Fakir Musafar

{{Short description|American body piercer, photographer and BDSM figure}} {{Infobox person | name = Fakir Musafar | other_names = | image = Dances-kavadiBIG.jpg | imagesize = | caption = Musafar in 1982 | birth_name = Roland Loomis | birth_date = {{birth date|1930|08|10}} | birth_place = Aberdeen, South Dakota, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|mf=yes|2018|8|1|1930|8|10}} | death_place = Menlo Park, California, U.S. | known = | occupation = Performance artist | title = | spouse = Cléo Dubois | partner = | children = | relations = | works = ''Body Play'' | movement = Modern primitive | website = [http://www.fakir.org www.Fakir.org] | footnotes = }}

'''Roland Loomis''' (August 10, 1930 – August 1, 2018<ref name=artforum>{{cite web|url=https://www.artforum.com/news/fakir-musafar-1930-2018-76131|title=Fakir Musafar (1930–2018)|work=ArtForum|access-date=3 August 2018|date=2 August 2018}}</ref>), known professionally as '''Fakir Musafar''', was an American performance artist considered to be one of the founders of the modern primitive movement.<ref>[http://gauntlet.ucalgary.ca/story/5541 Gauntlet – decorating the Modern Primitive] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20070520193215/http://gauntlet.ucalgary.ca/story/5541 |date=2007-05-20 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sHuXQtYrNPYC&q=fakir+musafar&pg=PT201 |title=Information Arts: Intersections of Art, Science, and Technology - Stephen Wilson - Google Books |isbn=9780262731584 |access-date=2020-04-24|last1=Wilson |first1=Stephen |year=2002 |publisher=MIT Press }}</ref>

== Life == thumb|Fakir Musafar Born Roland Loomis, he claimed at age 4 to have experienced dreams of past lives which, along with his anthropological studies, influenced his interests in body modification.<ref>''Voices from the Edge'' (1997), David Jay Brown & Rebecca McCLen Novick</ref><ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web|url=http://www.smh.com.au/national/fakir-musafar-passion-for-piercing-tattooing-and-corseting-20180814-p4zxdn.html |title=Fakir Musafar: passion for piercing, tattooing and corseting |date=14 August 2018 |publisher=Smh.com.au |access-date=2020-04-25}}</ref> He served in the army during the Korean War,<ref name="autogenerated1"/> and was first married for a short time in the 1960s.<ref name="autogenerated1"/> In 1966 or 1967, he first performed a flesh hook suspension, inspired by his viewing of anthropological works.<ref name=MP>Vale, V. and Andrea Juno (1989) ''Modern Primitives''. RE/Search, San Francisco. {{ISBN|978-0-940642-14-0}}</ref> In 1977, he gave himself the name Fakir Musafar.<ref name="autogenerated1"/>

In the 1985 documentary ''Dances Sacred and Profane'', he was shown walking while wearing a device that pressed many small skewers into his upper body, and hanging from a tree by hooks in his chest, in his modified versions of other cultures' sacred ceremonies.<ref name="autogenerated1"/> He was an extra ('Man in hotel room') in ''Die Jungfrauen Maschine'' (The Virgin Machine) in 1988,<ref>{{cite web |title=Die Jungfrauen Maschine (1988) |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095417/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 |publisher=imdb.com |access-date=17 August 2018}}</ref> and in 1991, he appeared in ''My Father Is Coming'' as Fakir.<ref>{{cite web |title=My Father Is Coming (1991) |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102491/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 |publisher=imdb.com/ |access-date=22 August 2018}}</ref> He was featured in the 1989 book ''Modern Primitives'',<ref name="autogenerated1"/> which documented, propagated, and became influential in the modern body modification subcultures.

In 1990, he married Cléo Dubois.<ref name="autogenerated1"/> From 1992 until 1999, he published the magazine ''Body Play and Modern Primitives Quarterly'',<ref name="leathermuseum">{{cite web|title=leatherarchives.org|url=http://www.leatherarchives.org/fakir.html|website=Leather Archive & Museum|access-date=21 June 2015|archive-date=22 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150622031606/http://www.leatherarchives.org/fakir.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Daniel E. Slotnik |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/13/obituaries/fakir-musafar-whose-body-play-went-to-extremes-dies-at-87.html |title=Fakir Musafar, Whose 'Body Play' Went to Extremes, Dies at 87 - The New York Times |work=The New York Times |date=13 August 2018 |access-date=2020-04-25}}</ref> which focused on body modification topics such as human branding, suspension, contortionism, binding,<ref>{{cite web|title=Bodyplay.com|url= http://www.bodyplay.com/bodyplay/|website=Body Play Magazine's Website|access-date=21 June 2015}}</ref> and modern piercing culture.<ref>''Body Play'' #4, 1992, "The Unique Piercings of Erik Dakota"</ref> He led "Fakir Intensives" training workshops on these topics in San Francisco.<ref>''Voices from the Edge'' (1997), David Jay Brown & Rebecca McCLen Novick</ref>

== Illness and death == In May 2018, Loomis announced on his website that he was suffering from terminal lung cancer.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fakir.org/letterfromfakir.html|title=Farewell from Fakir|website=www.fakir.org|access-date=2018-08-03}}</ref> He died on the morning of 1 August 2018.<ref>Slotnik, D. E., [https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/13/obituaries/fakir-musafar-whose-body-play-went-to-extremes-dies-at-87.html "Fakir Musafar, Whose ‘Body Play’ Went to Extremes, Dies at 87"], ''The New York Times'', Aug 13, 2018.</ref> His death was initially announced in a public Facebook post by his wife Cléo Dubois, and later confirmed by an obituary in ''Artforum''.<ref name=artforum/>

