Editing 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 art]]ist
| 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 ==
[[File:Fakir Musafar.JPG|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 [[Suspension (body modification)#Chest|flesh hook suspension]], inspired by his viewing of anthropological works.<ref name=MP>Vale, V. and Andrea Juno (1989) ''[[Modern Primitives (book)|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 [[cultural appropriation|modified versions]] of other cultures' sacred ceremonies.<ref name="autogenerated1"/> He was an extra ('Man in hotel room') in ''[[Virgin Machine|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 (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|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 (body modification)|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/>

==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> [[University of California, Berkeley|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, California|Palo Alto]] reads "Body is the door to Spirit".

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

== See also ==
* [[Domination & submission (BDSM)]]
* [[Risk-aware consensual kink]]
* [[Sadomasochism]]
* [[Safe, sane and consensual]]
* [[Sexual fetishism]]

==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]]

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{{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]]