The Michigan Daily I michigandaily.com I Thursday, February 25, 2010 weekend essentials Feb. 25 to Feb. 28 5, / ON DISPLAY "Yes No Maybe" exhibits the work of 10 students in the School of Art & Design's MFA program. The exhibit is intended to "engage (visitors) in the the- matic discussion of adaptation, awareness and abandonment," and it includes inter- disciplinary works like interactive installations, photography and kara- oke. Open until Feb. 28 in the Warren Robbins Gallery on the second floor of the Art & Archi- tecture building, 2000 Bonisteel Blvd. Free. AT UMMA Rawr! This Saturday in a whimsical fam- ily workshop run by the Ann Arbor Art Center, participants search for mythical creatures and animals featured in UMMA's collections. The day culminates with every participant creating a mask or animal figure based on their favorite creature. All materi- al's are included. The fee is $15 for mem- bers and University students and $18 for non-members. By Sharon Jacobs Assistant Arts Editor n a projector screen at the front of the Michigan Union's Pond Room, a woman dangles inch- es from the ground. She gen- tly sways back and forth from ropes descending from the ceiling, attached to large metal hooks planted deep in her shoul- der blades. Her skin is stretched almost to the breaking point. This is suspension, an extreme, spiritual and sometimes gory practice - and the topic of the semester's first meeting of the Students for the Appreciation of Body Modification, founded last winter. The movie on the projector screen is "Flesh and Blood," a 2007 documentary about radi- cal body modification artist Steve Haworth. As a man onscreen suspends from metal rings in his nipples, SABM Publicity Chair Jordan Marchese, an Engineering senior, discusses his own suspension experience. "There was a point in which I was spin- ning," Marchese recalls. "I was watching the room spin, and I was just completely free ... to look down, see that my feet (weren't) touching the ground and look at the wall and just slowly watch it move and just be completely weight- less." Marchese isn't crazy, and he certainly wouldn't look out of place on a college campus. A thick wooden earring hangs from each ear, but any other metal or ink Marchese has is covered up by his hoodie and jeans - and from From tattoos and piercings to scarification and implants, Ann Arbor is home to a varied and vibrant body modification community. talking to him, one would never suspect his penchant for dangling by the skin on his back from hooks and ropes. But then again, Ann Arbor's body modifica- tion aficionados have a surprising knack for blending in. The many faces of modification After more than a year, Karen Ross's moth- er still doesn't know about her tattoo. Ross, a sophomore in the Residential College, had her late father's initials inked on her inner wrist at Lucky Monkey on South Ashley Street. "I thought about getting it for like three years before I actually did it, just so it wasn't some rash decision," Ross explained. "This is how he used to write his initials, and then ever since he died I've just kind of had it in the back of my mind ... part of why I wanted it was so I could look at it every day and be reminded of everything that me and my dad had together." When Ross wears an inch-thick bracelet on her wrist, the initials are completely covered up. She used to put on the bracelet every time she went home. "When I was a little kid (my mom) used to tell me like, 'Never get a tattoo, you won't be able to get a job, people will look down on you,' " Ross said. But this isn't just any old tattoo; it has a spe- cial meaning. "I just want to wait and see if she'll see it on her own," Ross said, "and if she sees it on her own, then that's the time that I'll talk to her about it." Art & Design senior Nae Morris is more conspicuously modified. She has several pierc- ings on her ears and nose. But it's not until she yawns or makes a funny face that the extent of Morris's modifications reveals itself: Thetip of her tongue is split in two, and she can move the segments independently of each other. "No one ever notices, because when I talk you don't see it, you don't hear it," Morris said of her tongue bifurcation. "I didn't want a mil- lion piercings in my ear, I didn't want to be visibly known ... butI was really happy having things for myself." Besides the bifurcation and her numer- ous piercings and tattoos, Morris has exten- sive scarification - purposely carved scars in the shape of cherry and plum blossoms run from her armpits to hips on both sides - and implants in her hands. "It's the exact same thing as a breast implant pretty much, except that these are solid instead of being a bag filled with sili- cone," Morris explained the process. The flow- er-shaped implants are soft to the touch, "like a gummy bear ... and when I wake up they're kind of more poofy." Although they push'out nearly a half-inch from the backs of her hands, the implants aren't glaringly obvious, and long sleeves can easily cover them. "I wear hoodies and jeans all the time - nobody even knows I'mtattooed," Morris said. Pangea Piercing's self-described "captain," j.c. potts (no capitalization, "like ee cummings with punctuation") regularly interacts with the secretly modified like Ross and those with more noticeable art like Morris. Since Pangea has a reputation for cleanli- ness and high-tei sterilization methods, much of potts's clientele consists of scientists, researchers and doctors - hardly the stereo- typical metal-ornamented rebels. To hide his customers' piercings from pry- ing eyes, potts sells "retainers," glass fillings that make the holes less noticeable. "They're not going to withstand a Jewish grandma, but your boss, maybe," he said. Launching into the gender disparities in piercings (more girls pierce their nostrils or See BODY ART, Page 4B There's way more people that look like you that have genital pierings than people that look like me. -j.c. potts, captain of Pangea Piercing FILM Need to catch up on all of the Best Pic- ture nominees before Oscar night? Check out your local AMC Theater (the closest to Ann Arbor is in Livo- nia), which is returning its annual Best Picture showcase. This year, the program is split into two halves - five movies will be play- ing marathon-style on Feb. 27 and the other five on March 6. Tickets start from $30 for a one-day pass. CONCERT Straight from Dublin, Ireland, The Guggen- heim Grotto and its soothing folk melodies will gently rock the Ark tomorrow at 8 p.m. Its intellectual tunes have found critical acclaim in Ireland, and the group performed at Austin's SXSW fes- tival last year. Open- ing act Tiger Cooke supports with his self-described "dark folk." Tickets $13.50, doors at 7:30 p.m, I I"