Modification.

I was able to go to this place called Onetribe recently.  They specialize in making jewelry out of natural materials for those who have modified there bodies through gauging.  They have whole book shelf full of books on everything I want my senior portfolio project to be about.  One book I picked up called Ancient marks by Chris Rainer had some very interesting information.  He summed up  why people modify there body into three reasons
"1 Religious and/or spiritual
2 Social status for adornment
3 Sexual Pleasure"
I never really thought people would modify there bodies except for reason number or 2 or because they just wanted to but when I really thought about it everyones excuse goes under one of those three reasons.

It also interested me when he mentioned "Most cultures revere androgynous (people who are different) characters as God like."  Our culture usually makes people who feel or seem to different as failures or freaks.  I thought with this quote/ inspired me to want to show photographs I have of those who modify there bodies as beautiful.  In a way the average American crowd would not be use to seeing one covered in tattoos or with several piercings.

Both qoutes were from the book Ancient Marks by Chris Rainer.  The book talks about culture of people and its ties to traditions of marking their bodies in different ways over time.  It goes over more then just piercings and tattoos, to spliting (spliting tounge or other body parts), piercings and as simply changing your hair.  I still have more to read but it has been the most highly useful and interesting book on my ideas for my project so far.

This book and topic has been very useful for me.  Its helping me deeper understand what my project is about and how I possibly want to present the images in the end.  I know from reading it no matter how each subject has modified there body I want to show them in a way anyone will see as beautiful with use of lighting and setup.