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.

From The Vault: My first exposure to flesh removal scarification

Hello Modbloggers, Sean Philips here (IAM: LexTalonis). As one of the new guest contributors to Modblog, one thing I want to do is a regular “From The Vault” feature. Modblog has featured the latest and greatest in mods since it’s inception a few years ago, but there are tons of amazing, classic pictures just growing stagnant in the farthest back pages of BME that really show where we as a community came from, and in some cases, where we could still go.

For my first entry I want to go back to the early 21st century, a time when scarification as an art form was developing rapidly. On Modblog we feature AMAZING scarification pieces that rival tattoos for the amount of detail that they contain, but this super detailed scarification is a very recent addition to the body mod world.

In fact, it wasn’t that long ago that the concept of flesh removal to create an artistic scar wasn’t even common. This piece was my, and several other practitioner’s first exposure to flesh removal. The removal was done by Toro, one of the pioneers of flesh removal scarification. The branding was done by Blair, who is arguably the greatest strike brander in the world.

James Raimar got this huge and amazing piece while myself and others watched in awe over a live video feed. Myself and several others returned home and immediately started  trying out this new technique ourselves and look where scarification has gone! The techniques have improved and the aftercare has VASTLY improved, but it is important to remember where our art came from and this piece was a big part of the modern history of scarification.

Healed Toro/Blair Scarification Piece

Want  a few more pics and some full frontal male nudity?

Here it is one month after being done.

week4-1-1

…and where there is nudity, Shawn Porter is sure to be near by!

shawnscar1

Comments

11 responses to “From The Vault: My first exposure to flesh removal scarification”

  1. SeeeingRed Avatar

    Awesome article. James lives in my area, i have seen his band a few times and hung out with him afterwards. Really cool dude.

  2. nae Avatar

    Aww, I love James. And Shawn 🙂

  3. Laurel Avatar

    Holy brutal branding batman.

    Jim’s definitely rad. He’s done both of my scar pieces including skin removal. Definitely a fun guy.

  4. Laurel Avatar

    Except by branding I meant skin removal. heh

  5. CoryVictorious Avatar

    that scar piece is huge.

    and jeez shawn looks really young in that pic.

  6. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Amazing how far scarification has come. Can’t wait to see more ancient bme history!

  7. Ganesh Avatar
    Ganesh

    i am intrigued by that lower stomach piece, any chance of a close up?

  8. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Awesome idea, Sean!! And yeah, Cory, he does.

  9. PhilipBarbosa Avatar

    Sean you will remember back when Toro was doing flesh removal procedures noone had ever seen anything like this and i do recall alot of attendees of a certain private event where a procedure like this may have taken place: thinking, man is that guy gonna live? James was a trooper and lived to tell the tail! It was more that at this time the boundaries of scarification where really getting their first big push.

  10. Nyarlathotep Avatar
    Nyarlathotep

    As I recall, he might have managed to survive a certain theoretical, private event, although if he did, he might have claimed that the car ride home was pure agony.

    PS: sternum implants are still holding well since then. 🙂

  11. onega Avatar
    onega

    Its awsome. I love looking at the last pages in any of the categories of photos on BME… if you look in the tongue splitting – at the end you can see pictures of Shannon, and The Lizardman, and Allen Falkner with fresh splits. 🙂

    Its good to know your history!!

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