'Pura vida.....'

Hello everyone:) Here is my latest blogpost about Alessandro and his Tattoos:)

Alessandro is 21 years old and from Italy and like the other interviewees also a student at the Erasmus University. He has a total of 3 tattoos and made his first tattoo in Costa Rica at the age of 17. The tattoo is the sentence ‘Pura Vida’ which is located on his right shoulder. It is connected to Costa Rica as it is as characteristic saying in Costa Rica.  It literally means ‘Pure life’ but put in a broader context it refers to being full of life and enjoy life. Alessandro was amazed by this point of view and  experience of Costa Rica and its inhabitants to get it tattooed as a reminder of it. His second tattoo was also made somewhere he traveled at the age of 19 in Los Angeles?. This consists of the sentence ‘ Some people don’t believe but I was born a champion’ and is placed in his left ribs. It is related to the Song ‘Champion’ from Chris Brown. At this point in time, he believed that he was born a champion. However, now he says he has the opposite world view: he now beliefs that it was his good environment which offered him the possibility to develop this way and have a good life. Now he is working on a project to offer this possibility to others. Analyzing this, I would argue that this tattoo then serves as a reminder of his past and reminds him of the change and development he experienced. His third and last tattoo was made at the age of 20 in Italy with his three best friends. It is a four-leaf clover located at his right hipbone. This was made to share the meaning of good luck with his friends.

Tattoo perception

He explains that his tattoos are for himself rather than for other people which is why they are visible for himself but easily hidden from others. nts.  However, he emphasizes that he does not care about judgments of others. In general he describes his tattoos as a reminder. When it comes to the tattoo trend believes that it exist to the extent that people engrave specific parts of body such as at the body. He says it also reflected in tattoo design as he thinks that many people get a tattoo with the same design because of a celebrity has it. For instance when Rhianna got a star tattooed a lot of people got it as well. His tattoo Pura Vida is also widely spread in Costa Rica.

Tattoos as Art

He also beliefs, that there is a tattoo trend because artist are getting better since they have better technologies and color nowadays. Overall, he thinks that people and society respect it more and are more interested in tattoos. This is also due to the fact that he states that our generation is developing which means that prejudices are not so strong anymore and will be less within next generations. When it comes to his family, his-parents ‘went crazy’ at the beginning but when he got more tattoos they acknowledged that it is simply his personal choice. Some of his friends view his tattoo with the Champion lyrics as arrogant but in general like his tattoos. Depending on the situation, he feels proud of his tattoos when he is at the beach with friends but less proud when he is with his parents. The attention of other people outside his family makes him happy as he sees it as appreciation if people look at him.

Further, he views tattoos as an art, as an expression of one’s personality. For him, they are an expression of a certain moment of his live. He beliefs that tattoos have to be respected and appreciated for what they mean and stand for. He would also consider removing his tattoos since the technique gets better and he argues that he changes so much so he never knows if he keeps the same taste. Therefore, Alessandro is the only person interviewed who does not consider to have his tattoos for eternity.

Hello guys (: Adding to all the the interesting interviews so far is Atana’s interview. Atanas is 21 years old. According to him he has 4 decent tattoos and one he does not consider as complete, I guess I can say he has 5 tattoos in total. All his tattoo are in black and white as he thinks that tattoos express more of a story and emotions like that.  According to him it is more appropriate for engraving the skin and leaving a message whereas colored tattoos are better for decoration.

He got his first three tattoos in Bulgaria. His first tattoo was made at the age of eleven with his parents. It is located on the right shoulder and consists of 3 symbols which are put together. On the one hand, the symbol refers to the Christian father, the Holy Ghost and the sun. Also, he has the element of live which is a famous sign ‘: the earth wind and see. This symbol has varying meanings in different religions. In Buddhism it means something different; it is a triad with no beginning or ending. He did it very spontaneous since he only thing he knew was that he wanted a tattoo with 11 but did not know what. Therefore he searched through catalogues with his parents.  When I asked why he was allowed to do a tattoo at such an early age he explained that everybody is tattooed in family and it is okay. His made his second tattoo at a later stage with sixteen.         


