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Anyone who has the nerve do do such feats is a star. So this page is dedicated to the world known suspension super stars and those crazy mofos that are not so well known but have nuts the size of a mack truck that allows them to do the things that most of us cannot even fathom.

Stuff like this may bring chills to the spines of millions, but for any of these people its another day in the life as a suspension artist.

From an Internet article about Mr. Rob Velenti

Rob Valenti has two-inch long earlobes, is branded on his back, has numerous tattoos on his body and enjoys suspending himself using hooks inserted through his skin.

After leaving school in Year 11, Rob took up an apprenticeship as a hairdresser. In a turn of fate and a case of being in ‘the right place at the right time,’ he began a years training in a Bondi piercing studio and now owns his own studio in Newtown. For the two years Rob has been performing suspensions with his team from Polymorph.

Their last show at the Sydney fetish club, Hellfire, was a satirical take on a circus strong man contest, with Rob and his apprentice Ben McCullagh-Vennis dressed in leopard skins. In one act they performed a tug of war with a rope looped through hooks inserted in their chests.

As Rob explains “You are supposed to wait four weeks before taking each set of hooks just so you’ve got a bit of recovery time.” But Rob has been inserting hooks once a week for the past month, leaving his skin tender and unable to fully recuperate. This means suspension is more painful than usual.

Suspension piercing involves inserting eight gauge, three mm hooks into ‘sweet spots,’ where the skin is able to stretch and bear weight. These spots are found in the chest, upper and middle back, hips, knees, forearms and calves. Performers are then attached to an anchor device and a rope, which is used to raise the body off the floor.

Attached by four hooks in his upper back, which are inserted deeply by his brother David and apprentice Ben, Rob is hoisted into the air in what’s called the Suicide Pose. Other poses include the Superman, the Corpse, the Crucifix and the Lotus. The Superman Pose was Rob’s first suspension experience.

“There’s six hooks down the back, one hook in each butt cheek, one hook in each calf, and you just hang there for as long as you like…I fasted for about 24 hours before I did it and that was more of a head space thing – and people liken doing that sort of thing, of fasting before you’re suspended and then suspending for an hour plus – they liken it to taking an acid trip or something like that.”

The first suspension was about a “spiritual experience” for Rob and was driven by curiosity and an inherent interest in the odd or different. While some people get into suspension as an S&M type experience, Rob’s motives are based around the duality of the body and the mind.

“It’s kind of like walking over hot coals: your brain says you can’t do it and that it’s physically impossible but once you actually get your head around it and stop thinking it’s impossible than it’s kind of a bit of a life-changing experience,” he says.

During one recent suspension, Rob wept, however he says it isn’t normally as painful. “The hardest part is the first five minutes once you are off the ground; I mean I’ve seen people freak out because their feet are actually off the ground and they are only hanging from four hooks and it’s just the mental side of it.”

Similar rituals are performed in the Hindu religious festival of Kavadi, dedicated to the warrior god Lord Murugan. Participants often insert hooks and spears into themselves as away of showing tolerance and suffering in the name of God. It is also seen as a form of purification.

Similarly the Plain Indians of North American are also known to have inflicted religious self-torture during the Sun Dance festival. They would fast, insert cheek spears and perform suspensions, celebrating the continuity of life, death and regeneration. The ritual was seen as a way to return to nature, while symbolising a form of self-resurrection.

Rob uses sharp steel needles for cheek spears, which he says are more painful than traditional spears. He nicknames the needles “heart starters.” as they cause a sharp burst of adrenalin.

For Rob, body modification doesn’t just stop at tattoos, piercing and suspension shows. He views his body as a work of art in progress, “I have a plan of the end product, of what I want to look like. I’ve got coloured tattoos on one arm, black and white on the other arm, and I want to keep it that way.”

“I really like biochemical kind of artwork so I have a plan on both legs to get implants down the shin bone of my leg which will look like a spine of sorts coming through the flesh,” he says.

