Queer artist Fakir Musafar explored the sexual & spiritual through body modification - LGBTQ Nation

"Fakir Musafar started photographing his own piercings and body modifications in secret in his family home in 1944, when he was just 14 years old. Wearing jockstraps, head coverings, neck stretching collars, or masks, he'd draw fake tattoos on his body in ink, hang weights from his pierced ears and torso, clip wood clothespins onto his lips and the tender sides of his body, and cinch his waist with belts and corsets so tightly that they narrowed his waist into a 17-inch circumference."

"Musafar - a pseudonym he adopted in honor of a mystic who said piercings can lead to expanded consciousness - got his ideas from photographs of native tribes and rituals in National Geographic magazine. The photos made him feel an energetic charge, as if he could still sense the essence of the altered bodies in them, an energy that flowed between the visual image, the body, and spirits inside them, and a divine sexual longing in himself."

"He wanted to test his own connection to that spirit, and in doing so, he not only changed his relationship to his own body but also established the 'modern primitive' movement of queer spiritualists, body modification enthusiasts, and kinksters who practice piercing, tattooing, body modification, and performance rituals that continue to mystify and mortify people the world over."

"While not everyone has heard of Musafar, his (ahem) body of work - including rarely seen photos, self-recorded home movies, media interviews, and discussions with friends - has recently been collected in A Body to Live In, a striking documentary by queer filmmaker Angelo Madsen which draws a portrait of the artist through Musafar's own words and artworks."

Fakir Musafar began documenting his body modifications at age 14, using various methods to create intense feelings of belonging and power. Inspired by photographs of native tribes, he sought a spiritual connection through body art, leading to the establishment of the modern primitive movement. This movement encompasses queer spiritualists and body modification enthusiasts. His work, including photos and home movies, is featured in the documentary A Body to Live In, which portrays his life and artistic journey, despite Musafar's passing in 2018.

Read at LGBTQ Nation