 He was growing up at that point in time and went through many different stages in his development. It started off with being a teenager and getting into high school and new social groups. Then he had a new social surrounding and friends and likings and styles and then h got back to tattoos.  He is really into symbols and their meanings which is why at the age of sixteen he spent a lot or preparation for it. He went to a tattoo artist and she designed his tattoo for him.  He and the artist spend a lot of time working on it together. They incorporated how she wanted it to look and how he wants to make it which resulted in a lot of drafts before they choose the design.                                                                                                                                                                                His third tattoo is a big project which resembles a combination of symbol into semiotics. He expresses his worldview with the symbols. It gives him motivation and strength. The different symbols are situated at the back between his shoulder blades. At the center of the piece is a big skull with four bones. On the left side of the skull is the White Pentagram; a five point star facing up. This symbol carries meaning as it is connected to his family believes he has been raised up with.  It also expresses the beliefs of the groups he was raised with. On the right of the skull is the combination of the sun and moon in one. This symbolizes the beginning and end, the light and dark and the old and new. Underneath the skull is a sand watch with angel wings. This signifies that times flies and you cannot control it in any way. Around different elements or symbols is a snake going around all elements. The snake symbolizes what goes around comes around; everything is in a continuous flow. On top of the skull is the all seen eye: Underneath the circle is the sentence ‘Sapientia Virtus Vires’ which means translated ‘Knowledge virtue of men’. It means that knowledge is a virtue. In the background are two daggers crossing. The daggers reflect his past interest into knives. This back piece took a total of 6 ½ hours. 

His forth tattoo was made 1 ½ years later when his brother was born. It is his brothers baby hand print with his name and date of birth around it on his left rip. He got this tattoo on his rips as his brother used to put his hand on the spot of the tattoo. When he looks at his rips he is thinking of his brother. Since he went abroad to study and work it is a reminder of his brother as he is carrying him with him.

The next tattoo is titled as the tattoo ‘which does not really count’. It was made in a rather drunk condition by his tattoo artist friend. They used her equipment after a party to tattoo him. However, the tattoo equipment did not function well which lead to the decision to do it only with the needle by hand. It ended up to be the letter ‘B.’ which is the first letter of his tattoo artist friend’s name. This tattoo reminds him of the crazy things he used to do.

After graduating and coming to Rotterdam he is his first piece on the arm. It is the word’ Revolution’ written with different lettering and symbols. Some of the symbol’s meaning originated from a song while others have a different meaning but overall bring positive energy.

Pain and body spots

When it comes to the pain of doing the tattoos he describes as climbing up a latter. It is also illustrated as therapeutic as he was prepared for the pain for the different tattoos. He went up the latter in the sense that he got the tattoos on more painful spots and the size of the tattoos increased
He chooses the spots on his body in the area of the back, shoulder, rips and arm for a reason. When he first made his tattoo he was not sure of his career choices at the time in the sense that he did not know where he is going.  Apart from that, he also wanted to leave the big body parts for bigger artist. He is also paying more for the tattoos and wants to get them done at different countries and places

How his surroundings perceives his tattoos

His nuclear family welcomed his tattoos whereas his grandparents had problems with it. They were concerned and guided by misconception to the extent that they see these things differently. They are more connected to the old stigma of tattoos that they are connected to more negative people and things. However, overall he did not have any problems with other people because of his tattoos. At the beach and in school he felt more looked at since he was the only person with tattoos but he never got any negative comments. Also, his older friends where partly older guys which had a lot of ink and tattoos. He beliefs that the they older guys were already in the tattoo culture so they liked Atanas tattoos. Moreover, they were into the tattoo culture and see the younger people being into it.

The act of doing tattoos

His tattoos are more a way for him of storytelling; different characters and pictures and a couple of symbols are chosen to tell it. In addition, he wants to do his tattoos not all at once since he wants to have fewer tattoos with larger amount of time in between. This allows him to be able to tell more stories in more time. Also, he always makes sure that his tattoos are well planned and conducts with a lot of patience; it is like a big project for him. He describes his tattoo as tattoo is a kind of a project in the sense that he works together with an artist and takes pictures together. It is a matter of building a a project together and working on it.  It is important for him to tell a story of his live, beliefs and feelings at that point in time with his tattoos. The main point that he makes is that we wants to have a proper reason behind his tattoos and therefore do it well thought out. All his tattoos are a kind of reminder and have and ideology behind it.  

