The Body Piercing Archive contributed material and guidance for the Piercing exhibit at the Musēe de L’Homme in Paris, France. The exhibit will run March 13, 2019 to March 9, 2020.
Project leader: Alexix Amen
Scientific Commissioner: Franz Manni
Piercing: L’ Exposition
Parallèlement à l’exposition Dans ma peau, Piercing propose un point de vue anthropologique sur le piercing. Mêlant représentations artistiques, objets préhistoriques, photographies et bijoux, l’exposition présente des pratiques du piercing depuis 45 000 ans. Différentes traditions seront abordées : des Kayapos du Brésil aux Dayaks du Bornéo, des «Primitifs Modernes» aux États-Unis aux usages contemporains.
Trouer la peau et y placer un objet visible est une pratique qui remonte à la préhistoire et dont on trouve des traces sur tous les continents, une pratique qui a perduré jusqu’à aujourd’hui. Ces modifications du corps prennent des significations diverses : appartenance à un groupe, rites de passage, signes de prestige ou marques d’infamie, signes de soumission, de beauté et de force.
Si en Europe seule la boucle d’oreille semble avoir traversé les époques pour devenir une tradition bien ancrée, aujourd’hui les Occidentaux ont adopté de nouvelles modes et utilisent l’ensemble du corps comme moyen d’expression.
Parti de la Californie libertaire des années 1970, le renouveau de cette pratique ancestrale est inspiré par des précurseurs qui cherchaient à libérer le corps. Se définissant eux-mêmes comme « Primitifs Modernes », ils réinventent et réinterprètent les pratiques dans un nouveau contexte où le piercing se réalise désormais dans des conditions stériles et maîtrisées. C’est ainsi que le premier studio de piercing voit le jour en 1975.
D’abord réservée aux subcultures naissantes (gay, punk, SM), cette pratique va progressivement s’étendre à toute la société et s’imposer à l’échelle mondiale grâce à un phénomène d’imitation, soutenu par l’essor d’Internet, et s’imposer désormais sous un nom mondialisé : le piercing.
1 http://www.museedelhomme.fr/fr/programme/expositions-galerie-lhomme/piercing-3791
From prehistory to the present day, discover the variety of piercing traditions and practices around the world.
Piercing: The Exhibition
Piercing offers an anthropological perspective on piercing. Combining artistic representations, prehis- toric objects, photographs, and jewelry, the exhibition presents piercing practices for 45,000 years. Different traditions are discussed: from the Kayapos of Brazil to the Dayaks of Borneo, from the “Modern Primitives” in the United States to contemporary uses.
Finding the skin and placing a visible object on it is a practice that dates back to prehistoric times and has been found on every continent, a practice that has continued to this day. These changes in the body take on various meanings: belonging to a group, rites of pas- sage, signs of prestige or marks of infamy, signs of submission, beauty, and strength.
If in Europe only the earring seems to have crossed the ages to become a well-established tradition, today the Westerners have adopted new fashions and use the whole body as a means of expression.
Starting in liberal California in the 1970s, the renew- al of this ancestral practice was inspired by precursors who sought to liberate the body. Defining themselves as “Modern Primitives,” they reinvent and reinterpret practices in a new context where piercing is now per- formed in sterile and controlled conditions. This is how the first piercing studio was created in 1975.
Initially reserved for emerging subcultures (gay, punk, SM), this practice has gradually spread to the whole of society and impose itself on a global scale thanks to a phenomenon of imitation, supported by the rise of the Internet, and now impose itself under a globalized name: piercing.
Piercing: The Exhibition
Piercing offers an anthropological perspective on piercing. Combining artistic representations, prehistoric objects, photographs, and jewelry, the exhibition presents piercing practices for 45,000 years. Different traditions are discussed: from the Kayapos of Brazil to the Dayaks of Borneo, from the “Modern Primitives” in the United States to contemporary uses.
Finding the skin and placing a visible object on it is a practice that dates back to prehistoric times and has been found on every continent, a practice that has continued to this day. These changes in the body take on various meanings: belonging to a group, rites of passage, signs of prestige or marks of infamy, signs of submission, beauty, and strength.
If in Europe only the earring seems to have crossed the ages to become a well-established tradition, today the Westerners have adopted new fashions and use the whole body as a means of expression.
Starting in liberal California in the 1970s, the renewal of this ancestral practice was inspired by precursors who sought to liberate the body. Defining themselves as “Modern Primitives,” they reinvent and reinterpret practices in a new context where piercing is now performed in sterile and controlled conditions. This is how the first piercing studio was created in 1975.
Initially reserved for emerging subcultures (gay, punk, SM), this practice has gradually spread to the whole of society and impose itself on a global scale thanks to a phenomenon of imitation, supported by the rise of the Internet, and now impose itself under a globalized name: piercing.