In my final project for COMM 432- Intro to Visual Culture, I am interested in researching on the subculture of tattooing as a form of art and culture. I want to examine the history of tattoo in relation to visual culture and how it has impacted contemporary aesthetics. Where did it come from? How did it become prevalent? and How is tattooing as a subculture take on a major role in contemporary culture?

Tattoos through Time

The word tattoo is derived from the Tahitian tatau, which means to mark. This word was first used by the French navigator Bougainville to describe the body decoration of the Tahitian native in his book Voyage Autour Du Monde, 1766-69 (Fedorenko, Sherlock, and Stuhr 1).

Tattoo culture has been around for thousands of years, they served as different functions in ancient times such as decorative or medical purposes. The first decorative/cosmetic tattoo known is a thin pencil mustache tattooed on the upper lip of an adult South American male mummy in 6,000 B.C. for the purpose of making himself more appealing to his wife. Some circular tattoos were also found on a 1000-year-old female Peruvian mummy in South America.

There were two types of tattoos found on this mummy, however, they were attributed to different functions based on their tattooing materials. Researchers have shown that the more decorative tattoos on the body were made of soot, a form of black powder obtained from burning objects such as coal or wood, which is a common tattoo material in the ancient times. On the other hand, the circular tattoos behind the neck were made of partially burned plant material.

"Otzi the Iceman"

In 1991, a well preserved mummy was found on the mountain of Alps which is between Austria and Italy who lived around 3,300 BCE (5,300 years ago). This corpse revealed and proved the alternative function of tattooing. Otzi the Iceman bears a total of 57 tattoos on his body: a cross on inside of his left knee, straight lines above his kidneys, and parallel lines on his ankles; majority of them were lined up with Chinese acupuncture points, which suggests that there might be a medical practice similar to acupuncture 5,300 years ago.

"Anthropologists believe a traditional healer made incisions in Otzi’s skin on the afflicted areas, placing medicinal herbs in the wound which were burnede with the point of a heated metal instrument. The charred residue was incorporated in the resulting scar. An examination of Otzi’s tattooed skin tissue revealed that the scares to contain carbon particles. Probably a shepherd or hunter, he was middle aged at the time of his death (tattootemple.hk)."

sources:
http://www.decodingtheheavens.com/blog/post/2010/10/29/Mummy-tattoos.aspx
http://tattootemple.hk/history-of-tattooing
http://magazine.foxnews.com/style-beauty/origin-ink-tattoos-through-time

Types of Tattoos

In my earlier blog, I talked about how tattoos can serve as various functions. According to the American Dermatologist Academy, they distinguished five types of tattoos: traumatic tattoos, amateur and professional tattoos, cosmetic tattoos, identification tattoos, and identification tattoos.

Traumatic tattoos are often open wounds that accidentally came in contact with chemical materials such as coal dust, powder, graphite, pen ink, etc. and left with permanent discoloration on the scars.

Amateur and professional tattoos are tattoos that most people nowadays tend to get because they tend to resemble or symbolize something that is meaningful to us in one way or another. For example, people get tattoos for religion, pledges, indication of status, memorial purpose, and even criminal purposes.

Nowadays, a lot of female and males also receive cosmetic tattoos to enhance their appearance.

Medical tattoos are used to ensure instruments to be properly located, or to convey certain information about the patient.

Identification Tattoos (bottom)

United States:

After American Revolution (1765-1783), sailors used government protection papers to establish their American citizenship in order to avoid British Navy impressment. However, because the certificates were so general that a lot of impressment officers paid no attention to them. As a result, the official certificates started carrying information about the sailors' tattoos and scars to precisely identify the seamen.

Spindler wrote in his book The man in the ice that:

"In the past it was chiefly sailors who had themselves tattooed to ensure that, in the event of shipwreck, their bodies could be identified and would be given a Christian burial. Prostitutes sometimes use tattoos to indicate their profession. Prisoners use thematic tattoos to express their protest at the society which put them behind bars. As members of an elite male association, SS men identified themselves by having their blood group tattooed on the inside of the upper arm. In a corresponding measure concentration camp inmates, victims of the Nazis, had a number forcibly tattooed on their arms (170)."

The SS blood group tattoo was applied to all Waffen-SS members. The purpose of the tattoo was to identify a soldier's blood type in case of a blood transfusion was needed while unconscious. 