Tattoos and perceptions

He beliefs that tattoos are getting more acceptable. This is also due to the media as they  appear in TV  cultures and are put into significance. Tattoos are starting to represent what tattoos are for they are representing personalities. Also cultures are getting globalized and technology as well as it helps with machines and designs. There is better technology and new ink offering new opportunities for the tattoo artists. However, on the other hand from his perspective tattoos is still something that is looked down upon, especially in older generations.

He thinks that people should not be judged because they do tattoos. If people do them in a wrong way they carry the consequences, they can only blame themselves that they did not put enough effort in their tattoos. He perceives tattoos as arts and arts should be good however people do them for different reasons.  Some people do it to follow the artist, for the work of the artist; it is not about  the ink put the arts. For him, tattooing and paying for tattoos is like paying a painting for a house. He emphasized that people do it for different reasons; some for meaning and others just as decoration. He stresses that for whatever reasons people do tattoos they are still carrying the consequences in the end.  However, he perceives tattoos are personal and that and society is judging.

Brake free from your cage...

Hello everyoneJ As usually, I have the next interview for you about Denise and her tattoos and piercings!

Denise is 19 years old and from the Netherlands. She got her first tattoo and microdermal piercings a year ago. Since she was 12 years old she discovered her passion for tattoos and piercings and just had to wait to do them until she was legally old enough in the Netherlands. Therefore, she got her first piercing, the Belly button at that age of 17teen. Her tattoo and microdermal piercings followed at the age of 18. She first heard about microdermal piercings at the age of 14 and was so fascinated that she got two on her left side above her hip bone. Microdermal piercings are placed underneath the skin whereas the skin is first curettaged with a special tool and then put underneath. She says herself that both piercings did not hurt as she has a high pain standard.      

Her tattoo is situated at her neck it is a broken bird cage on the right side and a bird flying on the left. This tattoo is connected to her personality and experiences in her childhood and teenager age. The tattoo relates to boundaries in her head. Denise is a twin and in her youth she was always  shy and dependent on her brother. This was shown in her behavior as she always sticked to her brother. This was fine when they were younger wins and had the same friends. However, when she was older it was hard for her to make friends since she was used to her brother. High school followed where people were mean or just rude. She made the decision to get rid of the negative mind set. Someone once told her that if someone is mean and bothers you: there is a step in between where you let it bother you. She learned to be the bigger person and not get it to close to her. She beliefs that oneself is the only one who can get yourself down; you decide if you let it get through to you or not. However, she describes this process as really hard to do as it is against human nature.  However, she managed to cross the boundaries in her head and is proud of herself how she developed. So the bird and the broken cage symbolize her as she broke free. She broke free from her own cage to solve her own problems lying in herself. Further, it also symbolizes her breaking free from cages other wanted to put her in.          

Perceptions by surrounding

When it comes to how her environment perceives her tattoo different perspectives need to be considered. First of all she chose the spot in her neck as is it can easily be hidden by her long hair. She can decide if she shows off her tattoo or not. The only problems she encountered are connected to her work environment. While working in a shoe store or in a restaurant she was required to hide her tattoo or even put a bandage over it. She is also required to hide it in her current restaurant job although they are less strict and allow her to simply cover it up with her hair. Nevertheless, besides that she could not tell me any really negative encounters with strangers or anybody because of her tattoos. She says that she can also not really tell if people look at her more intense as the tattoo is located out of her eye sight so she did never notice people’s reactions when looking at it. Her friends are mainly surprised that she has a tattoo since they did not notice it before. Personally, I know Denise since over a year and only figured out that she has a tattoo because of this blog, she is usually always wearing her hair down in university. When it comes to her family, only her brother and parents know about the tattoo but do not really like it. When it comes to her piercings most people find it scary because it is not a common piercing as she says.                                                                                                                                                                     Her view on tattoos in our society are that they become more  girly in the sense that usually mainly  the tuff and rough guys had them but now more and more girls are getting them. She also told me that she heard from the side of the tattoo community that they don’t like it that much that tattoos are becoming mainstream. She thinks that tattoos are generally perceived more positive compared to the stigma around tattoos. This is that tattoos were mainly linked to people that are dangerous whereas nowadays people perceive it in a more positive light. Overall, she also beliefs that there is a tattoo trend which can mainly be seen on the Internet. Examples she named which can be found often are the infinity sign, birds and small written words.  She beliefs that the trend right now is small tattoos because people still perceive big tattoos as more negative. 
                                                                                                                                                             Further for her tattooing can be both; a craft and an art. In her view, tattooing is a craft since people go to the tattooist to get a job done; they bring their images or sentences and the tattooist put them on their skin. On the other hand, if the tattooist has a special design and artistic style and people come to him for his special talent then it can be considered as art. So for her it depends on the context and purposes the tattoo is made. She says that it is the same as a ‘normal’ artist.  Either you are a re-painter or you paint something new: Doing it new and special is an artist activity otherwise it is just a job that is done.

