I was lucky enough to get tickets to see ORLAN giving a talk as part of the Performing Medicine: Anatomy season last month. (I say lucky as the majority of events in this season sold out very quickly, ORLAN’s talk was the only part I managed to see despite the whole season sounding amazing.)

The talk was purely about her surgical works, which I appreciated and it certainly left me keen to find out more. I’ve seen a lot of images of her work before, and seen her speak in a few documentaries and tv shows, but ORLAN’s aesthetic has never really captured me and whilst I considered her an important part of the body art world, I’d never really looked into her work before.  All in all I really enjoyed hearing her speak, and a few things she said stuck with me. I’ve attempted to record my thoughts on them here.

ORLAN spoke about how hard it had been to find surgeons to work on her surgery pieces with, explaining that there had been several surgeons who refused to do more extreme modifications to her face because they wanted to keep her ‘cute’ and ‘fuckable’, and who told her what work she could be getting done. Like they knew better than she how she should look?

I guess the whole point of cosmetic surgery is to normalize and beautify the features, but what that involves would actually depend on the surgeons preferences and aesthetics, not the patients. ORLAN has challenged that; as she said in the talk – she is not passive in the surgery process, as we so often are when undergoing medical procedures. She makes the surgeons comply with her preferences.

This passivity during medical procedures rings especially true to me at the moment – I’m in the midst of a cosmetic dentistry procedure I’ve wanted for years.  It is my most expensive and most mainstream body modification – I’m making myself more generic by straightening my teeth, not more unique by decorating my body – but it’s also the modification  that I have the least control over. I haven’t in any way designed how my smile will end up, I’ve left that to the dentist (Because, I guess, he knows best) I would feel awkward taking friends or a camera along to the procedures, although for ever scar, piercing or tattoo I’ve had has been accompanied in that way. But it’s my body, my teeth, and it’s me paying all the money to have this done, so surely I have a right to have it done the way I choose? Why do we so willingly submit to medical professionals, even when it comes to something as personal as how our face looks? Why  do I not take photos during my dentist appointments? Why was I too scared to ask if I could take the removed brace wires home with me? ORLAN refuses this passive role and it makes me think that I should too.

The second thing that stood out for me was how quick ORLAN was to deny that she feels any pain during or after these procedures, her Carnal Art manifesto does announce ‘Viva la morphine’ and ‘Down with pain’ but as someone who has witnessed people healing from cosmetic surgery and has had implant procedures done myself, I find it very hard to belief that this is all as pain-free as she claims.

I can understand why she brushes over the pain though, it’s not the focus of her work at all and as I’m sure anyone who performs acts of piercing, cutting, bleeding knows, the issues and questions surrounding the infliction of pain do tend to overshadow the rest of the work, sometimes meaning that what you’re really trying to communicate is never heard.

It’s been playing on my mind, how these 2 things relate to my work and my life. It’ll be interesting to see where these thought processes lead.

For more on ORLAN see: ORLAN.NET

Over 5 years ago, I travelled to Finland with my boyfriend at the time.  We were spending a week there, but the main reason for our trip was so we could both get subdermal implants in our chests. I’d met the guys from Mad Max Tattoo at Torture Garden so we went to visit them and get work done.

I recently re-discovered all the old photos from the trip, and the pictures of my implant procedure fascinate me. I barely remember the sensations of having my chest cut open and my skin stretched (I went through the whole procedure without any anaesthetic) all I know is that it hurt, a lot, and for some reason I could not stop laughing. The look on my face in these photos, the tension in my arms and the way my hand balls into a fist at certain points gives me some reminder of what it was like, I love the intimacy and intensity.

I could resist sharing these images, so here’s a small selection of procedural photos, with a brief description of what’s going on.

The implants were done by Jussi, who now works at Paradise Tattoo. I fully recommend his work. More pictures behind the jump…

A painful moment.

Lifting the skin to create a pocket for the implant to sit in. I love that I’m laughing despite the metal rod in my chest.

Inserting the actual implant piece.

All done, just getting the incision closed here.

Hmm, I probably posted these bigger so you can see all the gory details, but the pictures aren’t super high quality. I still have the implants, never had any problems with them although they have shifted to a slightly lower position in my chest. I still totally love them.