Issue 88—Post-Conference

from The Point: Journal of Body Piercing - Issue 88 - Autumn 2019

by The Point: Journal of Body Piercing

THE SILENT AUCTION

Our Conference Sponsors contributed generously, allowing our first Silent Auction to be a tremendous success. This year, many auction certificates were snagged early for their Bid Now price (75% of the wholesale value), allowing auction participants to take home a guaranteed discount on future inventory for their studios. Some bidders went the patience and risk route, which resulted in an exciting Thursday afternoon in the Auction booth. A small number of auction certificates were awarded for as little as 20% of their wholesale value!

We would like to thank everyone who participated in the Silent Auction. Your participation provides the Association of Professional Piercers with support that makes Conference happen and allows the organization to operate throughout the year.

Thanks again to our Conference Sponsors who contributed charitably to the Silent Auction: Anatometal Inc., Auris Jewellery, Buddha Jewelry Organics, Fakir Intensives, Gold Heart Woodworks, Industrial Strength Body Jewelry, LeRoi Inc, Maya Jewelry, NeoMetal Inc., Pupil Hall, Quetzalli Jewelry, Regalia, Sleeping Goddess Jewelry, Steri-Wash

**Josh A. Prentice Volunteer Appreciation Award: Mark W. Montgomery**
PHOTO BY AUTUMN SWISHER

Al D. Scholar—Šimon Svěrák

When I received the Al D. Scholarship to attend the APP Conference and Exposition, I was very happy and had the highest expectations. I must say, those expectations were fulfilled almost completely. I personally had four main goals: 1. To learn new piercing techniques. 2. To try and supply my country with high end, quality jewelry. 3. To experience the culture of the country where the modern piercing industry started, and to meet people involved in the beginning of this industry (even if postmortem like the Fakir Musafar exhibition.) 4. To establish contacts to start a Czech and Slovak association of professional piercers, along with Branko Branislav Blascak who was also an Al D. Scholar this year.

1. To learn new piercing techniques. For the last three years I have attended BMXnet. I think the information taught at BMXnet and at the APP Conference and Exposition, specifically concerning piercing, is quite similar; there are a lot of the same speakers. So, there was not that much new information for me to learn, just some small tips and tricks or some inspiration. It the end, though, this was very encouraging for me, because I discovered I am probably more experienced than I thought I was.

2. To supply my country with high end jewelry. There is little or no high-quality jewelry market in my country. I would not say we use low quality jewelry; I would say it is rather mediocre. The main reason is it is simply not affordable for our customers. I think that, given the economic situation of the EU and the level of development in the piercing industry in Prague, now is the right time to work towards changing that. New people I met during Conference were very helpful in this; they gave me a lot of tips about what jewelry I should buy, how I should present it to my customers, what the pros and cons of this better jewelry are, etc. They even went with me through the Expo and introduced me to brand managers.

When I came back to my country I found that selling this jewelry to customers was more difficult than I expected, but I think there is a way. It just needs a lot of patience and more education for my customers. I am planning to do some blog or vlog posts about the importance and design of jewelry to provide our customers with information they need and hopefully it will help to start a new market.

3. To experience the roots of modern body piercing industry. I was very excited about the opportunity to attend a class by Jim Ward concerning his relationship with Fakir and I was excited to visit the Fakir exhibition (not to mention classes with speakers like Annie Sprinkle and others.) I have read Running the Gauntlet, Modern Primitives, and other books and getting the opportunity to meet the people involved in the creation of our subculture was more than enriching. It helped me to better realize the importance of sexuality in the development of the modern body piercing culture and I learned of its relation to spirituality. Caitlin also encouraged me to speak with Paul King who recommended a few books to study.

Another part of this was experiencing the USA itself. I understand much better how the culture of the Native Americans affected the characteristics of American rationality in relation to spirituality, religion, sexuality, and the body piercing experience. I am going to gather my thoughts on this topic for a public presentation titled “Body Piercing as Fetish” by the end of this year.