What do you guys think about her view on tattooist work as craft or arts?

"You can't be buried in a Jewish cemetry...."

Dear everybody, as promised I am going to share my interview with Miguel and Smilla with you. The both have one tattoo and shared their story with me. EnjoyJ :

The tattoos and their meanings

Smilla is 18 years old and from and got her first tattoo in The Hague at the age of 17. That is her only tattoo so far and it is located at the back. The tattoo consists of three turtles which are climbing up from her back to her neck. She got three turtles because her lucky number was and is three. The turtle on top has a Samsara symbol in it, meaning never ending change and continuous flow of life.  She choose the spot on her body as the back and neck are  the central part of her body and as the turtles climb upwards it symbolizes moving into a positive direction upwards. It means to never get down. The tattoo took about 1 hour to be made and she described the pain as tolerable. Smilla got the turtles tattooed because she used to live in Panama, where the first things she used to see was a turtle hutch. She got it as a marker to a start of her new chapter in life as a university student and to remind her of the constant change in life.

Miguel on the other hand is 21 and from Portugal and Africa and got his first and only tattoo at the age of 18 in Shanghai. The tattoo is a sentence written in Hebrew which means translated ‘Who is like God’ located at his right ankle. This spot was chosen as his piercings before were only concentrated on the right side of the body. Therefore he decided that he wants to keep one side of his body pure. He left the left side pure as he is also left handed. The ankle was also chosen because from his point of view tattoos not favorable in society and he wanted to have it somewhere where he can hide it. The tattoo took over an hour and he described the pain at the ankle as really strong but bearable. He got this tattoo due to the fact that his grandmother was sick with lung cancer for the third time. As the results of her treatment did not look favorable he decided to make a tattoo to honor her. The sentence is connected to his grandmother as she used to teach him the Bible in Hebrew. The sentence is also his biblical name ‘Michael’ which means God. For him it signifies to keep his feet and the ground to net get above himself.

Tattoos and perceptions

Smilla is so far the only person who had no negative experiences with tattoos. Neither her close environment nor strangers made negative comments or anything in that direction. She has the tattoo on a spot which can be hidden easily to not get bored of it and because of possible future careers. On the other hand, Miguel’s family had mixed feelings toward his tattoo. While his grandmother loved it, his mother hated it since it stays on permanently and his dead did not say anything about it. His friends also liked his tattoo. The only negative encounters can be found in Miguel’s old church group in Shanghai. For them his tattoo combined with him smoking made him seen like a bad Christian and they called him that.  Once, a Jewish lady came up to him and asked if the tattoo was for someone of his family who died in the war. When he said no, she told him that he can never be buried in a Jewish cemetery.

When I asked both what they think about the current tattoo trend in society, Miguel answered that he beliefs that the tattoo trend already ended. He sees tattoos as a personal symbol for what people want to be reminded of; he sees a tattoo as artistic. However, the art is created by the tattoo artists doing the tattoo and for the person getting it done it is a symbol. For Smilla on the other hand, tattoos are a way of art, a way to express yourself and a reminder of something. She says that still some people think that tattoos are connected to crazy or rebel people but more people get them which lead to their perception in society to change.  Further, her opinion is that more and more people get them because they know they can remove them and it is becoming a trend, she thinks that it is stupid: you take them with you your whole life so they should have a meaning or reason behind them.

