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Fakir Musafar

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Fakir Musafar
Born
Roland Loomis

(1930-08-10) August 10, 1930 (age 94)
Aberdeen, South Dakota
Websitewww.Fakir.org

Fakir Musafar (born Roland Loomis, August 10, 1930 in Aberdeen, South Dakota) is considered the father of the modern primitive movement.[1] He has experimented on his own body with body modification techniques such as body piercing, tightlacing, scarification, tattooing, and suspension, and has documented, shared and taught others as part of his life's work making him an underground icon in BDSM, kink and fetish communities.

Early life

At age four Musafar claimed to have experienced dreams of past lives.[2] He gave himself his first body piercing when he was twelve. He performed the O-Kee-Pa suspension in 1966 or 1967. His first public appearance as Musafar was at the First International Tattoo Convention in Reno, Nevada in 1977.[citation needed]

Career

Musafar has documented and shared his explorations in writing, speaking and teaching others "body play". In the early 1990s, Musafar appeared in mainstream media shows like NBC's Faith Daniels Show, CBS's People Are Talking, CNN's Earth Matters and Discovery Channel's (Beyond Bizarre). In 1998 Musafar produced documentary segments for London Weekend Television's Southbank Show and Playboy Television's "Sexcetera". In 2000, 2001 and 2003 he has appeared in documentaries for The Learning Channel (Human Canvas Part I and Part II), TBS, FX Channel and Discovery Channel plus a major appearance in the 2001 documentary film "Modern Tribalism". In 2004 became a spokesperson for the National Geographic Channel's Taboo (TV series) and has expressed "radical contemporary" views on body rituals on the Travel Channel's "Eye of the Beholder" series hosted by Serena Yang.

Musafar's writing and photography appears in Theater Journal, Bizarre magazine (fetish and SM exploration), Skin Two and PFIQ (Piercing Fan International Quarterly). He has lectured and performed at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts (Rapture Series, 1995); Copenhagen's International Seminar on BODY:Ritual-Manipulation (1995) and Lisbon, Portugal's Festival Atlantico (1997). His photographic art was recently exhibited at the Fahey/Klein Gallery in Los Angeles.

In February 1999, Musafar presented "My Reality, Your Reality, Reality of Those you Treat" as an invitee to the annual conference of the American College of Psychiatrists educating on body modification and shamanism. His performance group performed "Metamorphosis" at the 1999 Los Angeles Fetish Ball as well as for close friend Annie Sprinkle's Benefit Show at the Cowell Theater in San Francisco after her houseboat and archives were destroyed by fire.

Musafar continues to speak at colleges and universities and to New Age and other special interest groups. Musafar is a Master Piercer and shaman with over 40 years experience in the body arts. He is also the founder and director of the School for Professional Body Piercing, the first in America.[3] Starting in 1948, he championed the ancient practices and modern techniques in general use today and co-developed the established techniques of contemporary body piercing. Musafar's Body Piercing and Branding Intensives school is amongst the best in the world.

Musafar is featured in Modern Primitives, published by RE/Search, and in the full length documentary Dances Sacred and Profane.[4][5] He also appears in the movie Modify.

Musafar was featured in the full length documentary film about Charles Gatewood - Dances Sacred and Profane. The "sacred dance" segment comprises Gatewood's conversations with Musafar, as they talk about body manipulation as a spiritual practice, and "the historical drive to find transcendence through pain". The last section of the film follows Fakir's preparation and enactment of the "SunDance", a spiritual ritual in which Musafar is suspended by steel hooks through his chest.

Musafar's partner, artist, author and educator Cléo Dubois, often travels, lectures and performs with him.[citation needed]

Bibliography

  • Fakir Musafar: Spirit + Flesh, Arena Editions, 2004, ISBN 189204157X

See also

Notes

  1. ^ modern primitives by Scott Treleaven — October 18, 2000
  2. ^ Voices from the Edge (1997), David Jay Brown & Rebecca McCLen Novick
  3. ^ Voices from the Edge (1997), David Jay Brown & Rebecca McCLen Novick
  4. ^ modern primitives by Scott Treleaven — October 18, 2000
  5. ^ "Dances Sacred and Profane".

References

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