== Criticism == Modern primitivism has been suggested as cultural appropriation and misrepresenting or "bundling" cultures together in a "primitive" setting,<ref>{{Cite news |date=2016-10-26 |title=Why Primitivism was Cultural Appropriation - How To Talk About Art History |url=http://www.howtotalkaboutarthistory.com/uncategorized/art-history-101-primitivism-cultural-appropriation/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211025083801/http://www.howtotalkaboutarthistory.com/uncategorized/art-history-101-primitivism-cultural-appropriation/ |archive-date=2021-10-25 |access-date=2026-02-14 |work=How To Talk About Art History |language=en-US}}</ref> including modern primitive "adornment,"<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rosenblatt |first=Daniel |date=August 1997 |title=The Antisocial Skin: Structure, Resistance, and "Modern Primitive" Adornment in the United States |url=https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1525/can.1997.12.3.287 |journal=Cultural Anthropology |language=en |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=287–334 |doi=10.1525/can.1997.12.3.287 |issn=0886-7356 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20220603035911/https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1525/can.1997.12.3.287 |archive-date=2022-06-03|doi-access=free }}</ref> with many adherents of modern primitivism believing criticisms of this movement are based largely on the views of Roland Loomis rather than the culture as a whole.<ref>{{Cite web |title=[PDF] The myths of modern primitivism |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272274147_The_myths_of_modern_primitivism |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20221115192404/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272274147_The_myths_of_modern_primitivism |archive-date=2022-11-15 |access-date=2026-02-14 |website=ResearchGate |language=en}}</ref>

==Tributes== The Leather Archives and Museum, founded in 1991,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://leatherarchives.org/about/about-the-la-m |title=About the LA&M - Leather Archives & Museum |publisher=Leatherarchives.org |access-date=2020-04-24 |archive-date=2023-07-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230703144039/https://leatherarchives.org/about/about-the-la-m |url-status=dead }}</ref> once featured an exhibit about Musafar.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://leatherarchives.org/visit/exhibitions |title=Exhibitions - Leather Archives & Museum |publisher=Leatherarchives.org |access-date=2020-04-24 |archive-date=2010-04-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100422203745/http://www.leatherarchives.org/exhibits/deblase/timeline.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-10-29 |title=Chicago's Leather Museum Is a Love Letter to a Misunderstood Queer Subculture |url=https://www.them.us/story/the-registry-chicago-leather-museum |access-date=2023-12-13 |website=Them |language=en-US}}</ref> In 1993, he received the Steve Maidhof Award for National or International Work from the National Leather Association International.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nla-international.com/list-of-winners-2.html |title=List of winners |publisher=NLA International |date=2019-03-14 |access-date=2020-05-08 |archive-date=2020-01-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200103035305/http://nla-international.com/list-of-winners-2.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 2019, he was inducted into the Leather Hall of Fame,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://leatherhalloffame.com/index.php/inductees.html |title=> Inductees |publisher=Leatherhalloffame.com |access-date=2019-12-31}}</ref> and he is also an inductee of the Society of Janus Hall of Fame.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.erobay.com/calendar/Calcium40.pl?CalendarName=Janus&Op=ShowIt&Amount=Day&NavType=Both&Type=List&DayViewHours=1&Date=2019%2F7%2F20 |title=Society of Janus |publisher=Erobay |date=2019-07-20 |access-date=2020-04-21}}</ref> UC Berkeley's Bancroft Library and the Association of Professional Piercers also have large archives of his work in photography, published writings, workshops, and BodyPlay magazines. His memorial bench in Byxbee Park in Palo Alto reads "Body is the door to Spirit".

He is the subject of the documentary ''A Body to Live In'', directed by Angelo Madsen.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nussen |first=Gregory |date=2026-02-27 |title=A Body to Live In Review: Tender Portrait of a Trailblazing Queer Artist |url=https://screenrant.com/a-body-to-live-in-movie-review/ |access-date=2026-03-28 |website=ScreenRant |language=en}}</ref>

==Bibliography== * Fakir Musafar: ''Spirit + Flesh'', Arena Editions, 2004, {{ISBN|1-892041-57-X}}

==Notes== {{reflist|2}}

==References== * [http://www.bodyplay.com/fakir/ Biography] * [http://www.bmezine.com/news/people/A10101/fakir2.html Body Modification E-zine interview] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090904012306/http://www.bmezine.com/news/people/A10101/fakir2.html |date=2009-09-04 }} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060111090000/http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/taboo/ National Geographic documentary Taboo]

== External links == * [https://web.archive.org/web/20081120194532/http://www.researchpubs.com/books/primexc1.php Excerpt of interview] - Discusses modern primitives, from RE/Search

{{DEFAULTSORT:Musafar, Fakir}} Category:1930 births Category:2018 deaths Category:United States Army personnel of the Korean War Category:American erotic photographers Category:American people of Swedish descent Category:BDSM photographers Category:Body piercers Category:Culture of San Francisco Category:Deaths from lung cancer in California Category:Modern primitive Category:People from Aberdeen, South Dakota

Fakir Musafar

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