BME: Body Modification Ezine

A tattooed person suspends from hooks, laying flat, one leg higher than the other. Their head is back, and they seem to be smiling, dark hair dangling like an anime character.

Celebrating body modification culture since 1994.

Author: Rob

  • Stone by day, warriors by night

    Written by

    Rob

    I’m probably the furthest thing from a religious scholar you will find, but during my years in university I did come across a large number of texts that were either directly tied to the church, or at least were influenced by it.  Now the term “gargoyle” refers to any sculpture (usually in the form of an animal or person) that is designed to allow water to fall away from the edges of a building to prevent erosion.  Over the years people have just adopted the term to apply to any decorative sculpture on the roof of a building.

    The reason I bring up the religious side of gargoyles is that centuries ago, when being illiterate was the norm, the church needed ways to convey their stories and rituals to the masses.  What better way to educate an illiterate crowd than through images.  It was here that the myth of the gargoyle began.  As the story goes, St. Romanus encountered a monster in his travels, your typical dragon type creature that breathed fire.  Well when Romanus defeated the creature, he brought its body back to be burned, but discovered that the head wouldn’t burn because the dragon breathed fire and the head was adapted to heat.  So he hung the head on the outside of the church to ward off evil spirits.  Over time the churches would add their own stone gargoyles to the outside of the building in order to let people know that outside the church evil lurks, but inside they will be protected.

    Now of course when I was growing up gargoyles were just scary looking statues that eventually came to be “cool” in my young eyes.  I suppose that was aided by the Disney cartoon.  Of course I’m not the only person walking the planet that enjoys looking at gargoyles.  Bromley_Daz submitted this image to BME the other day, and I think it’s safe to assume he enjoys gargoyles as well.

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    It’s always nice to see images added to the mythological and religious gallery, because often there is a good story behind the designs.  This image in particular reminds me that every culture around the world has developed their own wards against evil.  Be it symbols or rituals, these wards have become much more than just a repellent to evil.  The gargoyle being a prime example of that.  What first started as a way to protect buildings from erosion, a practice that pre-dates Christianity by centuries, eventually became a symbol of warning to people.  As time passed, these statues became the guardians of the the buildings they were installed on, until eventually they were regarded primarily for their historical significance and their art.

    Now while I don’t feel the need to possess any particular wards against evil, I do own a Rangda mask that hangs on my wall, that I really like the aesthetics of.  How about you?  Do you possess any symbols that can be attributed to warding off the evils of the world?

  • Talk about a pain in the ass

    Written by

    Rob

    One of the perks of having a membership to BMEzine.com is that you gain access to the Surgical and Hard galleries.  For those that have never had the opportunity to see these galleries, may not be aware that there are special bonus galleries that are dedicated to individual members.  No topic is taboo, and these individuals are continually pushing the boundaries of modifications and mod-related play.  Often you’ll get a glimpse of some of these sections in ModBlog’s regular “Guess What?” feature.  Today I opted for just sharing a simple picture with you.  Now while this is probably on the very tame side of what you can expect to see, it is still an interesting image to share.

    To be on the safe side, I’m going to hide it behind a clickthrough just in case a co-worker happens to be walking by.

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    See, I told you it was tame.  But like I also said, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what you can see.

    My only concern about this play piercing session is wouldn’t it be difficult to sit down with all those needles poking out?

    Ok, fess up, what did you think was going to be behind the clickthrough based on the headline?

  • Stretching yourself to the limit

    Written by

    Rob

    Be free all worthy spirits, and stretch yourselves, for greatness and for height.

    –George Chapman

    Today I’ve spent a bit of time focusing on the work of the artists that make up our community.  Specifically the works of one artist, but the idea is there.  What doesn’t get discussed a lot on ModBlog is the DIY aspect of the modification community.  Now the DIY modification enthusiasts range from the simplest of piercings, to some of the hardest modifications and play sessions that are covered by BME.  Due to the nature of the broad spectrum that DIY covers, it is impossible write a post about every aspect without getting complaints from people about writing the longest ModBlog post ever.  What I do hope to do is feature DIY stories more frequently as there are a tremendous amount of photos of  DIY modifications in pretty much every category of photo.

    For today, I thought it would be nice to go with something simple.  Now the headline may be a bit misleading but it will make sense if you follow along.

    So, what would you say is the most popular form of DIY modification?  In all honesty, I don’t have any numbers to back me up, but I think a safe bet would probably be lobe stretching.  I think it is safe to say that the majority of people with stretched lobes have at some point performed the stretching themselves, probably without even realizing that they were adding their names to the list of DIY modified people.

