It's been a touch over nineteen years since we hosted the second of the Scar Wars events - that year moving from Philadelphia to Los Angeles - and Josh's facial cutting still stands out to me as one of my favorite pieces made during the three events.
Josh traveled all the way from Virginia...
2025-03-22 22:32:21 +0000 UTC View Post
… An Insider’s History of Scar Wars.
For those of you attending this year’s BMXNET conference in Berlin, I’ll be offering two brand new lectures.
The first will be a new series on queer tattoo artists and collectors- Indelible Identities.
The second will be...
2025-03-18 14:13:35 +0000 UTC View Post
I'm not sure if I've posted this before, but apparently I'd tucked the original print this scan comes from in a book some years back and, having rediscovered it when I needed to source a quote from the book in question, did an updated scan.
Revisiting prints over the years as technology ev...
2025-03-08 06:16:43 +0000 UTC View Post
The 1990s saw an increase in documentation of the emerging tattoo and body piercing boom; the best of the best were in-community projects - videos, books, magazines etc from folks who were in some way connected to the body art scene versus folks just looking to make a buck or a splash by document...
2025-02-26 16:31:50 +0000 UTC View Post
Not a lot of information about the gent in this photo- we posted the uncensored version over on Instagram earlier today, hoping anyone would recognize him.
So far, no dice.
What I do know is that it was taken in Knoxville, Tn in 1986, where Jack Yount pierced his quiche. The aeroso...
2025-02-20 20:53:38 +0000 UTC View Post
Yesterday, I had a Brother Laser Printer AND a tiny, stinky cat named Ron.
I'd just changed toner cartridges and was sitting down to start getting everyone's Nodal Points 6 orders shipped and Ron, agent of chaos that he is, decided to launch onto (and subsequently, off of) the printer, sen...
2025-02-19 16:33:23 +0000 UTC View Post
A. Viking Navaro- the Modern Primitive persona of Econ professor Bud Huizenga - wore some of Cliff Raven's early experiments with 'black graphic' tattooing, including these not-so-sutble phalluses.
Early 1980s.
2025-02-18 04:27:45 +0000 UTC View Post
Sacred Debris Archive Editions No.5
Evolution of a Subculture 02: An Insider's History of ModCon
7x7 inches, 76 pages.
Softcover, color & bw.
This book was put together as a companion to my August 02, 2024 lecture celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the first M...
2025-02-14 14:40:05 +0000 UTC View Post
Now Available:
Sacred Debris proudly presents Nodal Points Issue Six, the latest edition of our ongoing exploration into the history, culture, and evolution of modern body modification. This 100-page zine (6x9, full-color and black & white) brings together a diver...
2025-02-14 06:32:24 +0000 UTC View Post
Davy Jones is the tattooist responsible for Fakir Musafar's iconic black back/hip tattoos. He also helped Fakir facilitate some of his most iconic rituals - including an intense wire suspension and Fakir's Kavadi.
He's seen here in a 35mm negative scan, 1970s, Robin Ryan.
2025-02-14 05:55:54 +0000 UTC View Post
Val (Valeria) Watson began tattooing in 1972; she's one of those folks who I've seen for decades in tattoo history circles but didn't know much about- thankfully Sharky from Lonely Hearts Tattoo Club in Texas is set to fix that with the release of 2025-02-13 05:07:26 +0000 UTC View Post
Polaroid of A. Viking Navaro (Bud Huizenga) early 1980s.
Viking was one of the earliest adopters of Fakir Musfar's Modern Primitives movement. An econ professor and atavist, he wore numerous public facing tattoos and piercings, and "regrew" his foreskin via stretching.
We put out a 2025-02-07 14:27:07 +0000 UTC View Post
Running a little behind on these, but here we are!
We love love here at Sacred Debris. And we love body modification. And we love y’all. So let’s make it official with a card with a wandering vulva!
Our newest mascot, Harriet, is the centerpiece of our 2025 Valentine’s card, whi...
2025-02-04 15:39:19 +0000 UTC View Post
UPDATE: Stickers have sold out, but we still have zine preorders available.
Nodal Points 6 will officially go on sale on 14th, February, but we're doing a short run for US addresses only (Long story, but basically the USPS sucks for international shipping) that will include some rad sticke...
2025-02-02 06:20:02 +0000 UTC View Post
I just got word that the APs of the latest issue of Nodal Points has shipped. We should have them in hand in a few days and after a final proofread will be able to turn on the sales switch.
We had a pretty miserable experience with international shipping with the Modcon book - s...