“Everyone freaks out at this sort of thing and thinks oh my god, what are you going to do when you get old and you regret it, but I got into it knowing what I was doing.”

Just in case he ever does change his mind, there are ways to reverse many of the things he has done. Adding with a chuckle, “I kind of think by the time I’m 80 there’s going to be a corner stall where you go and pay five bucks for body modification removal.”

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By Jennifer Squires
Ashland Daily Tidings

Alex Vazquez of Elemental Rites, left, talks to Jesse Templin, right, who is doing a Superman suspension June 3 at Nuwandart Gallery during the First Friday Artwalk.All photos by Orville Hector | Ashland Daily Tidings

Alex Vazquez massaged a pre-op/ post-op antibacterial gel into the flesh on Andy Henderson’s shoulder blades. The gel disinfects, and the movement draws the skin away from the tissue so the piercing is less painful.

Henderson, 22, laid still and silent on the piercing table in the back room of Elemental Rites as Vazquez, 26, punctured Henderson’s skin with a 10-gauge needle, then forced a 9-gauge hook through the hole. The metal going into his skin was slightly larger than the needle and looked like a coat hook.

“When you get pierced, it brings something out,” said Henderson, who had one only previous experience with body modification — a 10-second suicide suspension. “Even with the hooks in the back, it looks a lot worse than it really is.”

On this day, Vazquez put hooks in four men in their early 20s. The hooks were actually fish hooks meant to catch 2,000-pound sharks. Vazquez buys them, then grinds off the barbs and has the hooks sterilized. They are returned to Elemental Rites, the piercing shop where Vazquez works, sealed in plastic.

Kavi Keshavasya does his first suspension — in the lotus position — at Nuwandart Gallery.

Wearing a surgeon’s mask and gloves, Vazquez maneuvered around the table with the metal tray of hooks and needles like he was performing a minor operation, not preparing for an artistic performance.

“I don’t really do it to entertain the people,” said Vazquez, who has been involved in body modification for six years. “For me, personally, it’s just a way of reaching a higher state of existence, an out-of-body experience.”

Henderson and Brandon McCloskey, 21, both had a pair of hooks in their backs and, at the show, were be connected with parachute cord to pull against one another in a flesh pull. Kavi Keshavasya, a 20-year-old from Eugene, hung from 12 hooks attached by parachute cord to an I-bolt in the ceiling while seated in the lotus position. He chose the position because he practices it frequently during his Vedic yoga meditations. Jesse Templin, a 23-year-old who has been suspended vertical in the suicide position, had 12 hooks distributed in his back, upper thighs and ankles to hold him flat in a superman position.

A rite of passage

People are drawn to body suspensions for several reasons: a pure adrenaline and endorphin rush, the chance to conquer fears, or to try to reach a new level of spiritual consciousness.

“I think we’re wired genetically for transcendental experiences,” said Dennis Mead-Shikaly, a personal coach who is a leader in the international Mankind Project, conducted men’s initiations for nearly 20 years and recently started the Accountability in Men program at Southern Oregon University.

SUSPENSIONS

There are six basic forms of suspending. Though there are different variations of each one, they almost all fit the basic six. Superman (Superwoman) A horizontal suspension where the body is facing down, hooks are placed along the back and legs, and sometimes the back of the arms. Number of hooks: eight to 22; 12 are recommended Suicide A vertical suspension that causes the person to appear hung by a noose. Hooks are placed across the shoulders in the upper back. Number of hooks: two to eight; four to six are recommended Chest (“O Kee Pa”) A vertical suspension considered the most difficult form of suspension. It is thought to be closely related to the Native American Sun Dance ritual, or “O Kee Pa,” though this is not the same. The hooks are placed on both sides of the chest, unless it’s a one-hook suspension. Number of hooks: one to four; two are recommended Coma A horizontal suspension where the person hangs as though lying on a bed. The hooks are placed in the arms, front torso and legs; additional support is given to the head for a more comfortable suspension. Number of hooks: 10 to 22 Knee A vertical suspension where the body is above the head and the person hangs like someone dangling by the back of the knees from a jungle gym. The hooks are placed on both sides of the knee or one under each knee cap. Number of hooks: one to four; four are recommended Lotus A vertical suspension where the person suspends in a seated, cross-legged position similar to a meditative stance. The hooks are placed in the upper back or chest, inner ankles, inner thighs by the knees and front forearms. Number of hooks: eight to 14; 10 are recommended SOURCE: Rites of Passagesuspension group, www.ariteofpassage.org

