By Efix Roy, Empire Body Arts
The first time I heard the name Misty Forsberg, it was attached to a photo of a beautiful and very well done scarification, and labeled as her very first piece ever. I immediately thought she was either a liar, or an extremely talented person. I was very happy to quickly find out she was indeed very skilled and knew exactly what she was doing. As a scarification artist myself, I followed her progression through this male dominated niche with great interest. Everything I would see from her on BME kept getting better and better, and I felt a wind of change coming as one of the rare women doing scarification professionally was making a name for herself.
Rapidly, her name was everywhere. I was reading her articles on Suspension.org, documenting the various activities and advancements in the body suspension community. I would see her running around the Dallas Suscons, quietly helping Allen Falkner make these events happen flawlessly. With his very special way of mentoring, she would soon discover a passion for education, teaching and training at suspension events all over the world. Her time and involvement within the body suspension world was rewarded in 2012 with the first A. “Spliff” Rosa Award for Advancement in Body Suspension. She went on to then co-found the International Suspension Alliance and sat as a Board Member on its first term.
All this being said, her biggest and most impressive achievement is probably her involvement in rewriting the body art legislation for the state of Arkansas. Teaming up with Steve Joyner and the Arkansas Body Modification Association, she embarked on a giant legal journey, fighting in the House and Senate against a state senator who used misinformation to try to ban certain body art practices such a scarification. From 2011 to 2013, they worked on stopping the ban on scarification while also passing safer legislation for the tattoo and piercing industry. From there, they worked on updating the body art rules and regulations for the state health department. The battle between their group and the senator was highly publicized, and as far as I’m aware, it was the first time the APP took a stance on a matter outside of the body piercing realm.
Although not actively piercing at this time, her interest in education and advancement of the piercing industry continues. Misty now focuses on laser tattoo removal and is sought after for her extensive knowledge and amazing results. She still travels all around the world doing scarification, teaching, and facilitating body suspensions. Whenever she gets a bit of time off, you can find her on top of a mountain swearing at a bunch of rocks.
Not all heroes wear capes. Some of them wear old grandma sweaters, have a very quiet voice, and still kick more ass than Superman. Misty Forsberg is definitely one of the latter.
