Ouch!

[ink_ling]

Sunday night, we watched Sick, about the life and art of Bob Flanagan, a man who was a masochist and who also had cyctic fibrosis

Comments

[shawnsyms]

I've been meaning to check this one out. Thanks for the tip!

[ink_ling]

Prepare yourself! Some of it's a legitimately difficult to watch. But worth it.

[ex_bearbait]

The performance art professor I TA'd for in grad school played this video for one of his lecture sections. It totally rocked 90% of the SoCal undergrads, most non-art majors. People got up and left, read me the riot act in our individual studio sections, had office hours with me, complained to the dept.

I thought, had they tried to look beyond the shock of it all, they might have learned something about the human condition, suffering and how truly lucky they are.

[ink_ling]

First, I get so pissed at people's moral outrage! What were their complaints?

Certain segments of the film, especially the unflinching filmings of his last coughs, pushed me into an emotional realm that I can hardly articulate.

I am just pleased that y'all showed it!

[champdaddy]

I'll look for that one, sounds interesting...

[ink_ling]

Tis! And a little challenging to watch at times. :)

why

[fuchsiafalling]

Because it feels good; because it gives me an erection; because it makes

Re: why

[ink_ling]

When he recites this, with the home film footage going on on the screen, it basically punched me in the gut.

And I liked that. :)

Re: Supermasochist Superhero!

[ink_ling]

I know Musafar, marginally. Linked to him a few times through an old website for leather/bdsm Faeries and connections between bdsm and spirituality. Flanagan I had heard far less about until Joe had recommended it to me a year ago. I remember now reading references to his art, but I hadn't gone any further with it.

I am very much interested in the intersections between illness and bdsm. I also want to read any of Pat Califia's work on this subject.