I hate to admit it, but sometimes I do learn things from OldMedia. Take the the recent episode of the Australian 60 Minutes about body modification, “Freaking Out”. Sure, it had the same examples of body-moding we’ve all been seeing for years. But it also featured an interview with Steve Haworth, who I’m ashamed to admit, I’d previously been completely ignorant of. This part of the transcript introduces him:

PETER OVERTON: If body modification is an art form, then Steve Haworth is a modern master. In a makeshift surgery at his home in Arizona he transforms thousands of individuals helping them find their inner freak. Remarkably, he has no formal medical qualifications, and is entirely self-taught.

STEVE HAWORTH: My tools that I use I invented, I made, I designed, because there are no tools in the medical industry to do the kind of work that I do.

PETER OVERTON: What is the difference between plastic surgery and the body modifications you do?

STEVE HAWORTH: Plastic surgery is modifying the body towards what society considers normal. My art form is extreme individualism. Making you look more like everyone else is absolutely against everything that I do.

Self-taught, designs and makes his own tools; I think we’ve got a winner! Here’s just a sample of his work so far:

As these photo’s show, Steve works in all aspects of body modification and has pioneered many of them.

Let’s conclude then with the trailer from the documentary about him, Flesh and Blood:

UPDATE – thanks to Betty for digging up this awesome and in-depth Q’n'A with Haworth over at BME!