 

Please feel free to share your thoughts on this post (:

Tattoos as reminder of the path of life

Hello everybody! (: This week I conducted a few interviews I would like to share with you all and start with Michele

Michele is 24 years old and from Italy. He has a total of 11 tattoos which are all concentrated around 3 areas; his back, shoulders and chest. He told me the meanings of his favorite tattoos since all his tattoos are related to a specific event or period of his life.  It started off when he drew his first tattoo himself which he got on his back at his 18^th Birthday in Texas.  Since he went to Texas twice, he got a Taurus on the first visit and the symbols of Texas; two long stars on his second one. Since he was in Milano, he got the letter ‘M’ tattooed as it is the first letter of his and his parents name brother and the city. After graduating from high school his next project was the swallow which represent his new gained freedom. In the morning his grandmother past away she left a small note with a sentence which he then got engraved as a stimulus to get the best out of life. The next tattoo came along on his exchange in Maastricht, a small town in the Netherlands. His time there revealed to be a strange period of his life as he felt really passive and inactive during the time. Therefore, his tattoo is connected a Japanese Legend: The Legend is about a koi carp looking for something more than its usual pond which decides to rise up the waterfall and seeks knowledge. By doing so it became a dragon. So this tattoo is related to his life situation as it is a reminder for him to rise out of the passiveness with new energy. Another challenging situation came along when he and his girlfriend separated after 4 years in a relationship. Six months of locking himself up in the house and studying followed after which his next tattoo was made. This is a flaming heart with the number thirteen in it. The tattoo represents passion and the number thirteen symbolized death and re-birth, which is also very fitting at that point in time. After graduating university the situation came to decide where to go and what do; study? Work? Go to Milano?  The Netherlands?. As a surprise and present from a close friend of his he got the circus figure of a tight rope walker. After all, he came to the Netherland and finished this master which is connected to a Key tattoo. This symbolizes his future in the sense that new doors can be unlocked. Finally, when he had a boxing tournament and his shoulder went off he got a good luck tattoo on there with boxing gloves. Boxing gloves are connected to his life as he is practicing boxing himself since a couple of years. He also has a dragon tattoo is on the left shoulder tiger on the right.  He learned randomly after that according to middle age Chinese mythology that the dragon on the right side symbolized mediation as the body is split into right and left part.

For the future he plans to get the sentence’ Memento mori’ tattooed which means that you should remember that you are going to die. This is connected to his life as his father was suddenly supposed to die but survived. Also, therefore he is planning to get a skull with an hourglass and the word ‘remember’. When it comes to pain the most painful tattoos was the one on his ribs. For him it can’t be described as liking the pain but it’s rather cathartic. When you are trough the pain you can clear your mind and body and concentrate of memory and thing that happened, you step forward.

Tattoos and Society

He likes tattoos as he was always and is interested in visual arts and interesting thinks it is interesting to transfer arts to storytelling by getting a tattoo which tells his story. For him his tattoos are a memory of his path rather than his past. They have meaning and are not just made for fun. He perceives tattoos not so much as self-expression but to others but rather a way to express something just for himself and his close environment. He believes that art is for many so when an artist has the opportunity to make a tattoo he is confirming himself as a tattoo artist and is selling his work the same way as a normal artist sells his paintings. When I further asked what he his thinking of the current trend of making tattoos just because it is ‘modern he says that he has a contrasting feeling about it. It can either be seen as a bad thing to just get tattoos for fun since they will stay forever. He thinks it is stupid to get a tattoo without any meaning. On the other hand he thinks it is good that tattoos are popular as it also gets more popular and accepted in society. People might then perceive it in a batter light and it also gives artist more chances to express their skills.

Perceptions of tattoos

As his tattoos can be covered underneath a shirt, they are invisible for the wider public. He did so on purpose, as he believes that although everybody nowadays everybody has tattoos there are still perceived negatively. He thinks that people with tattoos are portrayed as outcasts in society or not fitting into society. He does not care about judgment by others but he also does not want to make the first impression as the guy with the tattoos. As he thinks that the 1^st impression is important as people subconsciously make a judgment about everybody. For instance about way you dress what you show and say. If you show tattoos bad things such as crime are related with you. Concluding: ‘It is not because I am ashamed but don’t want give the 1^st impression as the guy with tattoos`.

Tattoos and his surroundings

Next I asked how his surroundings thought about his tattoos he made clear that the impressions are mixed. A couple of his friends share his passion for tattoos and like them whereas some others don’t. When it comes to his family his mother sees his tattoos as wasting money and destroying one’s body. This opinion is also shared by his brother as he also thinks that tattoos are perceived negatively in society. Also he underlines that there are health risks, such as infections. Negative reactions by strangers are for example on the beach. There he feels perceived and judged as the guy with tattoos. He feels like people reacted differently as he sometimes gets positive comment referring to the good art. Some expressed a shocked look. Further people who knew him were surprised since they didn’t expect him to have some.  In addition, other negative encounters where with some girls who did not like his tattoos. The he sometimes feel sorry missed chance of getting close to somebody interesting while at the same time feeling sorry for their limited horizon.


