Shannon David Larratt (September 29, 1973 – March 15, 2013) was a Canadian writer and artist. Larratt was best known as the creator, editor, and publisher of

BMEzine ''Body Modification Ezine'' (''BME'') is an online magazine devoted to body modification, noted for its coverage of the extreme and fringes of body modification and erotic body play. History and content ''BME'' was started as a web site host ...

, an

online magazine An online magazine is a magazine published on the Internet, through bulletin board systems and other forms of public computer networks. One of the first magazines to convert from a print magazine format to an online only magazine was the comput ...

focusing on extreme

body modification Body modification (or body alteration) is the deliberate altering of the human anatomy or human physical appearance. In its broadest definition it includes skin tattooing, socially acceptable decoration (''e.g.'', common earring, ear piercing in ...

s. The author of multiple books, Larratt was also known for writing openly about his experiences with mental illness and drug abuse.

Early life and education

Shannon David Larratt was born in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

on September 29, 1973. His brother is a professional armwrestler, Devon Larratt. Larratt wrote publicly about his father's mental illness causing danger to those around him, which would parallel his own later experiences with mental health.Zentastic.me
/ref> Larratt wrote in 2002 that his father faced restraining orders by multiple neighbors and family members. In middle school Shannon produced a video titled ''SUCKMORD'', which was largely a collage of his work and which centered on themes surrounding death. His high consumption of psychedelic drugs during this period was likely connected to his later psychiatric issues. In his final year of high school, he claimed to have been allowed to use

LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly known as LSD (from German ; often referred to as acid or lucy), is a semisynthetic, hallucinogenic compound derived from ergot, known for its powerful psychological effects and serotonergic activity. I ...

by a teacher, while creating an art project that incorporated his own blood. Though Larratt claimed to have begun attending university on a full scholarship,Zentastic.me
/ref> he dropped out after the first year.Zentastic.me
/ref>

Career

BMEzine

Larratt founded ''BMEzine'' in 1994. In 2002 he was the host of the first of several "BME Pain Olympics",

viral video Viral videos are video, videos that become popular through viral phenomenon, a viral process of Internet sharing, primarily through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhon ...

s showing various clips of

cock and ball torture Cock and ball torture (CBT) is a sexual activity involving the application of pain or constriction to the male genitals. This may involve directly painful activities, such as genital piercing, wax play, genital spanking, squeezing, ball- ...

. 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

Mental health

Having seen the consequences of his father's mental illness on the family, Larratt made finding coping mechanisms a priority. Following a nervous breakdown,Zentastic.me
/ref> he was diagnosed with

schizophrenia Schizophrenia () is a mental disorder characterized variously by hallucinations (typically, Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, thought disorder, disorganized thinking and behavior, and Reduced affect display, f ...

, leading to him being institutionalized. The diagnosis would later be disputed by another doctor.Zentastic.me
/ref>

Death

In 2010, Larratt was diagnosed with tubular aggregate

myopathy In medicine, myopathy is a disease of the muscle in which the muscle fibers do not function properly. ''Myopathy'' means muscle disease ( Greek : myo- ''muscle'' + patheia '' -pathy'' : ''suffering''). This meaning implies that the primary defec ...

, a rare muscle disease. Larratt died in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, where he had been living, on March 15, 2013.

In popular culture

* Shannon 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 Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "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 appeared on several television and radio shows including TLC, Discovery Channel, Richler Ink, and more. * Shannon appears in the intro to the ''

Clerks II ''Clerks II'' is a 2006 American black comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith, the sequel to his 1994 film ''Clerks'', and his sixth feature film to be set in the View Askewniverse. The film stars Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Rosa ...

'' film (playing "Ear Guy"), along with his ex-wife Rachel.

Bibliography

* ''I Am The Strength Of Art'' (1999; with portraits by Philip Barbosa) * ''ModCon: The Secret World of Extreme Body Modification'' (2002; with portraits by Philip Barbosa) * ''Opening Up: Body Modification Interviews 1995-2008'' (2008) * ''MEET TOMMY: An Exploration of Private Body Modification and Play'' (2012)Zentastic.me
/ref>

References

External links

Shannon Larratt's blog
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Larratt, Shannon 1973 births 2013 deaths Body modification Canadian non-fiction writers Canadian bloggers Canadian magazine editors People with schizophrenia