Customer Reviews

The Customized Body

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

...of many recent books on body modification and the attendant culture. Probably the best follow-up to "RE/Search 12: Modern Primitives" in its respectful and knowledgeable approach. Exquisite black and white photos of beautifully adorned men and women, revealing themselves in every way: their desire for freedom and transformation, their sometimes troubled histories, their quest for new identities or for exploring their old ones. I used to work in an independent bookstore whose owner would get upset with me when I stocked books like this. Let some people live in a world of banality and the everyday; the rest, rejoice!

A fantastic collaboration between Ted Polhemus (frequent contributor to the UK publication bodyart) and Housk Randall (photographer extraordinaire). What do you define as body art? This book covers tattooing, piercing, scarification, branding, hair dressing (head and pubic) and shaving, finger and toe nails, body building, plastic surgery and gender identity. The catalog is extensive but still retains a warm, intimate feeling. The portraits are sepia tone, showing many variations on what it is to be individual.

Good for the beginner as this volume will provide an excellent overview of body art. Valuable for the collector due to the quality of the portraits and breadth of body art depicted, supported by the personal and intelligent commentary.

It contains mainly information on bodypainting, tattooing, scarification, bodypiercing, gender transformation, masks and other forms of appearance manipulation. it has big clear pictures and personal comments from each person photographed. It's a very nice book to look through it doesnt have a large focus on writing as I wanted. It includes a mixture of personal opinion and actual facts. My main reason in buying the book was because I am interested in body piercing and I was disapointed that that only 12 pages were specifically focused on the subject. It does not give the "why you should not do it" lecture but looks at it in an anthropological view point. Looks at at reasons why people do it, how they feel when pierced and the non western tribes, eg Amazon. I find it disapointing that All pictures are in black and white. I was also disapointed that a lot of the book contains material on costumes, different hair and shoe styles which do not interest me at all. Even so for a person who is interested in them I would think that it is a book that they would enjoy.

This book is a nice edition to anyones coffee table if your into tattoo's, piercing, masks and boots etc.If you're a novice stepping into this world for the first time then this would be a good starting point. Every section of photo's has an introduction explaining histories and psychologies on the subject.Each model gives a brief description of themselves and why they are into what they do and the rest is left up to the voyeur (reader).Once you have looked at this then you will want to look at more. Highly recommended.

I really enjoyed the anthroplogical perspective of this book. There are chapters on tatooing, piercing, body painting, weight lifting, cosmetic surgery... All ways to customize what God (or your genes) gave you. Very readable and full of corresponding photos.

The Customised Body is worth having in your collection. Though it is mainly pictures without any major content at all - it can sometimes just be reassuring to have it there among the more informative books to read over 'your own' thoughts and opinions of those who are likeminded on certain aspects of bodily appearance.
It is also very good for those who are just 'getting into' body modification and is a good starting point for those who wish to understand more about it from the outside.
The pictures are beautiful. Worth a buy but not a 'must have'.

This book does an excellent job of documenting the ways in which people are remaking their bodies to their own specifications rather than those of their birth. The text is well-written, and the photos are technically and artistically pleasing. As a body art enthusiast and a fan of Housk Randall-Goddard, I highly recommend this one.