4. To start Czech and Slovak association of professional piercers. I managed to establish contacts with a few people who provided me with a lot of valuable info about starting our own association, mainly Nicole Holmes and Cale Belford. There is still a great deal of work to do. I plan to focus on this more after the holidays, likely in September.

To conclude, I must say the APP Conference was, for me, a very strong and good experience. It was very well organized and all the people were very nice. I think I managed to meet most of my goals while there.

PIERCERS OF COLOR CONFERENCE SCHOLARSHIPS

KEIANA 'KOOKIE' LYNN

As Body Piercers & Makers, our trade is rooted in indigenous practice, as ancient as 320 CE. Since then, body modification has been co-opted, suppressed, condemned & re-popularized in the Western World. Over the last couple decades, we’ve built an incredibly solid industry based on health & safety. As our field expands further & farther, the diversity of our members must follow. This year we celebrate the 24th Anniversary of our Professional Piercing Conference. 2019 is the first year that we’ve formally broken the silence, regarding our community’s ethnic disparity. After attending the 1st ever Cultural Inclusion Course & POC Roundtable Discussion, it has become very apparent that we need to actively create spaces for our visibility & accessibility. We can aid our profession and honor our extensive history, by culturally socializing our industry. We believe attendance & representation are the first frontier. With your assistance, we can offer a full scholarship to foster higher education for the POC community, by the POC community.

To make a contribution, please send your donations to paypal.me/pools/c/8fZyu8xjfm With this link, you can view our progress until we’ve met the goal. If we exceed the goal, excess funds will stay in the pool for next year’s scholarship recipients.

BPA: FAKIR MUSAFAR, IN PURSUIT OF THE SPIRIT

DEVIN RUIZ-ALTAMURA

All these years later with half a decade of counter work at Cold Steel under my belt and a relatively new position with the Body Piercing Archive, I couldn’t help but be so thankful for Fakir’s unexpected influence on my life.”

I wasn’t prepared for the magic I felt when entering the completed exhibit room for the first time. I had probably handled each object in that room more than a dozen times over the past nine months, and written down their item numbers or descriptions just as many times. It didn’t make this collection any less powerful for me. I hope everyone else who got a chance to see the exhibit found it as moving as I did.

This year’s Body Piercing Archive exhibit, “Fakir Musafar: In Pursuit of the Spirit,” was our most ambitious to date. It was also the most comprehensive exhibit that has ever been seen on Fakir Musafar’s life and legacy. Featured were over 2,000 square feet of original images, digital media, and fabricated items, many of which had not been collected or displayed together under one roof since their creation. Visitors were led through the exhibit by a diverse crew of docents, all who had unique and personal experiences with Fakir himself and the Fakir Intensives School.

The exhibit opened with a timeline of the life of Roland Loomis, also known as Fakir Musafar. The timeline acted as a guide through the room and the objects. Next, a series of banners displaying all of the various personas that Fakir inhabited: Roland Loomis, Yogi Ankora, Fakiki, The Perfect Gentleman, Ibitoe, Golden Apollo, etc. Some of the first items displayed were examples of early corseting inspiration, and original National Geographic issues that planted seeds in a young Roland’s mind. It was extremely gratifying to see what parts of Fakir’s history were a surprise to the various docents and speakers. These little surprises really showed the amount of dedication that Paul King and

Becky Dill put into their research, and the generosity that Cléo Dubios showed us in sharing some never before seen photos and artifacts. From there was a chance to see many of the various handmade masks, devices, jewelry, and tools that Fakir designed and fabricated for his own use in photoshoots and personal play.

The transitional space between the first and second half of the exhibit held some of the work that served as an introduction to Fakir for many people, myself included. The film Dances Sacred and Profane could be viewed here alongside a performance Fakir did with Cléo Dubois, his wife and partner.

Standing amongst the tour group for Paul King’s first guided tour of the exhibit, seeing Fakir on screen taking Kavadi, was another truly surreal moment for me. I remembered being 12 or 13 watching that clip for the first time and thinking this was exactly what interested me the most. All these years later with half a decade of counter work at Cold Steel under my belt and a relatively new position with the Body Piercing Archive, I couldn’t help but be so thankful for Fakir’s unexpected influence on my life.

