Body Arts | Body Modification | Branding In The Flesh

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	In the Flesh is an insightful examination of the more extreme body modification subculture, one that invites the reader to re-examine his or her expectations about bodies, body politics, and medical technologies. A generous writer, Pitts presents her research to the reader and offers a framework for investigating how some bodily alterations are medicalized or accepted because they enforce normative expectations about health and beauty, and how others are pathologized. In lively and lucid prose, the author provides us with a useful look at an important issue, and does so (much to her credit) without confining her research participants or her readers to a specific political camp. There may be bright political lines between circumcision, botox injections, Michael Jackson, and flesh hangings -- or then again, maybe there are not. In the Flesh gives us new tools with which to draw those lines for ourselves. Read more
	The road of body modification, piercing, and mutilation is untraveled by most people, yet it holds an undeniable fascination for many. This book, the first monograph devoted to Musafar’s photography, chronicles this compelling topic in an amazing collection of 140 photographs taken by Fakir Musafar, the "father of the modern primitive movement." A world-renowned shaman, artist, master piercer, and body modifier, Musafar has devoted most of his life to the personal exploration of body decoration, photographing himself and others since the 1940s. Revealing a modernist edge, these photographs are beautifully composed and printed. Their power as images, however, resides in the intense, unexpected beauty of Musafar’s exploration of the spirit/flesh connection. Read more
	This fascinating collection explores the growing range of body modification practices such as piercing, tattooing, branding, cutting and inserting implants, which have sprung up recently in the West. It asks whether this implies that we are returning to traditional tribal practices of inscribing identities onto bodies on the part of 'modern primitives', or is body modification better understood as purely cosmetic and decorative with body markings merely temporary signs of transferable loyalties? Contributors address the question of the permanence of body transformation through fitness regimes and body building; look at the French performance artist Orlan and the Australian performance artist Stelarc who explored Western standard of beauty by experimenting on their own bodies with surgery and prosthetics; and explore the construction of the anatomy of a virtual body in Real Video Surgery and the Visible Human Project. Academics and students in sociology, cultural studies, anthropology, communication studies, social psychology and art and design. Read more
	This groundbreaking work sees the contemporary cultural trends of tattooing, piercing, implanting, and branding as a quest for a transformative psychic experience and a way to heal the mind/body separation. Riveting color photographs by the foremost three-dimensional body modification artist in the United States provide the perfect visual complement to this examination of the soul as it rises toward freedom. Read more
	In May of 1999 members of the heavy modification set made their way from around the world to attend an event that was to become infamous. They came from as far away as Japan and varied in age from eighteen to their early seventies. No matter how far they traveled or what age they were this would be the first time for most to be surrounded by this many people with a shared interest - extreme body modification. Practitioners and participants who have dedicated their bodies and lives to fields such as tattooing, branding, implants, subincision, amputation, castration, scarification, nullification… this event was only for the serious and as such it was invite only. It goes without saying, none of those invites were too media. "ModCon: The Secret World of Extreme Body Modification" is the first peak for most into this most secretive of worlds. It is the culmination of three ModCon events held over a three-year period and documented by its organizer, Shannon Larratt. A life long contributor to the community and publisher of BMEzine.com, Shannon is the world's foremost authority on the subject of extreme body modification. As well as containing comprehensive and informative information on the subject, "ModCon: The Secret World of Extreme Body Modification" also contains stunning images by photographer Phillip Barbosa whose contributions to the community include a complete visual documentation of every ModCon event as well as helping organize the I Was Cured suspension group in Toronto, Canada. Read more
	It contains mainly information on body painting, tattooing, scarification, body piercing, gender transformation, masks and other forms of appearance manipulation. it has big clear pictures and personal comments from each person photographed. It's a very nice book to look through it doesn't have a large focus on writing as I wanted. It includes a mixture of personal opinion and actual facts. My main reason in buying the book was because I am interested in body piercing and I was disappointed that that only 12 pages were specifically focused on the subject. It does not give the "why you should not do it" lecture but looks at it in an anthropological view point. Looks at reasons why people do it, how they feel when pierced and the non western tribes, e.g. Amazon. I find it disappointing that All pictures are in black and white. I was also disappointed that a lot of the book contains material on costumes, different hair and shoe styles which do not interest me at all. Even so for a person who is interested in them I would think that it is a book that they would enjoy. Read more