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tattoo
http://themissinginktattoo.weebly.com/types-of-tattoos.html
Spindler, K. (1994). The man in the ice. New York, NY: Harmony Press.

Tattoos in media

LA Ink and Miami Ink are two reality TV shows on the lives of tattoo artists working in studios and the stories of their clients. The plots orient around clients tho go into their studios to consult with one of the artists, progressing through the artist's rendering of the images, and ending with the actual tattoo application. Such reality TV shows try to focus on how tattoos are representations of individuality, and their life stories. 

Beyonce launched a line of temporary tattoos with airbrush makeup company Temptu in 2010. In those photos, Beyonce serves as her own Temptu tattoo model to showcase her tattoos as a body art.

Lady Gaga is probably another top music artist who is also known for her numerous tattoos. She has approximately 14 tattoos located on various part on the left side of her body. Interestingly, Gaga also gets tattoos following every new album, sometimes singles which she releases. During her Fame perfume launch party, she laid in a giant perfume bottle and got a tattoo on the back of her head live on stage.

In 2011, Mattel released a tattooed Barbie doll designed by Tokidoki, a Japanese-inspired lifestyle brand. This Barbie dolls has a pink bob haircut, pink miniskirt, leopard-print leggings, black top with signature skull heart and bones, and tattoos all over her neck, shoulders, and back. This controversial Barbie doll represents the cutting-edge fashion style and was mainly targeted towards adult collectors. Out of the 7,400 Tokidoki Barbie dolls made, every single one was sold at a price of $50. The Tokidoki Barbie doll was more controversial because it came with temporary tattoos for both the doll and children who buy it. It also included a tattoo gun in which the tattoos were to be applied. Therefore a lot of parents believed that such product could negatively influence their children on getting tattoos. 

A couple years ago, the convenient store 7-Eleven started selling this energy drink, called Inked, mainly targeting consumers with body art, or people who want to categorize themselves with that subculture. The commercialism aspect of tattooing seems to even be welcomed by a lot of tattoo-wearer because they believe that media could broaden the acceptance of tattoos and appropriate tattoos as a form of art.











Sources:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/44990466
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/advertising/2007-12-05-tattoos_N.htm?csp=N008

Why Tattoos?

What are some negative views of people with tattoos? 

This is a video that gives people some idea on the negative connotations associated to people who are inked up.

Although tattooing is becoming a more common practice in Western culture, it still remains socially stigmatized. Fenske quoted in his book Tattoos in American Visual Culture that:

When bodies are understood as social and political-- as inscribed by and lived within power relations-- anomalous body modifications do not appear as inherently unnatural or pathological, but they also don't illustrate that individuals can freely or limitlessly shape their own bodies and identities. Rather, body projects suggest how individuals and groups negotiate the relationships between identity, culture, and their own bodies (18).

Skin Deep- A Youth Culture Tattoo Documentary

Tattooing, as an art form, is prevalent in a lot of cultures. This documentary shows the youth tattoo culture in Ireland. 

                                         
Taking from a different perspective, this video speaks for the tattooed people and why they received tattoos. Tattooing is a choice, a choice made by individuals who want to express themselves in a different way. I was truly touched by the producers of this video and the narrator's genuineness. I feel that I can relate to this video because there're numerous times in my life that I have considered in getting tattoos to commemorate hardships I've gone through which changed me in a certain way.

Tattooing is one of the fastest growing retail businesses in the world. It is particularly popular among teenagers and college students most likely because tattoos are a way to define identities and claim independence for younger generation. A lot of findings show that tattooing experience give younger people feelings of greater control over their own lives. According to Kang and Jones article Why do people get tattoos, tattooing has won a following among teenagers and college students since the 1980s. "[They] altered the reputation of tattooed people from that of criminals and laborers to that of artists and free thinkers" (43).

I think that there is a high correlation between tattoo shops' location and college students' with tattoos because I've observed that a lot of tattoo shops tend to locate near college campus where they are accessible to a bigger pool of customers. In Chapel Hill alone, there are three tattoo shops that I can find which are close to campus: Ascension Tattoo, Glenn's Tattoo Service Inc., and Gorilla Tattoos.