The second half of the exhibit highlighted Body Play Magazine and the Fakir Intensives School. Printed media, photography, and graphic design were all large parts of Fakir’s life; Body Play Magazine was the culmination of all of these passions and interests. Original working layouts of the magazine could be seen alongside their completed counterparts and final editions.

The Fakir Intensives School was many people’s first hand experience with Fakir, and the foundation of so many memories. It was great

to watch people find themselves in the class photos or even be able to see themselves evolve over the many years they had attended or been an instructor. I love knowing that Fakir got to spend the second half of his life immersed in the community he desperately searched for in his early years. He got to witness first hand the impact he had on our industry, and on so many people’s lives—not something many get to experience in their lifetime.

The backdrop for this more recent history was a grand display of the most iconic hand fabricated objects and sculpture associated with Fakir. The Bed of Blades and Bed of Nails from his first public performance at the 1977 international tattoo convention in Reno, Nevada, the Sword Swing and wooden and aluminum “encumberments” seen in various photoshoots, the horizontal suspension rig used for countless people’s spiritual flights, the Witches Cradle seen in Body Play Magazine, and the Kavadi featured on the poster for Dances Sacred and Profane. The sheer amount of work and devotion Fakir put into his spiritual endeavors and “body play” was inspiring.

The culmination of the exhibit was a small curtained room that, once entered, dazzled the viewer with a bright display of red and gold. Before this room had even been filled, the impact of the change of color and tone brought those of us there to tears. The alter that was set up within was lovingly curated by Grin, a Fakir Intensives instructor and close friend of Fakir and Cléo. Flowers, candles, and sentimental objects were all present and served as a beautiful tribute to a person whose vast career and extraordinary life could hardly be contained within any exhibit walls.

The Body Piercing Archive would like to thank all docents, speakers, and volunteers that gave their energy, love, and time.

Special Thanks to: Cléo Dubois, Jim Ward, Annie Sprinkle, Veronica Vera, Ken Coyote, Paul King, Becky Dill, Ian Bishop, Allen Falkner, Dustin Allor, Cody Vaughn, Betty Ann Peed, Jef Saunders, Cynthia Wright, Yossi Silverman, Grin, Paul Fox, Jamie Biggers, Matte Erikson, John Balk, Theo Williams, Jenna Dittrich, Rafael Diaz, Pablo Perelmuter, Danny Greenwood

TECHNICAL INNOVATOR AWARD: Gorilla Glass “Cells” Collection

INTERVIEW BY KRISTINA OUTLAND

There is beauty in the complexities of nature. Gorilla Glass has done an incredible job capturing those complexities in their limited edition 2019 collection entitled “Cells”,winner of this year’s Technical Innovator Award.With this design, Gorilla Glass celebrates the building blocks of life; the creation of their jewelry is even environmentally friendly.

“The process used to make this collection involves up-cycling our waste glass to create a high quality, limited edition jewelry line. Reducing our impact on the environment is a major concern for Gorilla Glass, and the new techniques that we are developing are showcased in the ‘Cells’ collection. The ‘Cells’ line is a way to acknowledge and celebrate life on the most basic level,” Jason Pfohl, owner of Gorilla Glass, remarked.

Jason went into an in-depth description of the creation process, and it is incredibly fascinating. “The concept always comes first. In this scenario I wanted the technical innovations that we are developing at Gorilla Glass to be reflected in the design and theme of the collection as well, so the design is married to the up-cycling process. The ‘Cells’ collection is a contemporary version of a very ancient technique that the Venetians perfected, called murrini. The core elements of these pieces are made through a pattern bar technique, where stacks of different strips of colored glass are grouped together somewhat randomly and fused into blocks in a specialized fusing oven. You never see or touch the glass after it is shut in the oven. The result depends on the viscosity of each color, and how gravity manipulates the stacks. Afterwards, the pattern bars are picked up on a steel rod (punti) and dipped in a crucible full of molten recycled glass, creating an even layer of color around the bar. Using gravity, the encapsulated pattern bar is stretched into a long rod using heat as well. Later, the rod is cut into sections and reassembled in a mosaic pattern. The mosaic design is fused again and then cut up, ground, carved, and polished into the final forms. It is a very labor intensive process.”