Did anybody of you ever feel that you are perceived negatively because of Tattoos?

Tattoos as reminder and just arts

Hello everyoneJ, yesterday evening I had my next interview with a friend of mine from Germany and I would like to share some interesting stories about his tattoos.

His tattoos and their meanings

 

Phil is 28 years old and from Germany and has overall 15 tattoos which he got in a time frame of 4 years. He got his first tattoo with the age of 24. The tattoo is an angel wing with a date which is located at his right forearm. The story of this tattoo is that a few years ago his father got sick with hepatic cancer with the diagnosis that his liver is going to decompose. He needed a new organ which thank God he got after about 3 years fighting the disease. The angel wings resemble his dad’s survival and the date underneath stands for his second birthday; the date he got his new liver transplanted. Further he has a tattoo of a heart and anker with the word ‘Mudda’in it. Mudda is a colloquial northern German expression for Mother.  The heart represents his mother and the Anker and the word ‘Mudda’ are connected to his mother’s northern German heritage. In addition, he has headphones on his left wrist which stand for his passion for music which started at the age of 17teen. In addition to that, he also has the sentence ‘Only God can judge me’ on his right forearm which serves as a reminder of his hip hop period in his life As he has a lot of fun with cooking and eating he has a cupcake tattooed on his arm which stands for his passion for food. On his right upper arm he has a big tattoo of the Mexican Maria de Guadalupe statue because he wanted a Maria statue to represent his faith and he found that this one is the most beautiful illustration of her. Besides the tattoos which have a meaning, his other tattoos are just for the design, for the art of tattoos for instance his three skulls which he has just for fun because he likes skulls. Also, the spots he chose for his tattoos have no special meaning. Most of his tattoos are on his rips, arms and chest.

Perception because of Tattoos 

Although his tattoos are really visible on his arms he mostly has positive feedback His friends and family like his tattoos and people on the streets do gaze at him but he does not perceive their gazes as negative.  Only his grandparents are against his tattoos because they are conservative and connect tattoos negative things such as out casters and crime. Overall, it does not bother him when people look at his tattoos when he walks on the street. When I asked him about the ‘tattoo trend’ that exist on our current society he says that he does not believe that there is any tattoo trend. He thinks that tattoos have always been present but it is just now that society started to focus on tattoos and assigning meaning to them.

So do you guys think that there is such thing as a tattoo trend in our society or not ?

Tattoos are beautiful arts and they should mean something

Hello everyone J , today I had another interesting interview with one of my fellow students  Nandita about her 2 Tattoos and their meanings which I would like to share with you.

 

Her tattoos and their meanings

Nandita is a 19 year old student form India who studying with me in Holland. She got her first tattoo at the age of 13 in India with two of her good friends. The first tattoo is an arrow which is located on her left forearm. The tattoo was done spontaneously with her two friends who all choose the same spot but a different motive. Partially, the tattoo is a reminder of her friend but the more significant and consistent meaning of the tattoo is that of a reminder. The arrow tattoo is pointing upwards, symbolizing her to always do her best to aim high in life. It is a quite visible tattoo for herself and therefore a nice and constant reminder of her goals. However, other people tend to misinterpret the tattoo as an Anker, a Sagittarius arrow or they see it as a symbol for love. I believe it is interesting so see how there are different perception of which meaning the tattoo owner assigns to it and how strangers see it. Additionally, Nandita’s second tattoo followed at the age of 16 and was made in the Netherlands together with her siblings. They all have a sentence written in Hindi at their back between the shoulders. This tattoo has several meanings as the sentence itself has a deeper meaning for her and her siblings; it means that the three are always there to support each other; to hold their each other’s back. This tattoo has a meaning for Nandita but other people, especially those who do not speak Hindi, cannot assign any meaning to it. If anyone of you is thinking about getting a tattoo on this spot then when it comes to pain the tattoo which hurt the most was the tattoo in the neck. This could also be due to the fact that the tattoo on her forearm also got numbed in India before so she could not really feel the pain. The pain however was only present for a few days and then it was fine and all healed well. Overall, the tattoos are there to remind Nandita of something; for instance strength, unity, family or higher aims.

