Through investigating the body modification movement and the trajectory of Fakir’s art career and philosophy, A BODY TO LIVE IN uncovers a riveting facet of queer history. Using Fakir’s early experiments in body play and his photographic works from the 1940s and 50s as a springboard, the film traces the body modification movement as it emerged in LGBT subculture in the early 1970s. The film introduces us to early collaborative experimentation at gay underground BDSM parties, leading to the first piercing shop, moving through the radical faerie movement and the role of body modification during the AIDS epidemic, the emergence of body-based performance art, and the rise of an entire subculture. Insights from key figures including Annie Sprinkle, Ron Athey, Idexa Stern, Jim Ward, Midori, and others provoke deeper reflections about art making, surviving AIDS, and the controversial collaging of various spiritual and cultural practices to build a philosophy. Captured in static 16mm film portraits, A BODY TO LIVE IN unfolds conversationally between Fakir’s archive of 100+ hours of unseen footage, and the voices of the canonical elders of this movement, to create intergenerational dialog, question cultural responsibility, and provoke larger ideas about the drive to transcend the limits of the body.