Modern Primitives: An Investigation of Contemporary Adornment & Ritual: 12 (Re/Search) - Softcover

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Fakir Musafar: By the time he was twelve, Fakir had begun a systematic, personal exploration of virtually every body modification and ritual practice known to man—all done clandestinely until the ‘80s.

Since the release of the 1985 film Dances Sacred and Profane (in which he did the primitive rituals of a Sun Dance and a KavandiBearing), Fakir has given numerous lectures accompanied by slide shows, “live” demonstrations of rituals and practices, and showings of Dances Sacred and Profane for which he is the booking agent. He has published a series ofpublications titled Body Play, and has been featured in several videos by Charles Gatewood and others. Fakir is now world-renowned for his workshops, performances and publishing. What follows is a condensation of conversationsconducted 1982 to 1986, and is representative of his philosophy and thought to that date.

Ed Hardy: One of the foremost practitioners of the ancient art of tattoo is Don Ed Hardy, a philosopher, historian, painter and innovator who, on a global scale, has greatly advanced the cultural credibility of his profession. As editor of Tattootime he chronicled and disseminated little-known mythology, anthropology, history, and photo documentation about tattoos. He also spotlights current innovative trends both in technique and content. His goal: to raise artistic standards and extend the range and complexity of symbolism depicted, while reinvestigating and preserving past traditions.

Monte Cazazza: A founding theoretician of the Industrial Culture movement, Monte Cazazza has continued producing videos (having recently completed a successor to True Gore); music (with his band the AtomSmashers); media studies (Marshall McLuhan being a perennial favorite); film screenplays; and other project/collaborations with Psychic Television (PTV) and artist Deborah Valentine.

Genesis and Paula P-Orridge were known for their music and video projects under the names Psychic Television (PTV) and TheTemple of Psychic Youth (TOPY). Previously, Genesis had been a prime innovator in the Industrial Culture Movement, producing dozens of albums as part of the groundbreaking quartet, Throbbing Gristle, as well as releasingrecordings by SPK and others on the Industrial Records label. In the following interview Genesis and Paula reveal motivations and philosophical imperatives for their tattooing, piercing and scarification explorations.

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EXCERPT from Monte Cazazza interview:

Why do people tattoo certain symbols on them? Is there acollective unconscious?

I think a lot of people at this time in history have tappedinto something primal or basic. Sure there are fakes in every endeavor, butthere are also people who are serious astronauts of inner space. Even thoughsome of Fakir Musafar’s practices might appear somewhat sensational, you can’tsay he isn’t serious about what he’s doing. If you’re put in a centrifuge andspun around, and hung upside-down, maybe things do happen—who knows? Obviously,these practices have been going on for thousands and thousands of years—why?There has to be some kernel of basic truth there. That’s not saying to buildyour whole life around one practice, but obviously there’s something going on…

Obviously, the Number One problem today is identity.Identity is nourished by privacy as well as the converse situation of analliance in action, and both of these are hard to maintain in modern society!Privacy is almost a totally outmoded possibility. If you don’t have anyidentity, you try to re-create your life in such a way that you think you havesome. How do you do that? Tattoo some weird design on your stomach—you try toget more control over your life.

The problem right now is: you’re not supposed to have somekind of weird, unique identity. There are no rites of passage; you become ateenager and your hormones are running rampant and what do you do? There’s noone to talk to or anyone who really understands that your situation is shitty,and that you have no rights. So kids give themselves a mohawk or pierce theirnose because they’re trying to establish some identity forthemselves—preferably one their parents don’t approve of. Since they don’t fitinto the status quo, they do something other than what the status quo dictates.

These days, who is getting all these tattoos and piercingsdone to themselves? It isn’t just Hell’s Angels anymore; it’s every socialclass and age group. And why—what are the underlying psychological dynamics ofwhat is going on? For one thing, these acts change your perceptions; they’re somethingpermanent you do to yourself because the rest of the world is totallynon-permanent; in a state of flux. Everything’s changing all the time…

People don’t know why they do most of the things theydo, do they?!...

[Vale: In summary, I can think of three reasons why peoplemight pierce or otherwise modify their bodies: 1) visual aesthetic 2) sexualpleasure 3) sense of apartness—]

[Monte:] Add: revolt… boredom .. reinforcementof identity. After all, what do you hear the most? “DON’T. NO. YOU CAN’T.YOU SHOULDN’T.” Think about when you were at school: “Don’t do this. Don’t dothat.” By the time you’re six years old you’ve heard “Don’t” ten thousandtimes! Language and your mind are interconnected; the words you use, how youspeak, what you talk about, your approach—what you say is a mirror of yourpsychology. So I think that something that promotes a stronger personalidentity is good—I mean a real personal identity, not just some strangegroup identity which people can use to hide themselves behind, like HareKrishnas…