“I think we’re wired to connect to the sacred and ritual is a way we embody that connection,” Mead-Shikaly said. “It is an experience and it is a rite of passage and it can be a beautiful thing.”

The book “The Modern Primitive” drew Vazquez into tribal practices when he was a teenager. Six years ago, he took part in his first suspension and began “hooking” others who wanted to experience the rituals. He has been suspended more than 10 times, wears three body piercings and has “one big tattoo” that starts at his head and goes to his feet.

“In the absence of conscious initiation, the young people who are at that place and ready for it look around see no conscious initiatory experiences available,” Mead-Shikaly said, explaining people turn to tattoos, piercing and other pushing-the-envelope activities that challenge what older members of the culture find acceptable. “We’ve been remiss in creating conscious rites of passage for our youth. I’m not surprised that they’re doing that.”

Vazquez is now the spiritual guide for other young men seeking a way to test the limits of their bodies and minds.

“What I’m trying personally to do is show the ancient ways of passage,” Vazquez said. “The primitive movement has now come full-circle.”

The rites of passage they perform through the body suspensions and flesh pulls have been a part of tribal rituals around the world for centuries. The debate over where the customs started is ongoing and, in Vazquez’s mind, unnecessary.

“It’s definitely a lot of different practices,” Vazquez said. “It’s a very universal thing for us to feel connected to ourselves and the world.”

Two days before the ritual, Keshavasya decided to participate, though he had never done any similar body modification in the past.

“Looking back on it, it was a rite of passage for me,” said Keshavasya, who fasted for two days prior to being suspended in the lotus position and spent the morning of the event in mediation. “When you have an experience like that it truly changes your thinking and perception of the world.

“For me, It was a very spiritual experience … it was a way to connect with the divine. There are still things from this one that I am absorbing and processing into my life. I felt it was a very deep introspective experience that I’d like to process for some time.”

Sharing the experience

Body suspensions and flesh pullings, although they have a modest following of people who share photos and stories online, usually occur in small, intimate settings. The Friday display at Nuwandart was, perhaps, the first public display of body modification in Ashland.

Vazquez decided to take part in the show at Nuwandart to bring as many aspects of the practice to others as possible. Photographs of previous body modifications done by locals and two-dimensional art were also on display.

“It’s more about ritualistic rites of passage,” said Vazquez, who regards body modifications as sacred ceremonies.

More than 200 people signed waivers saying they had eaten recently and understood the display may disturb them, then stepped behind the white curtains that shielded the four young men from the front window and the open door.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Melodie Buell of Ashland.

Buell and Steve Kominsky left the flesh-pulling display to “let our stomachs settle” before the lotus and superman suspensions began.

“It’s certainly an alternate form of release,” said Kominsky, who thought just watching was enough and admitted he wouldn’t be into doing the rituals himself. “For me, it was pretty nerve-wracking.”

Inside, though, people crowded in and, mostly in silence, watched McCloskey and Henderson use all of their weight to pull against one another.

A little girl, no older than six or seven, with her mother begs to stay when her mom tells her it’s time to leave and let other people into the small performance area.

Another angle on Kavi Keshavasya’s lotus suspension shows the skin on his chest being pulled taut by a pair of hooks.

“This is really neat,” the girl said to her mother. “I want to watch more.”

The hooks in Henderson’s back stretched the skin more than an inch off of his flesh; McCloskey’s skin was thicker and didn’t pull out in the same manner.

