Kate Garrett
Make-up Exploration
Entire Body Transformations.
Here is an interview with the lizardman taken from his website about his process of becoming and modifying his body (Sprauge,2013):
Why have you transformed yourself via various body modification processes?
My physical appearance is part of a transformation project I began as an undergraduate working in body based performance art.
Why a reptilian theme?
I felt I should choose something that would work well for a total body theme (fit all areas, age well) and, even more importantly, something I would like for the rest of my life. After considering several options (mazes, stories, spots, stripes) I settled on the reptilian theme because I liked the look and it made a good fit with other ideas I had for the future at the time; like my split tongue and teeth, which did come to pass.
What about the non-reptilian elements like the earlobes and 'freak' tattoo on your chest?
The nature of the project is not wholly restrictive to purely reptilian aspects. My body is still mine and I have chosen to incorporate other elements I find desirable. If you really need to nitpick then think of it as a lizard-man with stretched earlobes and tattoos on his chest and arms.
What body modifications have you had done?
I have undergone an estimated 650-700 hours of tattooing. I have had several piercings, of which I currently retain and wear jewelry only in my half-inch diameter septum. Due to a severe reaction I stopped wearing jewelry in my one inch earlobes in February 2009 at which time they were unofficially the strongest pierced lobes in the world having successfully pulled cars on several occasions. As of 2012 I have begun working on building up my ears for lifting and pulling stunts once again. I have had five Teflon horns subdermally implanted above each of my eyes to form horned ridges. Four of my teeth have been filed into sharp fangs. And my tongue has been bifurcated.
Are you finished? Will you ever be finished?
I am not finished but I do hope someday to complete my tattooing and other planned procedures. I won't say absolutely that I will be finished though; as new technology and ideas may arise that I can incorporate into my own work.
Does it hurt?
Yes. It all hurts and if someone says it doesn't then they likely have a problem with their nervous system. The very nature of what is done during these procedures (needles in skin et al) means they should hurt but pain is no reason not to do something. Lots of things hurt but they are worth it - childbirth for instance, or so I am told anyway.
What about when you are older? What if you regret it?
My work has been done by some of the best and the design has good potential for aging. Given the risks I take professionally I will be more than happy to live long enough to become a wrinkled and faded old Lizardman. Regret is always a possibility for everyone, you could say the same to someone joining the army or going to law school. I have done my best to consider and plan for the eventualities that could cause me to regret my decisions - further, in fact, than many people I know went in considering far larger decisions like having children. I do not think that I will regret this; if I did I would not have done it.
What do your family think?
My family has always been nothing but loving and supportive. I probably would not have managed to do this without them. While it may seem hard for people looking in to understand what I do, my family has seen me develop and grow over the course of my life and they can see it as part of an overall whole.
Erik 'The Lizardman' Sprague.
Image 12.0 - Lizardman.
Image 12.1 - The Evolution of his transformation
Erik Sprague is a performance artist in Austin, Texas who has had surgery to modify his body to represent that of a lizards. He descibes himself as (sprauge, n.d.);
I'm that tattooed green guy with the split tongue that you may have seen on television, or as a young lady in South Dakota once succintly put it to me: "You're that motherfucker from TV and shit, ain't ya?" That one encounter speaks volumes about what it is like to be me.
Image 12.2 - Close up of the lizardman
Entire Body Transformations.
Image 12.3 - Back View
Zombie Boy.
The Lizardman's started to design his look in 1990 but it wasnt until 1994 when he first had a single tattoo done, he spent a long time considering and desinging something that he liked and felt represented what he wanted, a step that not all people take seriously when getting not only a tattoo but more serious body modifications such as drastic operations. To date he estimates that he has spent around $250,000 on becoming the lizardman.
Image 12.4 - Upclose View
Image 12.5 - Front view
Rick Genest aka 'Zombie Boy'
* Has had 80% of his body tattooed to look like a zombie corps.
* Influences came from the punk rock culture
* He has a strong desire to excel in the arts and entertainment world.
* He had a strong intrest in the freak show area.
* First called zombie by his friends due to his taste in music/fashion and his medical history.
Entire Body Transformations.
Stalking Cat.
Stalking cat is also known as Catman.
* Dennis Avner grew up in a native american culture a combination of Huron and Lakota tribes.
* Being bought up in this culture he believes that it is his responsibilty to transform himself his totem animal, which is a tiger.
* He started at the age of 23 with tattooing tiger stripes onto his body
* He has had an operation to give himself to split his upper lip (to create a feline cleft lip).
* He has had his nose flattened and upturned.
* Other procedures include brow implants, filled teeth and elongated ears.
* Peircings either side of his nose which allow him to wear synthetic whiskers.
* He said he wants the perfect blend of human and cat mixed together in both appearance and behaviour.
- he climbs tress
- eats meat daily like a tiger would as raw as possible and/or at the temprature of what the body of the freshly killed animal in the wild
* It is illegal in the US for a medical professional to change a persons phyiscal appeareance beyond what society dicates as a normal because of this Stalking Cat could not have any of his modifications performed by a surgeon. This also meant he didn't have any anasthetic so could feel the operations being done.
* He worse contacts to give him the slit eyes, like that of a tiger.
Image 12.6 - Stalking cat with whiskers
Image 12.7 - Uplcose of his 'claws'
Image 12.8 - front view