  45. Tray Avatar
    Tray

    to jon p
    I found your argument to be absolutely arousing.

  46. Tray Avatar
    Tray

    to jon p
    I found your argument to be absolutely arousing.

  47. lovelife Avatar

    Not Ta Moko in the slightest, it doesn’t even look like kirituhi. I’m really over people ripping off my ancestors steez, Ta Moko = Whakapapa, without Whakapapa, you cannot have Ta Moko.

  48. lovelife Avatar

    Not Ta Moko in the slightest, it doesn’t even look like kirituhi. I’m really over people ripping off my ancestors steez, Ta Moko = Whakapapa, without Whakapapa, you cannot have Ta Moko.

  49. lovelife Avatar

    Not Ta Moko in the slightest, it doesn’t even look like kirituhi. I’m really over people ripping off my ancestors steez, Ta Moko = Whakapapa, without Whakapapa, you cannot have Ta Moko.

  50. lovelife Avatar

    Not Ta Moko in the slightest, it doesn’t even look like kirituhi. I’m really over people ripping off my ancestors steez, Ta Moko = Whakapapa, without Whakapapa, you cannot have Ta Moko.

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