SCARWARS

I haven’t done much in the way of non-photo updates in the past, but I think my friend Matt really captured some of the “why” in the following passage from the intro to the (consistently delayed) Scarwars book.

Excerpt from Scarwars forward by Matt Lodder:

“Why, then, are more and more people, outside of direct cultural influence, driven to get scarred? A cry for help? Mental disturbance? Self-harm? Thse are all easy labels to use- the process is painful, invasive, messy. The cuts bleed and the process of irritating them to ensure successful scar formation is often excruciatingly painful. Nevertheless, scarification is markedly different from angry, impulsive self-harm, or “cutting”.

Scarification involves a deliberate selection of design, placement, symbolism, form and healing. We’re not talking for the most part about slashed wrists and razor blades, although it is indubitably true that for some the line can be crossed. Instead, scarification is consensual, considered, calm; the rational expression of what, to many, may seem an irrational desire.”

I received an email the other day asking how practical it would be to fill in a healed scarification with tattooing. I started virtually rummaging through my desktop looking for a picture of my friend Jessa’s amazing moth cutting (by Brian Decker @Pure) that had been tattooed. (by Joy Rumore @1228)

Turns out I didn’t have a picture of it post-tattooing. So I did what any responsible scarification blogger would do; I made plans with Jessa to photograph it. She lives in New York, where I’m currently spending the weekend to celebrate my 1 year anniversary with Claire. On all accounts it should be a piece of cake.

Except Jessa no longer lives in NYC.

That didn’t stop me. As luck would have it, she was going to BE in NYC, so we made dinner plans to catch up and to photograph her moth. Dinner went late, situations made a private spot to photograph the scar/tattoo impossible, so we did what we had to do: Claire followed Jessa into an impossibly dark bathroom barely big enough for one and took pictures for you guys.

The lengths we will go to do document scarification apparently know no bounds. Big thanks to the super lovely Jessa for being so patient, and to my little Claire, who as I type this has been in my life 365 absolutely amazing days. I love you both.

The cutting itself was cut over a tattoo that Jessa wanted to cover up; once the piece healed Joy used the raised scar as an outline and colored in the middle, covering up the original moth and making one of the most striking tattoo/scarification hybrids I’ve ever seen. The photo doesn’t do it justice; I’ll tinker with the raw images in photoshop and see if we can soften some of the harshness of the flash on Jessa’s paler than pale skin

To continue our “Wayde Dunn Appreication day” them, my friend Timothy sent in this great multimedia experience.
Make sure to click through for the rest of the story/video!

Last night I got my scarification done by Wayde Dunn.

Three years ago I got a scarification piece on my left side, done by Brian Decker. I was in New York for a concert and was staying with Brian’s girlfriend, and was just hanging around Pure Body Arts. Brian asked me if I wanted something done, so I thought about it (briefly) and decided to get scarred, and to get a tree. Brian drew it up and we did it that day or the next day. It was a pretty spontaneous decision. Brian did an amazing job and I absolutely love that scar.

This time, my appointment was planned out well in advance, which was a lot different for me. There was way more anticipation. I sent Wayde some reference photos, letting him know the size and placement, and made the appointment. Then I just had to wait.

Last night, I met up with Wayde and he showed me the sketch. This tree has leaves, whereas my other tree has none. I wasn’t sure at first whether or not I wanted the leaves, but once I saw his sketch I knew I wanted them. They looked really cool the way he drew them and it makes for a bit of a repeating pattern. So he started tracing it onto the transfer paper and I got set up with my camera.

Josh lifted me up- literally and figuratively, when I needed him the most. His compassion fits his stature.
I ran into him at Troy’s Philadelphia Tattoo Convention a few months ago, and over the space of an hour or two watched Brian Decker realize Josh’s dream cuttings.

I’ll give the floor to Josh….

as above, so below

“i had a dream a while back. in it, i met myself. the me that i met greeted the dream me in a way that i often greet people, with hands raised together as if in prayer, a sign of coming in peace. in this dream, the other me had scars shaped like arrows on the heels of his hands. one pointing up, one pointing down. i woke from the dream with this image burned into my mind. over time, the symbolism became clear to me, and i decided that it was time for a new scarification project.

as above, so below. the sacred and the profane. heaven and earth. good and evil. black and white. brain and body. what goes up, must come down. there are a million examples and ways to describe the idea, but it all comes back to balance. none of these things would exist without the other. they may occupy opposite ends of a spectrum, but they are inextricably linked to each other. my goal is to maintain that balance in my life. to have one foot in each world. these scars will remind me of that.

(more after the break- including healing progression)