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?