    A lot of what makes the DIY movement so significant is that it is taking the next step in control over the body.  While everyone getting mods is doing it for their own personal reasons, they all are in essence changing their bodies to what they want, primarily through the help of practitioners.  What DIY means to many is the opportunity to make the changes that they want but by their own hands.  This means that by performing any mod by yourself, you are singlehandedly pushing the limits of control you have over your body, changing it to what you want it to be.

    One person in particular who was kind enough to send in an image of a DIY modification is IAM: tiny.vertebrae.

    tiny.vertebrae

    From what I can tell, it appears she’s using a piece of wood to stretch out her own lobes.

    So while lobe stretching is fairly common when it comes to DIY modifications, it is still a process that is being undertaken by those who are choosing to modify themselves under their own power.  I know someone is thinking it, and yes this isn’t the limit in which a lobe can or has been stretched, but in the moment captured in the image, the stretching is pushing the limits of what came before.

  • Trifecta complete!

    Written by

    Rob

    A polymath is a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas. In less formal terms, a polymath (or polymathic person) may simply be someone who is very knowledgeable. Most ancient scientists were polymaths by today’s standards.

    The terms Renaissance man and, less commonly, Homo Universalis (Latin for “universal man” or “man of the world”) are related and used to describe a person who is well educated or who excels in a wide variety of subjects or fields. The idea developed in Renaissance Italy from the notion expressed by one of its most accomplished representatives, Leon Battista Alberti (1404–1472): that “a man can do all things if he will.” It embodied the basic tenets of Renaissance humanism, which considered humans empowered, limitless in their capacities for development, and led to the notion that people should embrace all knowledge and develop their capacities as fully as possible. Thus the gifted people of the Renaissance sought to develop skills in all areas of knowledge, in physical development, in social accomplishments, and in the arts.

    Source

    When I started writing today’s posts I had noticed that a few of the images I has selected were all from the same artist.  We’ve already seen Gabor Zagyvai’s scarification work, as well as one of the suspensions he performed recently.  Now for the final part of the trifecta, I present one of his tattoos.

    abstract

    This piece, entitled “Abstract Mistycism” (not my spelling), was part of the large image upload that Gabor sent in recently.  This leg piece is just breathtaking in it’s intricacies.  I love how you can get lost in the images, especially considering the monochromatic nature of blackwork.

    I was to talk about the term “Renaissance Man”.  The wiki definition above gives us the classical definition, and for the most part that definition still works today.  I think that Gabor is a good representation of the Renaissance men and women that are so prevalent in the modification community today.  While classical artists tend to favor one medium over other others, what we are seeing now is a large percentage of the modification artists branching out from one particular form of modification.  Scar artists are also tattoo artists, piercers also suspend people, and even more, like Gabor, cover every aspect of the modification spectrum.

    This then brings up the argument, is it now necessary in today’s world to become a master of multiple genres?  Is wearing just one hat enough these days to become successful, or should artists work towards perfecting their art in different mediums?  I guess the more important question is, have we as a community raised our expectations to the point that artists feel they must diversify to meet the needs of their clientele?

    What do you guys and gals think?  Does the future of modification lie in artists becoming polymaths, or are there enough people out there that specialization is still the preferred way to go?

  • Send… more… paramedics

    Written by

    Rob

    Often I get to see an image that just delights me.  Most people that know me know that I’m a big horror fan, zombies in particular.  When I’m scanning the tattoo galleries for new images I always notice the horror related ones first, but today, when looking at the suspension galleries I was pleasantly surprised.

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    I had to shrink the image down to fit it on ModBlog, but the full sized version can be seen here.  For those with keen eyes you can make out a couple of notable horror icons.  I believe that’s Michael Myers on the left, Bela Lugosi’s Dracula on the right, and of course the woman in the middle is Lianna Quigley from Return of the Living dead.  I think the reason I like this image so much is that you have all these horror movie related images blended together while blood is dripping down onto it.

    While you may not be familiar with Return of the Living dead, it is the movie that you can thank for creating the famous zombie quote “Brainnnssssss”.

    Now, if you were in this position, what image would you like to see your blood dripping down on to?  Which I realize is a somewhat morbid phrasing to a question, but hey, we are talking about the walking dead are we not?

    Oh, one more thing, while not scarring people up like in the previous post, Gabor also spends some of his time rigging people up.  There are a few other happy Hungarians hanging from hooks over in the suicide suspension galleries.

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