Tattoos & Tattooing

1. Introduction to Tattooing

Many people think tattooing, body piercing and other forms of body art as prohibited thing rather than artistic creations. They are thought to be suitable for lower strata of society like convicts, gang members, freaks and all those individuals audacious enough to disobey nature in an attempt to alter it.

However, the acceptance of body art has grown more over the last 10 years than any other time in history and is now becoming quite conventional. As the hippies of the late 60s became the leaders of the 90s, often flaunting their tattooed and pierced bodies, our society has become more at ease and receptive to alternative art forms.

Many young people today do not realize that they may be sorry in the future that they chose to put tattoos on their bodies today. Many people say that they wish they had not been foolish enough when they were young as now they must live with the reminder of what they did when they were young. Only a few people have the money to have them removed by laser.

At the other hand, a great tattoo gets smiles and tête-à-tête and a bad tattoo fetches regrets and more cost. Tattoos are like the people that wear them, large, small, all shapes and sizes. A great deal of the time they represent a certain part of their life, and have a story behind the tattoo, like a souvenir of a place, person, or thing. Tattoos are not new, they date back to prehistoric man and they were also used to identify tribes. Tattoos are a personal testimonial made by you as an individual.

Custom tattooing, like freehand drawing without a stencil, is increasingly getting popular with customers, especially those with several tattoos on their body. Today, the art of tattoo is a combination of tribal designs, abstract pieces, and original compositions. Many tattoo artists are divided into specialties or styles like- Tribal, Irezumi, Celtic, etc. or certain body parts like neck tattooing, arm tattooing, etc. Tattoo as an art is displayed in galleries around the world and celebrated at popular shows, where tattoo artists vie for prizes and acknowledgment.

The art of tattooing may mean different things to different people and cultures.

(1) Superstition:
Since ancient times, it has been one of the common reasons among people to acquire tattoos on their bodies. During his visit to Tahiti in 1769, Sir James Banks wrote: “What can be a sufficient inducement to suffer so much pain is difficult to say; not one Indian (though I have asked hundreds) would ever give me the least reason for it; possibly superstition may have something to do with it. Nothing else in my opinion could be a sufficient cause for so apparently absurd a custom.” (Courtesy: Tattoo History- A Source Book, by Stephen G. Gilbert).

(2) Decoration:
In the early days, decoration used to be the most common reason for tattooing. It still holds true for the modern age.

(3) Identification:
In some societies, tattoos served as an identification of the wearer’s rank or status in a group. In the early Roman era slaves and criminals were given a distinct identity by tattooing on their body.

(4) Rites of passage:
Tahitian tattoos served as rites of passage, telling the history of the wearer’s life.

(5) While Achieving a Milestone in Life:
Boys who attained manhood received one tattoo to mark the occasion, while men had another style done when they married.

(6) As a Souvenir:
Sailors traveling to exotic foreign lands began to collect tattoos as souvenirs of their journeys.