Courtesy Sideshow Suspension performers will hang from different positions over five performances at the Slinging Ink Tattoo Expo.

Netira Grunow describes her first suspension as “a battle against yourself and an absolutely amazing experience of pain so sharp it sends you to another reality.”

How else could someone describe being pierced with hooks and then suspended almost 14 feet off the ground?

Grunow is one of about 10 performers who are part of Sideshow Suspension, a group that will pull, hook, cut and pierce themselves for onlookers at the Slinging Ink Tattoo Expo.

“There is going to be a lot of secret stuff, and it's a really interesting show. We go all out and have fun,” Grunow said.

The group has previously pulled trucks and played skin tug-of-war with each other as part of their show. A must-watch, Grunow said, is Frank the Tank, also known as Sideshow Frank, who has hooked and hanged his way to the top of the suspension show circuit with his extreme suspension and pulling acts.

“We would hang ourselves 40 feet if we could and are considering getting a crane to do it,” Grunow said about the group. Suspension is not only a test of self-control and pain tolerance but also the human skin's limits, she said.

Native Americans performed the first form of suspension as a rite of passage for men. The practice is known as O Kee Pa, Grunow said. There was only one position in which the men were hanged, through hooks placed through the chest skin. Now, there are several positions, including the superman, where participants are hanged from backs, backs of the thighs and backs of the calves, and the lotus, where participants sit Indian-style with legs crossed and are hanged from shoulders, backs and tops of thighs.

Jenina E. Hernandez | 210SA