Jolene Jean Zubrow: Genealogy of Body Piercing // Luna Duran: The Work of Decolonization

Genealogy of Body Piercing

Jolene Jean Zubrow’s workshop will consist of a genealogy (in the spirit of Foucault) of contemporary body piercing practices in the United States of American and Western Europe from the 1960s through the present day. This project is undertaken as a case study, in what is ultimately a remediation of philosophical conversations regarding subcultural practices and their fecundity as sources of subversion against unjust social arrangements and systems. Jo will argue that looking towards piercing is not best done for purposes of subversion or vindication, but to reveal the problematizations upon which our practices always rely. Such an approach can be a more fertile ground for thinking about such practices in relation to social justice and ethical life.

The Work of Decolonization

Through the critical lens of personal experience, Luna Duran will introduce a general audience to the modern industry of body piercing. Brought into the United States through the private tattoo & piercing parties frequented by the gay leather community in California, the practice of Body Piercing has grown into an industry that contends with, often, conflicting
narratives. Having spent over two decades of her life developing from an enthusiast to a professional in Body Art, Luna has navigated a predominantly cis, white, male industry in the body of a queer native South American woman of color; providing her with a unique perspective which she documents on her skin through scarification and the consequences of enduring extreme ritual performances. She will share her mission of decodifying and deconditioning the assimilated scripts of white supremacy, misogyny, and heteronormativity inbuilt in our greater culture, acquired by the Body Art industry. This is a call to arms for those who seek to experience the extreme act of self-ownership through body rituals as a path to liberation.

This session is part of the Queer Practices / Queer Embodiment remote transdisciplinary conference that aims to bring together artists, theorists, and practitioners. The conference continues our work of building a community that is focused on intentionally developing bodily practices. We want our space to be a place for political growth and experimentation using all the materials that bodywork, sex education, and cultural inquiry can provide.

We aim to take advantage of the opportunity for an online conference. We seek to engage a broader audience that may be familiar with sex-positive culture but is not necessarily attuned to a wider set of political concerns, or approaches to gender and sexuality that are more often encountered within academic, activist, and artistic spaces. We want to put together a conference that will be open to the public and focus on fostering challenging yet accessible conversation.

Queer Practices / Queer Embodiment is curated and organized by a collaborative team consisting of Andrea Rimon (an intimacy choreographer and movement artist) and Georg Barkas (a tying and sexuality educator) and Karada House in Berlin (a queer art/research space). It is sponsored by Karada House and Github for Good.

You can browse the full program and get access to this session/the conference here

Event Details

Date & Time:  October 3rd, 2021, 7 pm – 9 pm CET (Berlin time)

Format: transdisciplinary conference

Audience:  LGBTQIA+ & FRIENDS

Language: English, automated closed captions provided

Recording: yes, will be available for 30 days to the participants of the conference

What else to know

After your successful ticket purchase, you will be sent an email with all the necessary data for this event.

This event is free. You can also choose a payment for your ticket which will be used by Karada House to finance similar events in the future.

photo: Caio Oviedo