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In Person

Kim Hewitt at Fringeware

photograph by John Anderson

You probably think of Fringeware's playfully subversive bookstore on the drag when you want to buy Gray Alien merchandise or controversial literature, but do you consider it when looking for something to do on a Friday night? It may not be a traditional venue like a club or a coffeeshop, but with a recent string of appearances by notables such as filmmaker Kenneth Anger, you'd do well to keep it in mind. On Friday, March 20th, Fringeware was hopping with "the spiritually uplifting young carcasses" the promotional flyers promised, fueled by free snacks and (quoting the flyer again) "a variety of ritual intoxicants." Nothing illegal, just good clean subcultural fun and a lively reception for and book signing by author and UT doctoral candidate Kim Hewitt.

Ms. Hewitt discussed some of the ideas behind her book Mutilating the Body: Identity in Blood and Ink (Bowling Green State University Popular Press, $18.95 paper), including her choice of the word "mutilate" for the title. In the course of writing the book she encountered a wide variety of body modifiers, from bloodletting performance artists to convicts getting jailhouse tattoos, and Hewitt took this opportunity to let the subjects speak for themselves by reading statements from three disparate individuals for whom self-mutilation, in the broadest sense, is an important component of identity. She also diplomatically fielded audience questions ranging from the apropos to the outlandish. Mutilating the Body is a serious scholarly work, but any book that covers piercing and tattooing, no matter the context, must struggle against being pigeonholed or dismissed as faddish pop culture ephemera. Not all of those in attendance were interested in exploring the overlapping niches different forms of self-mutilation have occupied culturally and psychologically throughout history... some just wanted to tell their own stories.

Trying to address such important and complicated issues as eating disorders and female adolescent self-mutilation in the open, chatty question-and-answer format was difficult, and in spite of her composure she acknowledged later that a few of the questions rattled her. Her work carries a lot of personal investment, and she often feels conflicting pressures from those who feel that she should maintain a possibly artificial, objective distance from her subject matter and those who want her to spend more time addressing her own involvement with body modification. Loaded subjects breed strong opinions.

Some came to learn, some came to be seen, but all in all the evening, like the bookstore itself, showcased an intriguing palette of topics which are no less worthy for being in vogue, and merit the kind of intense scrutiny and analysis Kim Hewitt is determined to give them. - Damien Weaver