'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.