Uvatiarru Teaser: Jon Cobb. (Patreon)

During my friendship with BME's Shannon Larratt, which started in 1995 and ended with his passing in 2013 (with some years finding the friendship rockier than others) I was constantly amazed at his ability to think big- ideas like Modcon, which we created together in a hotel room in Detroit in 1998- that actually came together were rare, with the majority of his big ideas talked up, marketed, and ultimately left to rust while he worked on what came next. 

ModCocks, for example, was our attempt to make and market dildos molded from personalities in the body modification community. It had a concept, and a logo, but no followthrough. 

The Cannibal Convention, the concept of which was to unite cannibal fetishists with those who desired to be eaten (I kid you not) eventually saw a website with a signup form "coming soon" but, thankfully, never materialized. 

Uvatiarru was one of his better big ideas- give a group of dynamic personalities DVC cameras, send them all over the world documenting body modification rites, rituals, and adherents, and try to cobble together a film with the footage that comes back. 

Erik "The Lizardman" Sprague at Stonehenge, the Cured Team traveling extensively in the US and Canada, iconoclast body piercer Jon Cobb's journey through Cambodia, Myanmar, and Vietnam- the potential for the film was incredible. 

But like a lot of Shannon's big ideas- the concept was better than doing the work, and as far as I was told, a final edit of the film was never completed. The tapes were damaged/destroyed in a series of floods, so the likelihood of surviving elements is slim to none. 

This trailer, featuring content from Jon's segment, is a reminder of what could have been. 

From the official website, 2005:

What is Uvatiarru?

Most of us perceive time as something linear that we move or progress through from start to finish. The Inuit believe that time moves through us in a repeating and cyclical fashion; from this they have the word Uvatiarru, meaning both “in the past” and “in the future” at the same time. There are truths that are revealed in the passage of time, and when they are forgotten, the are discovered again on the next cycle.

Rites of the body are humanity’s earliest known form of communication with each other and with the spirit world — as far back as 30,000 years we see everything from simple tattooing to rituals involving amputation of digits by shaman. Over the past 500 years we humans have done our best to mask and even expunge these primal voices, but they can not be silenced because they are who we are. Our bodies are vessels for these acts; we are designed, by hand of god or by hand of fate, to use our bodies to be the voice of the universe.

All over this world people are responding to a growing feeling inside them, each in their own way and with their own dance, but driven by the same underlying unifying heartbeat. Some dance with a heritage and guidance, but most don’t know the names for the passions that drive them. A wind gathers in them and around them and we’re watching it sweep through the world as we finally realize that the ultimate purpose of billions of unique puzzle pieces in different shapes and colors is to, through the strength of their differences, complete the puzzle that tells us who we are and what we are here to do.

The movie Uvatiarru attempts to take a picture of this storm.

Shot on location in over a dozen countries with hundreds performance artists, social deviants, and modern shaman, Uvatiarru is the result of over ten years of preparation and filming by Shannon Larratt and BMEzine.com. The film features amazing travel and performances including all manner of body modification, suspension, piercings, body part removals and reshapings, fireplay, astral travel, and adventure.

When can I see the movie?

Uvatiarru is “coming soon”. As of Summer 2005 we are filming our final scenes and the movie is in the editing stage. Anticipated limited theatrical, festival, and DVD release is for May 2006. the Uvatiarru Website, 2005:

What is Uvatiarru?

Most of us perceive time as something linear that we move or progress through from start to finish. The Inuit believe that time moves through us in a repeating and cyclical fashion; from this they have the word Uvatiarru, meaning both “in the past” and “in the future” at the same time. There are truths that are revealed in the passage of time, and when they are forgotten, the are discovered again on the next cycle.

Rites of the body are humanity’s earliest known form of communication with each other and with the spirit world — as far back as 30,000 years we see everything from simple tattooing to rituals involving amputation of digits by shaman. Over the past 500 years we humans have done our best to mask and even expunge these primal voices, but they can not be silenced because they are who we are. Our bodies are vessels for these acts; we are designed, by hand of god or by hand of fate, to use our bodies to be the voice of the universe.

All over this world people are responding to a growing feeling inside them, each in their own way and with their own dance, but driven by the same underlying unifying heartbeat. Some dance with a heritage and guidance, but most don’t know the names for the passions that drive them. A wind gathers in them and around them and we’re watching it sweep through the world as we finally realize that the ultimate purpose of billions of unique puzzle pieces in different shapes and colors is to, through the strength of their differences, complete the puzzle that tells us who we are and what we are here to do.

The movie Uvatiarru attempts to take a picture of this storm.

Shot on location in over a dozen countries with hundreds performance artists, social deviants, and modern shaman, Uvatiarru is the result of over ten years of preparation and filming by Shannon Larratt and BMEzine.com. The film features amazing travel and performances including all manner of body modification, suspension, piercings, body part removals and reshapings, fireplay, astral travel, and adventure.

When can I see the movie?

Uvatiarru is “coming soon”. As of Summer 2005 we are filming our final scenes and the movie is in the editing stage. Anticipated limited theatrical, festival, and DVD release is for May 2006.