The Beauty in Disfigurement: Body Modification and their Significance

Body modifications reinterpret the representation of skin, and accentuate the intimate discovery of the affinity between art, affliction, and transcending one’s body. They have been practiced for thousands of years, varying from regular tattoos and piercings to more shocking – transgressive – alterations, including crude scarring, nipple splitting, or foot binding, and more extreme versions such as voluntary amputation and body suspension. Many cultures partake in these painful acts that were designed as a means of individuality and spirituality, while the rest of those who engage in them are looking to build on their aesthetics and self-expression.

Many perceive modifications as a type of self-mutilation or a form of psychiatric disorder. Those with body dysmorphia often engage in “non-therapeutic mutilation” in an attempt to “fix” their perceived flaws, but the results are nonetheless often found unsatisfactory and can actually exacerbate a person’s BD, which causes an ethical divide between medical experts.

The ways in which we cover our bodies are, at the same time, ways of exhibiting it

- WALZER AND SANJURIO

However, most body mods are done due to one’s taste, which can indicate the need for social acceptance - or on the contrary wanting to become more striking - and can indicate underlying psychological factors, such as the need to increase attractiveness or sexuality. By succumbing the body to these various procedures we redefine our identity and the way we are perceived; stand modifications are associated with allure and charisma, as tattoos and piercings are often seen as erotic . However, distinctive types of alterations are more scrutinized and are often regarded as self-mutilation or inhumane. 

Individuals who practice body mods frequently make staggering errors and cause involuntary disfigurements – a risk factor which only increases the “tenacity” shown by the one getting modified. A lesser talked about type of procedure is scarification, which was initially treated as a rite of passage and yields grotesque yet beautiful marks and patterns. This technique is divided into cutting and branding; the former involves repeated incisions in such a way as to make the scar as deep as possible, and is carried out over a lengthy period of time and necessitates a multitude of chemical liquids to support the process. Branding, on the other hand, is a shorter yet more gruesome method which involves the flesh being consumed by specifically constructed heated metal bars that therefore create a design, leaving, visually, a tattoo, while the tactile result is much closer to scarring.

The tradition of scarification began in African tribes where it was performed as an act of courage and growth, a means to become part of the community, and where it was preferred over tattoos due to its ability to appear more striking on dark skin. By going through these alterations, they would obtain another mark of identification – of their lineage and religious beliefs – but the scarring was also believed to have sorcerous abilities. Modern-day scarification was initially taken up by the LGBTQ+ community in San Francisco, and later spread to the punk and neo-tribal subcultures where it was practiced with the same intention as the African tribes – to show belonging to a community – and was quickly seen as cultural appropriation and misinterpretation, nevertheless still growing in popularity.

More startling still, another form of body alteration is voluntary amputation, which is generally performed on smaller limbs – fingers, ears, lips, nose – by their partial removal or even complete. It is often considered that instead of an extreme art form, this practice resembles a type of psychopathology, and is associated with body integrity identity disorder.

Though ethics committees  have been called in and several prohibitions have been put into place, these procedures are developing still, with many of those going through them claiming that they feel more “disabled” before them than after.

Although all these modifications involve large amounts of pain, irritation, and hold high risks of complications and errors, body suspension has an eccentric and disturbing edge above them all. The physical aspect includes sewing metal hooks into the skin, placed in a way that requires deep knowledge of human anatomy so as to avoid the greatest error : flesh ripping. The hooks tend to be arranged around the knees, chest, shoulders, and arms, so that the subject’s skin can hold its own weight while hanging. There are endless forms and types to this style of body alteration, such as the “suicide suspension” which involves hanging by hooks inserted into the skin in the upper back, or the “rebirth”, in which the subject is suspended from their back, face down, in a fetal position.

This procedure has been part of religious traditions for thousands of years, being a crucial part of Charak Puja – a Hindu festival – where by engaging in body suspension, the participant rises above being locked in their own body, and proves their devotion to their religion while growing their spiritual power through increasingly painful demonstrations. The Okipa ceremony – a part of the Mandan customs – includes similar suspension procedures: during 4 day long events, trainee warriors are pushed to their limit and beyond, and are subjected to additional external stressors such as being weighed down.

Though this is a training ritual, the cost is also getting their gods’ acceptance, which leads the ceremony to continue until the people have lost consciousness due to acute pain. Modern day suspensions, however, are realized as an art form, as shock factor performances, such as Stellark’s hanging between sky scrapers, or Falkner’s projects, which claimed him the title of “Father of Modern Suspension”.

We engage in body modifications on a vast spectrum through small and large mutations, which although were born in religion and culture have become an art form that is permanently evolving, since we as people are attracted to its ability to reshape what we know as the standard, to visually startle us.  In the end, each of the types represents different subcultures and traditions, and as they become more extreme our fascination with them grows.