The process of up-cycling even helped determine the color scheme for this beautiful line.

The designs include understated off-white tones, with an intense black for contrast. Jason mentioned the hidden transparent blue pictured, can only be seen when the pieces are backlit.

“I enjoy when the colors shift and are revealed, creating a surprise discovery for the viewer. The colors were also chosen from stockpiles of waste glass.”

Twelve different specialized artisans have their hand in this process, and usually work in teams. Jason is personally involved in the hot working of all the murrini up-cycling designs. He mentioned he definitely enjoys being a part of the production process.

“I remember in high school looking at slides through the microscope. There was an amazing feeling of discovery looking at these incredibly beautiful alien and hidden worlds surrounding us and inside us. Cells are the building blocks of life, creating the basic structure, functional, and biological units of all known life. The word ‘cells’ come the the Latin ‘cella’ meaning ‘small room’. Every element in the ‘Cells’ designs are encapsulated in one or two layers of up-cycled glass, creating random geometrical designs in the finished jewelry. I do not try to control the designs, but allow the glass to find its own patterns. The artwork of the German zoologist Ernst Haeckel was also an inspiration for this collection. Haeckel documented thousands of new species as a marine biologist, including many microscopic organisms. His book Art Forms in Nature, has been a big influence for me over the years. What I love about the cells theme is that on the microscopic level everything becomes disembodied and abstract.”

In summary, much time, consideration, curation, and research has gone into this line, making this an award-winning experience jewelry fanatics can wear and enjoy.

“I would like to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of my team at GG. I would also like to thank all our great customers and the body modification community at-large, for their long and ongoing support that made this innovation possible. Thank you!”

THE REMEMBRANCE ALTAR

As the professional community grows in so many ways, we also have experienced some profound losses including industry pioneers, longtime vendors, and close supporters of the APP. This year at Conference and for the coming years, we will have a community remembrance space that is open to all to participate in. It is an ongoing movement to learn our past as we spring into the future. Each and everyone of us has also experienced loss and some of that loss makes us who we are. This is also the space to honor those people as well.

2019 MEMBERS’ MEETING UPDATE

APP Officers

Cody Vaughn, President* — president@safepiercing.org Paul King, Treasurer — treasurer@safepiercing.org Aaron Pollack, Secretary — secretary@safepiercing.org

APP Board of Directors

Cody Vaughn, President* — president@safepiercing.org Becky Dill, Vice-President** — vp@safepiercing.org Cale Belford, Outreach Coordinator** — outreach@safepiercing.org Monica Sabin, Membership Liaison** — members@safepiercing.org Steve Joyner, Legislation & Regulatory Affairs — legislation@safepiercing.org Brian Skellie, Medical Liaison — medical@safepiercing.org Jef Saunders, Public Relations Coordinator* — pr@safepiercing.org

APP Outgoing Board Members

Luis Garcia, International Liaison Kendra Jane B, Events and Operations Ryan Ouellette, Outreach Coordinator

* New position

** Incoming Board Member

LBP 2019 REVIEW

LUIS GARCIA

I had the pleasure to attend the 6th Congreso Internacional de Perforadores Profesionales, and as usual the Latinoamérica Body Piercing A.C. did not disappoint. Usually held in fall during Dia de los Muertos, 2019 brought a change with it being held in the first week of April. Many attendees and instructors welcomed this, as the warmer weather made for more recreation time by the pool. The conference was held in Taxco, Mexico for the second year in a row. Taxco is a small mining town known for silver mining and silver jewelry.

