Human Pincushions

The Human Pincushion is an act that has always been relatively rare. How many performers want to make a living sticking pins and needles into their flesh?

The Fakir tradition going back a thousand years or more may have been the initial predecessor to these acts, but modern primitivism and the fashion in our era of piercing for adornment have kept the idea alive-- that supposed self-harm can be turned towards art and fashion.

Whether tied to Eastern mysticism or the act of Masochistic display, traditional 19th- and early-20th-Century human pincushion acts took the fascination with body horror, and the morbid entertainment value, to the stage in earnest-- the literal harm of puncture wounds tossed around like mere feathers or the touch silk to the skin.