“It’s awesome,” McCloskey said, realizing he forgot to phone his girlfriend, who had gone home to take a nap before the show started.

Still tugging against Henderson, McCloskey pulled his cell phone from his pants’ pocket to ask her to come down.

“We’re here,” McCloskey said. “I forgot to call you … I do love you.”

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from Painmag, here is an interview with a suspension artist Strix

I spoke to Strix LaCaujxe about her interest in extreme piercing, her performance and the art that encompasses her unique and painful ritual.

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PM: Tell me a little bit about yourself—where you are from, geographically and culturally, and what sorts of experiences led up to the sort of body art expression that you have described and illustrated at livejournal.com?

SL: I was raised in a small, very conservative town in Texas. Body modification, other than one ear piercing in each lobe, was not something my family or friends knew much about. It wasn’t looked down upon, but it certainly was not something I was exposed to very often. I recall having a babysitter when I was around four who had many earrings, and I was fascinated. I wondered why people didn’t wear jewelry in other fleshy parts of the face and body. Only after I moved to Phoenix, in junior high, did I realize that other people were thinking the same thing.

Another aspect involved in this performance was the costuming. Consisting of white veils, each attached to a hook, or two, or four. This way of wearing clothing totally changes the rules of garments and design for me. I’ve been sewing since I was six, and drafting patterns since I was sixteen. As a designer, being able to throw out the rules of drafting and seam lines was incredibly refreshing. Pure draping, using the skin with the clothing, rather than simply under the clothing.
I had wanted to do something involving clothing and piercing for a good few years, but didn’t have the resources available.

I became involved with Burlesque Noir the same way you found me, via the randomness of LiveJournal. They needed someone to help with sewing, and I had the time and motivation to do exactly that. For this show, I really wanted to do something involving veils and hooks. The original concept was to do Salome’s dance of the seven veils—all veils attached with hooks.

As time went on, the piece changed. It went from one person to three. It became less about Salome, and more about hooks. I made the decision that I actually wanted to perform in the piece, which was a very difficult decision to make. I am horrible at structured dance, and had never performed in a burlesque show before. The only other performance I’ve done involved a white plastic dress and a bucket of blood on Valentine’s Day.

PM: How did you become interested in body modification?

SL: I find the things we do to manipulate our bodies amazing. The human organism is an incredible structure! The more I learn about physiology, the more astonished I am that we even exist—and functionally! We can alter our bodies to our liking, whether with metal, ink, surgery, sculpting, or using the skin’s own healing processes to create designs. Such an amazing thing, this meat we live in. To me, the term body modification means so much more than tattoos and piercings. Plastic surgery, cosmetic aspects of dentistry, exercise, even the food we eat modifies our bodies—even though I’m much more likely to get hooks than undergo any cosmetic procedure. The passing of time is the ultimate modification we can’t control. Being able to put hooks in my skin, and wear clothing from those hooks, just happens to be another aspect.

PM: Who was the piercing artist or artists who assisted you in transforming your body for the performance that you photographed and posted? Was this a type of piercing that they had done before?

SL: The piercings were done by Noah Babcock and Luciano Moralez from Evolution Body Piercing in Albuquerque. They have both done performance related piercing before—usually for suspensions and pulls. They had not been involved in performance for a while, but I went to Noah with the original concept, and he agreed to be in on the project. I think it helped that this was a bit different than the normal piercing performances—a combination of piercing and burlesque.

I think there needs to be a lot more of this! I’m so grateful towards Noah, Luciano, and the folks at Evolution for participating, and allowing it to happen as beautifully as it did.

PM: Did you have any hygiene or medical concerns about the process?

SL: I actually had no medical concerns. I had done some reading of other’s experiences and knew what was involved. I had never gotten hooks before, nor had I been pierced with that large of a gauge—I was not sure if I was prepared for the pain aspect. Luckily, I had over-estimated the pain involved. I was more concerned for the other two girls in the piece, since they had a bunch of burlesque pieces throughout the night before the piercing. I didn’t know if they
would have the energy for one last performance, much less six hooks each. They were awesome though. All of their performances that night were beautiful, hooks or not.