 Perception by society

Nandita is a person who has tattoos for a reason, as a reminder of for her important things in life. For herself, the tattoos are not too visible, especially the one on her back. However, she intentionally wants to present her tattoos publicly by also buying clothes which reveal them. When I asked her if she ever had problems with it or negative comments she surprised me by stating that this was not the case. Her family and friends do not mind her tattoos they just want her to not overdue them since that could affect her future career perspective. The only thing was that Nandita was forced to hide her tattoos for 4 years while visiting a Christian school. Besides, she receives positive reactions for them. I think it is a great thing to be proud of your tattoos and showing them instead of hiding them because of the danger how other people could perceive you. As she mentioned herself, nowadays we get more and more used to tattoos. We see them in magazines, commercials, other individuals and especially TV shows. As she stated, TV shows such as Tattoo Inc. make tattoos more popular and less connected to negative associations. For her tattoos are art and beautiful and a way to express something. In contrast to that is the modern tattoo trend where people tend to get tattoos just because it is ‘modern’ or ‘trendy’ to have them nowadays. I share her opinion by saying that people should have a reason for doing tattoos; even it is just the beautiful art which should always be presented on one’s body.

Plans for future Tattoos

 Considering her passion for tattoos, she potentially wants to get some more of them. One such future plan is to get a tattoo of the Three Musketeers which should also emphasize the close bond and relationship between Nandita and her siblings. Another planned tattoo is a triangle which upside down and located at her right forearm. For Nandita, the triangle symbolizes foundation and strength. Another tattoo would be the word surrender written on her left wrist/forearm. This means for her to just let things happen without letting them get too close to the person. Moreover, considered is the English word ‘grit’ translated in to Roam letters; standing for always keep on going no matter what. Finally, in addition to the arrow she is thinking of getting an Anker next to it to have the balance between rising up and being grounded.

Does anybody of you want to share their meanings of their tattoos or their perception by society ( positive, negative) ? =)

Thoma's and Isabella's 'negative' perception by society

Hello everyone, this is a summary of the most interesting of my conversation with Thomas and Isabella about their sometimes neagtive perceptions by Society because of their Tattoos. I hope you enjoy it! :)


Thomas  told me that he kind of got used to people walking by and weirdly looking at him. Sometimes people even turn around again to give him a scrutinizing look. Other times, children stare at him and start to giggle and point at him. Once in the subway a grandmother even started talking to him in the sense of asking him what this new trend is of the new generation drawing on their skin. He sometimes even gets unfriendly comments or phrases from other people especially when he says if he is sometimes surrounded by people his age he feel that they downplay his work and make him feel like he is not doing something ‘real’. Such as a decent job at a bank or something. He once had a talk with a friend of his friends at a party who asked him how he came to limiting his life. This he did according to the man by wearing so many tattoos and piercings and thereby losing his ability to switch carreers. He felt like he was perceived as an immature adult who is stuck in the life of tattoo and could have done somehting better.

Isabella got her first  self designed tattoo at the age of 18 and is since then fascinated by the art of doing tattoos. Isabella has a couple of tattoos which are on her back, ribs and neck  and simply some earings. Since her tattoos are not that visible to the public she does not get many attention drawn to it except when in occasions when she has to be partially naked, such as on vacation at the beach or in public swimming pool. Then she also experienced a lot of attention such as  people glanzing at her. Further, she once encountered a party of family friends where she was wearing an elegant dress which revealed her tattoos. A women in the age of her mother came up to her to complement her on her dress to then tell her that her tattoos ruin her look entirely. It is not considered as nice for a women to decrease her attractiveness with ugly drawings.  However, she was always really talented and interest in arts and drawing and considered tattoing as her future career path. Since she also wanted to study at a university after highschool which lead her to the decision to study arts. After her Bachelor degree she was confroted by her parents because they wanted her to use her talent and degree to get a more respected and profitable job. They did not disgrace her having having tattoos but they wanted a better career path for her. Fellow students and professors also shared her parent’s view that she is wasting her talent and should rather do her Masters or an internship.

Both Isabella’s and Thomas’s tattoos draw attention, however Thomas’s are much more visible therefore considered more disturbing for a large part of the society. Even though on the other side some, especially those close to the couple admired them, they both though that it drew judgment upon their personas.