The journey to the conference starts in Mexico City. Attendees and instructors met at LBP Board Member Axayacatl Nochipa’s studio, Ónix MX Estudio Tatuaje Piercing, for registration and to wait for the four large buses that would take us all down to Taxco for LBP. Many would dread a several hour bus ride, but the ride is always a lot of fun as everyone is excited for the conference and in great spirits. Before we knew it two hours had gone by and we were at the host venue. We had a few hours to settle down and have some lunch. Then there were classes before the opening party; a relaxed dinner by the pool with traditional local performers and dancers.

Now, let’s get to the best part of the conference: the classes and instructors! This year the instructors consisted of Sergi Tinaut, Didier Suarez, Emmanuel Rodriguez, Mauricio Torres, Aldo Gissi, Alicia Cardenas, Autumn Swisher, Paul King, Elayne Angel, Danny Yerna, Erika Gomez, Jef Saunders, Roberto Briseno, and yours truly. I got the chance to check out most of the classes taught by these instructors (except for the ones that were going on while I was teaching), and as usual all were stupendous. A personal stand out for me was Mauricio and Aldo’s class How to Elevate Your Studio to its Maximum Potential. They did some interesting things to make studio owners consider how they deal with their employees, and employees consider how they deal with their managers and bosses. Their approach created a great dialogue between the two groups. Another stand out for me was Paul King’s XXX History of Piercing in Porn, which isn’t shocking, as Paul’s classes tend to be very informative and entertaining.

Let’s not forget about the coveted jewelry expo, held in a lovely old church building. This year had more vendors than ever, featuring Namaste Adornments, Xamacalli, Gold Piercing, Tsar Jewelry, GL Pyrex Jewelry, Biometal, Industrial Strength Mexico, Diamonds MX, Kraken Jewelry, Ukuri Jewelry, Inari Organics, Quetzalli Jewelry, Gorilla Glass, Kiwi Jewelry, Sacred Symbols, Maya Jewelry, and Auris Jewelry. The expo hall was often packed between classes (and a little during classes), with everyone trying to maximize their time for buying all the gorgeous jewelry.

Mid week, the organizers set up a caminata (translation: walk or hike) through town to the center of Taxco and back. Guided by locals with donkeys carrying beverages, and local musicians, we walked through the small streets taking in the local architecture and artwork until we reached the zócalo (or “main square”), where we milled about the lively area and mingled with the locals. It made for an amazing evening.

As the conference came to an end, the Gala provided an interesting way to close out the event. After dinner we were treated to a very powerful performance from Grupo de Danza Ozomahtli and Alfredo Martinez. The performance was a fusion of traditional Mexica (Aztec) and traditional Japanese butoh dance. They took us on a journey of all the animal energies of the Aztec calendar using slow rhythmic dancing that paid homage to Tlaloc, the Aztec god of rain.

The LBP always puts on a great conference for the Latin American piercing community, and I look forward to hopefully being invited again to participate in the future. If you are a Spanish speaker, I highly encourage you to go and take part in this amazing experience.

FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION & PIERCING IN THE UK

LOLA SLIDER, UKAPP Medical Liaison

In the United Kingdom right now there is a cloud over the legal classification of female genital piercings.

Their current legal status is effectively non-existent; they are neither legal nor illegal. This creates a vast cavity of misinformation available for gross misinterpretation.

I first contacted my local police department in September of 2016, after my failure to get clarification on this subject from my licensing authority, and got a response almost immediately. A short and clear, “yes, in a licensed shop on a consenting 18+ year old adult, this is legal.” Three short years later, in April of 2019, after three weeks of sending multiple reminders to two departments, I received a reply from the same police department. They told me, “I am not in a position to advise if any offence has been committed. In the event a complaint was made it would be a matter for the courts to decide.”