PM: Who else participated in the ritual?

SL: My hook sisters for the evening were Cherry Automatic and Emmy Mayhem. We each got six hooks varying in gauge from 9 to 5. I got two in the arms (9 gauge), one in the chest, one below the navel (both 7 gauge), and two in the back (5 gauge). Cherry got two on the abdomen, two on the lower back (all 9 gauge), and one on the top of each thigh (7 gauge). Emmy had one on the chest, one on the abdomen, one on the upper back, one on the lower back (all 9 gauge), and one in each arm (7 gauge).

PM: Describe in detail the process that you undertook to receive the piercings?

SL: We had gone into Evolution earlier in the day to get marked for hook placement. After all the other burlesque performances were finished that night, Noah and Luciano set up in the tiny dressing room. There was no reliable seating, so we all got pierced while standing. Noah pierced Cat first, then Andy, then Luciano pierced me. I don’t know the exact procedure, but I remember the area being sterilized, then pinched. All the tools had been sterilized earlier and the sharps container was close at hand. My first hook was the right forearm. ‘Take a deep breath in…and let it out.’ I closed my eyes and felt the needle go through rather easily—or so it seemed to me! I looked down, and there was a very pointy 10 gauge needle sticking out of my arm. I smiled. Then the tip of the hook was put through the hollow of the needle, and slid through to the other side. There is a hook in my skin!

Within seconds the left arm was done, then on to the chest. It was more painful than the other two, but still amazing. I turned around to look in the mirror, and could see the mass of the hook under the skin, stretching it in new weird ways. Then was the abdomen, right below the navel. On that piercing, I could feel the difference in tissue strengths. It took some force to get the needle through the initial puncture, then it slid right through the underlying tissue. Another application of force to get it out the other side. Hook in, slide, needle out.

The back was next. I wish I could have seen the needles in my back, they seemed huge! I actually took a small break for some orange juice between the two back hooks. They were more painful than the last, maybe because of placement, maybe because of gauge. They certainly were my favorite!

Once the hooks were in, we stitched the veils to the ends of the hooks, and we were ready for the performance!

PM: What did it feel like to have large gauge steel hooks inserted under your skin?

SL: It was amazing! The three of us were all smiles and giggles and excitement! After the initial piercings, I felt no pain. During the performance, we pulled on the veils attached to the hooks, ripping the stitching. The veils came off, and the hooks remained. Then we pulled on each other’s hooks. Feeling the skin pull away from the underlying tissue is really an incredible sensation. There has to be some therapeutic use for this! I could feel the hook in my right arm, not rubbing against the bone, but the sensation of something being distinctly closer to the bone than normal.

PM: How do the piercings relate to the art you create and how is the performance aspect of the art related to the piercings?

SL: It all goes back to the clothing, and the body, I think—using our own anatomy in different ways. As far as performing goes, I’m quite leery of it. Only with the bribe of hooks could I get up on stage! It did give a lovely punctuation to the evening, and the months of planning that had gone into the show as a whole.

PM: In an ideal world, would you like to be able to leave the hooks in for others to see, like other less extreme types of body modification?

SL: I would love to have them in all the time, but they sure would get in the way of things, like wearing sleeves or pants. After the performance was over, I wanted to keep them in a bit longer to experiment and play some more. That time concept snuck up on us again, however, and it was time for them to come out.

I felt a sense of loss when they were removed, even though they were in for such a short time. I look at my little scabs with such fondness! The first few days after the show, people would ask why I was in such a good mood. I would just smile and say: ‘Hooks!’

PM: Is this a project you will repeat again, or where will you go from here, piercing-wise and art-wise?

SL: I really want to do more things like this—combining piercing and burlesque and clothing in wonderful different ways! It was such an incredible experience!

I would love to do a burlesque routine while suspended, maybe with some fire involved as well, but I doubt that the performance venues would be up for that.

 

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