Shannon Larratt

Shannon Larratt
File:Shannonlarratt.jpg
Born	(1973-09-29)September 29, 1973 Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Died	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Occupation	Editor, publisher, writer

Shannon Larratt (September 29, 1973 – March 15, 2013) was the creator, former editor and publisher of BMEzine, an online magazine noted for coverage of extreme body modifications. He published several books, including ModCon: The Secret World Of Extreme Body Modification. He was also an artist, computer programmer, film producer and business owner.

BMEzine

Larratt founded BMEzine in 1994. In 2002 he was the host of the first of several "BME Pain Olympics" viral videos showing cock and ball torture. There were conflicting testimonies as to whether the video was real or spoofed but it was eventually revealed to be a hoax.

In September 2007, there were issues over the ownership of BMEzine. Larratt claimed to be locked out of BMEzine, IAM, and his personal blog, Zentastic.

In May 2008 Laratt posted on BME's blog that he would no longer be working at BMEzine, and that ownership of BMEzine would be transferred to his ex-wife, Rachel Larratt. In August 2012, he began writing for ModBlog once again.

Personal life and other projects

Shannon lived in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Shannon's mother (and others) decided he was 'crazy' and he was eventually labeled dangerously schizophrenic and institutionalized against his will. Given the options of having to take his prescriptions or being locked up again he attempted suicide by overdosing on a mix of tranquilizers and dopamine-altering drugs. He survived after a week-long coma even though his breathing had failed before help arrived. He claimed "their attempt to break me had stolen my memory and damaged other parts of my brain" and he credits body modification for helping to "heal some of the damage that was done to me."

In high school Shannon produced a video (with Greg Yardley) titled "SUCKMORD" for the "Hardplains Drifter Society" which is a collage of his work with clips from other sources tossed in; the plot centers around how people deal with death. He spent his senior year "doing massive amounts of psychedelic drugs and pouring that into my art — it nearly killed me and I still suffer psychiatric effects from it, but I believe that I produced some truly profound works and learned a great deal about myself and the world around me." His final year's art project "was largely on the effects of LSD on painting and sculpture, with a secondary focus on blood art, so I actually did acid at school while working on the project for the entire semester, under teacher “supervision”."

Shannon attended university on a full scholarship for doing his 'art' and considered all other kinds of art "really nothing but visual masturbation." Part of his first year of university was spent "not only planning, but actually poisoning my performance art class (it's a long story that I'll tell later). Even though it got me a serious talking to and the board of the university did debate my fate, the end result was an A grade and a great deal of respect from my professor. I suspect though that if I were in school in 2001 instead of 1992, I'd be in jail instead of where I am now." He dropped out of college after the first year, "preferring dealing drugs and stealing to going to school".

Several years later the shame, disappointment and added pressure from his parents pushed him to "the point of a nervous breakdown." His mother then 'forced' him to see doctors who diagnosed him as “schizophrenic”. He then went on to successfully re-launch a telephony company with a friend (the previous pre-medicated attempt proved too stressful for Shannon), and he also attended the University of Toronto for computer science for a year.

On October 21, 2001, Shannon blogged "I'm extremely angry and extremely hostile and sociopathic and probably quite dangerous when it comes down to it. At the same time though, I grew up seeing a father that was the same, and have spent twenty years developing coping mechanisms that stop me from being like him." Shannon believed in following a “stay calm” mantra that on October 14, 2006 he had tattooed on the inside of his fingers as a reminder.

In 2002 Shannon announced "my father has publicly gone totally crazy and most of my family and even some neighbors have restraining orders against him."

Through 2006 he got a chest tattoo of himself performing genital mutilation on his upper chest considering it of personal importance and necessity in the expression of extreme sexuality. He planned to continue with rib/belly tattoos with being each as sexually explicit as the top panel.

On Tuesday, August 5, 2008, he announced that he was self censoring his sexually explicit tattoos by covering the most offensive parts with bandages so he could be shirtless in public. He never continued to add to his sexually explicit tattoos even though he had previously stated the personal importance and necessity of doing so.

In 2010, Shannon was diagnosed with tubular aggregate myopathy, a rare muscle disease. On March 15, 2013, it was posted on the BMEzine blog that Larratt had died.

Media appearances

• Shannon had appeared in and written for magazines and newspapers around the world, including the front cover of the premiere issue of the British magazine, Bizarre, as well as BURST and BUBKA in Japan, VideoText Journal, WIRED, io9, Tattoo Savage, The Gargoyle, The Picture, Piercing Bible, Stuff, Fetish, Friday, GQ, Details, DS, Fashion Theory, CyberZone, Biba, Unity, Tatowier, Nyan2club, Skin&Ink, NetGuide, the Net, Playgirl, and others.
• Shannon had appeared on several television and radio shows including TLC, Discovery Channel, Richler Ink, and more.
• Shannon appears in the intro to the Clerks II film (playing "Ear Guy"), along with his ex-wife Rachel.

Books

• I Am The Strength Of Art, with portraits by Philip Barbosa. 1999.
• ModCon: The Secret World of Extreme Body Modification, with portraits by Philip Barbosa. 2002 (ISBN 0973008008 )
• Opening Up: Body Modification Interviews 1995-2008. 2008, (ASIN B00262W3XW)
• MEET TOMMY: An Exploration of Private Body Modification and Play. 2012

External links

• Shannon Larratt's blog
• Shannon Larratt at the Internet Movie Database