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Torture trilogies and octopus heads: the world'smost extreme performance artists – in pictures

From barbershop signs made out of bloodied limbs, living mummies and possessed dragacts, photographer Manuel Vason’s new book Double Exposures captures the artistspushing the boundaries of performance art

• Double Exposures is published by Live Art Development Agency and Intellect Books

Jenny StevensWednesday 5 November 2014 09.00 GMT

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David Hoyle

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Over 25 years on the drag scene, audiences have seen Hoyle get HIV-test results, play a department-storeSanta who strangles a child with decorations pulled from his bottom, and tackle his own mental illness inpaintings such as Hi, I’m David and 48 and Returning to Psychiatric Help Which Is in the Public Interest

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Ron Athey

In Torture Trilogy, masochistic performance artist Athey used flesh hooks, anal penetration and surgicalstaples to test the line between horror and desire. Audiences have also watched blood spurt everywhere ashe brushed his hair while wearing a wig made of needles. Here, he mummifies Manuel Vason in duct tape

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Stacy Makishi

Makishi, here pictured with a uterus-like octopus covering her head, has run workshops allowing artists tomarry themselves, explored her menopause and relationship with her mother in a Sopranos-influenced showcalled The Falsettos, and fallen in love with her therapist.

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Dickie Beau

In his eerie drag act, Dickie Beau lip-syncs to audio recordings. He often channels figures from beyond thegrave, such as Judy Garland and Marilyn Monroe, but he also embodies voices found in sound archives. “Forhim, the idea of lip syncing is about more than acting ... it’s about actually being possessed” says ManuelVason.

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Jamie Lewis Hadley

The former wrestler combines physical fights with dance. His motto is ‘we are all different and we all bleed’.This piece riffs on traditional barbershop signs and its blood-letting origins.

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Elvira Santamaría Torres

The Mexican artist’s performances focus on the violence she has encountered in her home country. In onepiece, she walked down a street in Bogotá covered in carnations as a symbol of hope and renewal. Here, sheuses red thread as a metaphor for blood, fire and nature taking hold of the body. All photographs: ManuelVason

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