2025-02-01 18:09:00 +0000 UTC View Post
I often say, "if you love body piercing, thank a Leather Daddy."
It's true, of course, and has the desired effect of reminding people of the queer roots of modern body piercing as a subculture and industry, but it's leaving out the side show performers, sex workers, kinky straight swingers...
2025-01-29 13:13:15 +0000 UTC View Post
One more photo (remind me to tell Pat to speed it up!) to process and an intro to write and Nodal Points Issue Six will be going to the printer.
Our man Ari was able to chat with former dick-ring maker and current metalsmith Pat Pruitt a while back, and we're finally getting it out to you ...
2025-01-28 16:33:41 +0000 UTC View Post
We're days from wrapping the sixth issue in our Nodal Points series; a few more photos to add, an index to build, and a final read through to make sure I removed all of the proofreading notes, then it'll go to the printers and we'll hopefully have a few copies in hand before our February fundrais...
2025-01-25 23:33:10 +0000 UTC View Post
Bill was an American expatriate living in Copenhagen Denmark by the time I met him in the early 1990s. He was a close friend of my mentor Jack Yount, who'd brought Bill to my farm to say hello and charm us with a natural storyteller's gift for spinning a yarn.
We recently posted a photo of...
2025-01-23 19:07:26 +0000 UTC View Post
After pretty much every event we'd throw in Toronto- ModCon, BMEFest, Toronto Suscon - we're invariably end up back on Bathurst Street at Shannon Larratt's place for an afterparty.
The apartment was infamously messy - like terrifyingly so (the werewolf story...) - but we always had an amaz...
2025-01-23 18:49:51 +0000 UTC View Post
Posted Jan 22nd 2025 on Occult Vibrations Instagram cropped, this is the full version for members.
Sid was a glorified amateur tattooist and piercer; with a lack of professional piercers (in the 1970s and m...
2025-01-23 15:07:05 +0000 UTC View Post
It’s almost time for our annual Valentine’s Day membership push/fundraiser. I always apologize in advance for fundraising week; I hate the tapdance of it all but it really helps us from going out of pocket for our archiving, content acquisition, tech, etc so I appreciate yall sticking with us...
2025-01-22 17:12:09 +0000 UTC View Post
We're almost ready to wrap the latest issue of our Nodal Points zine - Issue Six - which among other rad content features a write-up on the eponymous Madison behind the naming of the Madison piercing.
I dug through prints (a consistent theme in my life for the last few decades) to find so...
2025-01-20 22:17:16 +0000 UTC View Post
Post on Occult Vibrations Instagram.
There's something to be said for a pin-up tattoo; this one, done by legendary UK tattoo artist/body piercer Alan Oversby on his client's backside is particularly spicy.
<... 2025-01-17 04:57:15 +0000 UTC View Post
Post on Occult Vibrations Instagram.
There's something to be said for a pin-up tattoo; this one, done by legendary UK tattoo artist/body piercer Alan Oversby on his client's backside is particularly spicy. 2025-01-17 04:48:57 +0000 UTC View Post
In 2025 I'm going to try and be better about reconciling our various social media accounts into a more - cohesive? - repository here on the SD blog.
If it gets posted on our SD Instagram, I should probably be posting...
2025-01-17 04:31:20 +0000 UTC View Post
Kinsey Maxell was a body art fan who spent his later years in South Florida; as a friend of Sailor Sid Diller, he often shows up in photos from the golden age of the 1970s/80s body piercing scene.
He's seen here in a snapshot taken in July 1978. The eagle at the base of his penis makes for...
2025-01-10 04:45:12 +0000 UTC View Post
John had an impressive collection of tattoos by Cliff Raven; I'm not sure if that's who did this tiger piece on his leg, but it's a beaut.
This was photographed at the 1986 Knoxville tattoo convention; note John's gold PA piercing.
2025-01-02 05:04:47 +0000 UTC View Post
I just realized, as I was typing away on the newest issues of the Nodal Points zine (issue six- should be dropping in February if all goes well) that today marks the 11th anniversary of of the launch of the second iteration of Sacred Debris.
Sacred was originally a print zine in 1994. Cut,...
2025-01-02 04:53:47 +0000 UTC View Post
Kissimmee, Florida, is a small suburb of Orlando that's mostly known for a kitschy themepark called Gatorland. The park is most famous for it's live alligators, crocodiles, and other reptiles, and one of its biggest draws is the always-popular "meet a capybara" experience. So, you k...
2024-12-18 14:50:03 +0000 UTC View Post