 





According to a Pew Research Poll done in 2010 on tattoos in different generations across the nation, almost four in ten person age 18 to 29 had at least one tattoo. More urban areas also have a higher percentage of people getting tattoos than that of rural areas.

For those young people, tattoos are not only pieces of art on one's skin, but they are powerful symbols that mark their transition in life, whether is it a marking for independence, stepping out of their homes, or a sign of rebellion. Whatever the intention is behind those tattoos, tattooing have become a gateway to indicate adulthood. 

One large influence on younger generation receiving tattoos probably has to do with the amount of teen celebrities getting tatted. Teen celebrities often like to show off their tattoos and media further display celebrities' tattoos on websites and other forms of social media.

 

The reason to the increasing popularity of tattooing probably relates to the emerging alternative purposes of tattooing as a form of art. In the sixth century, parts of Asia used tattooing as a form of punishment for criminals. In China, tattoo characters such as 囚 ("prisoner") would be tattooed on convicted criminals' faces. Later there were Buddhist monks who tattoo their prayers onto their backs and various indigenous cultures who started using tattooing more for decorative purposes. However, in the twentieth century, the Nazis used tattoos to brand their prisoners. Those concepts of criminal or prisoner tattoos continues among a lot of inner-city gang culture for the same purposes. Because tattoos are so commonly associated with negative connotations due to the specific population who identify themselves as criminals or gang members, people nowadays often still associate tattoos to those negative concepts. Nevertheless, a growing trend among younger generation often tend to negate those stereotypes and use tattoos more for decorative purposes in contemporary culture.

Gang Tattoos:
Street gang tattoos and prison gang tattoos are worn by the gang members for several reasons: gang members often have numerous tattoos especially if they have spent time in prison to identify themselves to a particular group of gangs; tattoos worn by gangs are also used for intimidation.

closed teardrop

open teardrop

The teardrop tattoo has become a generic symbol for gang members over the years. The open teardrop originally meant that the wearer had killed someone. The closed teardrop meant that the wearer had lost a friend or relative. However, today those meanings could often be altered for the wearer. A lot of youths nowadays also begun to wear those because they believe it's "cool."

Another common tattoo for gang members is the dot tattoos. Gang members often wear them on the web of the hands, the wrist and elbows meaning there're three places they go to: the hospital, prison, or grave.

In recent years, there is also a growing trend in hip-hop artists who obtain numerous tattoos on their bodies. For example, artists such as 50 cent, Lil Wayne, Tyga all have massive tattoos covering parts of their bodies.

 

 

In fact, many rappers have been influenced by the symbolic tattoos prevalent among gangs. The relationship between heavily tatted hip-hop artists and gang members can be traced back to poverty, adversity, struggle for survival, crime, etc. It is that type of culture that gave rise to this particular type of genre in which people can identify themselves better to their past through their tattoos.

As we can see, although tattoo has been around for centuries, its functions deviate through culture. Perhaps because tattoo is constantly in motion we can explain the continuing fascination with tattooing. Recently the rise in popularity of tattooing further proves the evolution of tattooing into a new art form for individuals to showcase their own artist expression on their bodies. Defining art we need to understand that definitions are "socially constructed and therefore subject to significant change over time" (Fedorenko, Stuhr and Sherlock 114).


Sources:
http://www.shoulditattoo.com/tattoo-facts-statistics
Kang, M., & Jones, K. (2007, Winter). Why do people get tattoos? Contexts, 6, 42. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/219550628?accountid=14244 
http://www.gangsorus.com/gang_tats.htm
http://www.hotnewhiphop.com/hip-hop-ink-gang-tattoos-explained-news.9791.html

1.      Vieth, Ken. "To tattoo or not to tattoo? .... is that really the question?" School Arts May-June 2006: 6. Academic OneFile. Web. 25 Feb. 2014.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw7WMKx6WE4

Document URL
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA145631218&v=2.1&u=unc_main&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=a5fb56cbe51c0448d8067cbabc2a749a

Fenske, Mindy. Tattoos in American Visual Culture. 1st ed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. Print.

   A Body of Work: A Case Study of Tattoo Culture

Janet S. Fedorenko, Susan C. Sherlock and Patricia L. Stuhr

Visual Arts Research 
Vol. 25, No. 1(49) (1999) , pp. 105-114

Published by: University of Illinois Press

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20715974

Tattoos gone wrong...