 

Does anybody ever have similar expperiences and wants to share them?:)

Interview with an awesome tattoists couple from London: Thomas and Isabella

Hey guys J  this weekend I went to a party on my birthday and randomly met a couple of Tattooists:
 

The first one was Thomas, he was 28 and Isabella was 25 and they both came from London. Thomas has already worked in the tattoo industry for over 10 years, he finished high school and afterwards began his career by taking an apprenticeship with an experienced tattoo artist at a studio. He’s success led him to become the owner of his own studio. On the other hand, Isabella finished her bachelor in Arts and Graphic Design, after which she took up work in a tattoo studio, which coincidentally belonged to Thomas. I’ve gained a lot of insight on the subject of tattooing from Isabella and Thomas, and over the next couple of posts I would like to share with you bit by bit the stories I’ve heard from my new friends. Tomorrow I will start off and tell how Thomas and Isabella are perceived in society outside their friends and tattoo friendly environment.

Thomas had numerous visible tattoos especially on his arms and neck, as well as a nose piercing and an eyebrow piercing. The conversation started off by talking about how he is perceived by the society because of his looks. He told me it depends on the social circle he is in, for example his friends, family or strangers. Thomas was always very artistic and creative; he started designing his own tattoos at the age of 15. However, when he decided to get some tattoos of his own, his parents did not like that idea at all. His father considered getting a tattoos as destroying the body. This caused much tention in the family once Thomas started getting tattoos. The situation only worsened when Thomas announced that after high school he wants to beome a tattoo artist himself. His parents stopped supporting him finacially and forced him to move out, and Thomas then began his career with a paid apprenticeship at a tattoo studio. On the other hand, Thomas’s friends love his tattoo’s, and have some on their own. To them,his tattos as well as piercings only improve his looks. Because of them, and the way that they supported Thomas on his journey, he decided to turn his back on the ones that did not approve of the way he looked and simply not take in account their opinions.  However, Thomas still recalled the times where when he got arms and neck tattooed very visibly, people would stare and pass judgemental looks at his appearance. Quote: ‘It wasn’t always so easy, even though I am accepted in the society, does not mean that I fit in the society’.

Artification

History of Tattooists

While diving deeper into the topic of tattoos and piercings I found a very interesting article by Kosu from 2013 which offers an interesting view on how tattooist differ and how tattooing became an art.

 
First he explains that in the 1960’s tattoos were not considered as an art in the past since it had bad reputation in society. In the past, mainly people with a low income or imprisoned people had tattoos. Moreover, some governments in America were concerned about the effects of tattoos on health and even banned it to protect people from diseases. Tattooing was firstly considered as being only a craft, tattooing was only about body decoration and long lasting symbols. He further makes the distinction between first generation tattooists which were people from 1900-1950’s who became a tattoo artist by doing some internships or they simply learned it by doing. It was considered a low culture and not really connected to art. They just did it for a living there was also no media such as tattoo magazines or something that provided information about tattoos. However, afterwards the so called second generation tattooists which are people after the 1950’s with an academic degree in arts and who get professional training to become tattoo artists emerged.  They consider tattooing as an art with norms and standards. For example what I know from experience is that you have to make an appointment at tattoo shop to discuss with the artist what motive you want and where so he can draw it for you. Then you have to come back and get the tattoo and even pay a deposit before (in Canada and Germany). And you also have to fill out some forms about diseases and your health condition and everything so the artists are not to blame in case something will happen. However, Kosut argues that these people with a degree become tattoo artist due to the fact that the art market is full of artists right now. One comment by a tattoo artist is that tattooing offers artists a way to earn money and be creative. Also, they take the media as help to promote tattoo arts over magazines and conventions and internet pages.

 


 
After the second generation of tattoo artists, the academic people from university came, who were educated in arts. Hence, tattooing and tattoos also became ‘artificated’, meaning that the tattoo non-art is turned in a tattoo art.  Art students become tattoo artists because tattooing nowadays offers economic stability and success and it gives artists an empowerment and autonomy due to the fact that they can reject the art world. Now, the new tattoo aesthetic includes the creation of new design styles and a commitment to creating tattoo art.

 
So what do you think: Is Tattoo an art because art students suddenly turned it into art and before it was just craft. Or do you think Tattoos are always or never to be considered art?