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modern primitives by Scott Treleaven (mongrel_priest@disinfo.net) - October 18, 2000 |
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| Our use and presentation of (our bodies) say precise things about the society in which we live, the degree of our integration within that society, and the controls which society exerts over the inner man. ~ ~ Victoria Ebin, The Body Decorated. "All the Britons coloured themselves with woad, which produces a blue colouration . . .in this manner they are frightful to look upon in battle." Coined as a term in 1979 by shamanic contortionist and "the Father of Modern Primitive Movement", Fakir Musafar, the 'Modern Primitive' is a person who participates to varying degrees in physical ritual, expropriation of ethnic symbology, and bodily adornment, often carried to the point of permanent surgical manipulation (tattoos, branding, piercings, implants). More frequently the term 'body modification' is used to describe the new extents to which the 'Modern Primitive' is able to defy or enhance her/his body. In 1989 publishers V. Vale and Andrea Juno released issue #12 of their seminal 'RE/Search' series: 'Modern Primitives'. Following the trail blazed a decade earlier by more underground or fetish-based magazines like Fakir's 'Body Play' and 'PFIQ' ('Piercing Fans International Quarterly'), the book served as an exploration of the steep rise in contemporary magical and tribal ritual, body piercing, body modification, and tattooing. 'RE/Search' set out to thoroughly embrace both postmodern concepts of the body, and traditional customary practices. It featured interviews with Counterculture icons such as 'Church of Satan' founder, Anton LaVey; 'Temple Ov Psychic Youth' progenitor, Genesis P-Orridge; and of course, Fakir Musafar. For many people this was their first introduction to Modern Primitivism, and it is still one of the best print resources on the subject. Tattooing, branding, scarification, surgical implants and piercing have evolved, or possibly re-evolved, from aboriginal 'rites of passage' into ways of bringing the body back to the foreground of experience. In an increasingly disembodied culture, these types of adornments can serve to make one's consciousness feel more 'at home' in one's body. Conversely, media artist and one time body modification spokesmodel, Genesis P-Orridge sees the body as an increasingly superfluous vehicle for our ever expanding minds. In his recent online essay 'Breaking Sex', P-Orridge speaks of bodily adornment as a Way of defying our physical restrictions: redefining what our bodies could be. Aside from the underlying romantic idea of the 'noble savage', and body modification's more immediately spiritual aspects, many adherents found that they could annex Modern Primitivism through erotic experience and S&M play. People like the late 'supermasochist' Bob Flanagan used incredibly torturous and sensual types of piercing to both physically arouse and mentally challenge himself simultaneously. It is probably no coincidence either that Fakir Musafar's partner, Cleo Dubois, is a BDSM scene professional, who has collaborated with Fakir in many of his performances. Popular media's prompt recuperation of body piercing and tattooing happened faster than anyone could say "MTV". Whether these adornments are a means of bringing oneself back to one's body, or away from mediated experience, they are being trivialized now that many types of body modification are so heavily commodified (another addition to marketable youth culture credentials). To resist falling back into the mass media flavor-of-the-month, Modern Primitivist ritual and body modification is becoming increasingly more radical, now encompassing horns, fins, bone-sculpting, digit removal, and tails. Major urban cities now offer spaces where (for a fee) you can experience ritual suspension from hooks, ball dancing, mummification, and less traditional forms of BDSM play. Importantly, the underlying ideology behind what is 'primitive' has progressed beyond whether or not you have a steel bolt through your genitals. |
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A Brief Non-Linear Piercing History Rec.arts.bodyart FAQ Rec.arts.bodyart: Tattoo FAQ Ambient Inc Secret Shame: Self-Injury Information Body Modification & Ornamentation: A Paper Terrafactive Armageddon Kathy Acker Interview Bob Flanagan Ron Athey BME: Body Modification Ezine Ta Moko: Maori Tattooing Today Piercing History & Anthropology RE/Search Publications Hakim Bey: New Primitives Disinformation Dossier On Genesis P-Orridge Disinformation Dossier On Body Modification The Association Of Professional Piercers Tattoo History Source Book Genesis P-Orridge: Next New Way On Fakir Musafar's Homepage: Bodyplay Orlan Homepage |
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