Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Radical duuuuude...

I realized today that I haven't been posting about any kinds of extreme body modification recently. I think that needs to change. Sure, I love checking out information on mods of all kinds, but the more radical ones are always a treat.

On that note, I think that you should check out this article in an online guide to London's Camden section. It gives a wonderfully unbiased view of a day in the life of two heavily modified chicks from the UK. In addition to being insightful and clearly written, this article features a few awe-inspiring photos of the girls, who are clearly comfortable in their uniquely adorned bodies. It's definitely worth a look.

AJ, pictured at left, is one of the modders from the story. She told camdenguide that her mods reflect her "philosophy of life," which includes being "really into robots and androids, almost into believing I am one." Although she does not specifically identify herself with the 'cyberpunk' subculture, AJ's explanations of the meaning behind and reasons for her mods are very similar to those of self-proclaimed cyberpunks. AJ has thus inspired me to finally finish the chapter on cyberpunks in Victoria Pitts' book "In the Flesh: The Cultural Politics of Body Modification" (which, in my opinion, is one of the best books out right now on modification). I definitely don't encounter nearly as much information about this intriguing subculture as I do about more mainstream groups of modders, so I hope to explore it further in an upcoming post. I'm definitely excited to see if Pitts will once again bring to my attention aspects of body modification that I had never before been aware of. She hasn't disappointed me yet :o)

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