I am offering a fair warning to all those suffering from agliophobia, do not look at Mary Coble’s art unless you are ready to face your fear of pain!

When entering the territory of Coble’s art, it is best to brace yourself. Coble has the capacity to evoke a visceral skin-crawling reaction, and this piece definitely lives up to her reputation. Coble is one of those badass feminist LGBTQ​ activist artist, and her work has become a voice for the struggles that face these communities. For this piece, Coble compiled a list of 436 names of lesbian, gay, bi, and transgender victims of hate-crime murders, something that had yet to be done, as there is no official documentation system for this data in place.

But of course this wasn't enough for Coble, for you have not felt the pang of injustice radiate your core yet. So, to really drive the point home, she had the first names of all the victims tattooed (without ink) across her entire body. As she went, the tattoo artist rubbed paper over the freshly punctured skin in order to transfer the bloody name that rested on her skin onto a canvas that would forever immortalize this moment. All in all, she sat for an excruciating twelve hours for this endurance performance piece!

Turns out Coble may not have chosen to tattoo herself solely for shock value. In fact, during her preparatory research for this piece, she found that some of the victims had anti-gay words carved into their skin by the perpetrators. In a way, tattooing their names also become an homage to this shocking act of hate.

Horrifyingly revolting? Possibly. Deeply thought provoking and honest? Definitely. This piece offers an opportunity for reflection that surpasses my benign realization that I am a total wimp when it comes to pain, and really allows us to reflect on the physical and emotional nature of hate in our culture. Coble is embracing pain in order to honor those whose lives were cut short at the hand of bigotry, ultimately leaving our gut wrenching reaction to her self-mutilation seeming insignificant. As Coble explains, "It is not about hurting myself. It's the only way I can think to express these ideas that my audience will have a strong enough connection to." So maybe Coble isn’t a masochist after all, and needless to say, I think she definitely fulfilled her goal.