In that three year period no laws have changed in Scotland, which suggests to me it is the attitude that has changed. The Serious Crime Act 2015 1 is applicable only in England and Wales. Scottish female genital mutilation (FGM) law falls under The Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation (Scotland) Act 2005 2 . Both acts, however, contain the key word “mutilation” at the center of all this legal ambiguity. With a word so charged with connotation, it can be difficult to find legal clarification on exactly what it covers. With the intention of clarifying and standardizing the definition, the World Health Organization has classified FGM into four major types 3 . Unfortunately, the term “piercing” is used in Type 4, possibly in reference to the stitching involved in infibulation or forms of Sunna, where the clitoris and labia are pierced and encouraged to bleed freely.

The National Health Service (NHS) is “collecting data about women and girls with FGM who are being cared for by the NHS in England. This collection includes data items that will be routinely discussed by the patient and health professional as part of the standard delivery of care and that are included in the patient's healthcare record.” 4 Due to the classification by the WHO, “genital piercings are included” in this data collection, because “the data item FGM Type 4 Qualifier allows users to specify that the FGM was a piercing.” The FGM Enhanced Dataset—Frequently Asked Questions 5 text goes on to state that “labiaplasty and genital tattoos are not included.”

What the piercing community needs are clear amendments made to the existing legislation that state cosmetic genital piercings on consenting adults, performed in licensed premises, are excluded from the classification of Type 4 FGM. This will eliminate the current legal ambiguity we face and protect us from investigations that, even if ultimately do not result in prosecution, could be career ending. This will allow women in the UK parity with men seeking genital piercings and it will prevent the NHS from recording women with genital piercings as FGM suffers. Under current Department of Health policy, patient permission is not needed to do so.

From January to March 6 of this year alone, an astonishing 1,990 cases of FGM were recorded in England. We can only hope policymakers take the time, as I did, to find that only 1,015 of those cases were new and of that, 750 where recorded as “unknown” as opposed to being classified as Type 1 through 4. Of these, 85 were Type 4 and 65 were “not recorded”; how these 65 somehow became part of the statistics is anyone’s guess. By simply reading the first quarterly 7 NHS Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Enhanced Dataset of this year, the number has potentially been reduced from 1,990 to 115.

It’s also worth remembering that the terms “women” and “girls” are equal and interchangeable in the existing legislation and that the average (mean) age of those individuals recorded in the latest statistics is 32 years of age.

Of these reported cases of FGM, 97% had occurred over ten years ago. Of all the cases reported, those that took place within the UK accounted for less than 5% of the overall statistics. The majority of that 5% were known to be body piercings.

Some positive news in this area is that the piercing community is not completely alone in seeking clarification and potential reform to the existing legislation. The Scottish government developed a questionnaire in 2014 to be completed by the NHSGGC FGM Short life Working Group. Of 32 completed questionnaires, less than half were in support of mandatory data reporting at doctor appointments. This issue has come up against opposition from anti-FGM activists, such as Hibo Wardere, as many believe it will only discourage victims from seeking out gynaecological care and it does nothing to prevent the crime of FGM. Many completed questionnaires also called for better enforcement of the original or existing legislation instead of new legislation.

I will be attending the National Summit for Preventing and Eradicating FGM in July on behalf of the UKAPP. I’m looking forward to raising some of these issues. The purpose of this summit is to discuss existing FGM policy set to expire in 2020, and to potentially make changes for better efficacy. This will be the first time we have been present in the discussion about policy making regarding this issue, rather than reading about it after the fact.

The majority of the feedback and correspondence I’ve exchanged over the last three years with various official bodies has been quite positive overall and not particularly “anti-piercing.” It’s important to remember that there is not one piece of written legislation that exists in the UK today that polices the ways in which a man can alter his genitals. The female body is perpetually strangled in red tape and any consideration given by lawmakers to it are either to preserve it before, or repair it after, childbirth. It’s hard not to read the following segment taken from “Strengthening Protections for Female Genital Mutilation, A Scottish Government Consultation” 8 (published October 2018) and not see shades of Mr. Sebastian:

“Type 4: This includes all other harmful procedures to the female genitalia for nonmedical purposes, e.g. pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterizing the genital area. It can cover vaginal elongation, the practice of stretching the vulva using weights for aesthetics or enhancement of sexual pleasure.”