Tattoos

[Blue Eyed Brain]

No tatoos, no body piercings except for one hole each in ear lubes.

[witabix]

Best tattoo I ever saw was the Edinburgh Tattoo, isn't a tattoo a rythm played on a drum?

 

I am with TonyT et al on this one. I find them slightly disturbing. Don't get it .......

 

But if you are cool with it then I guess thats all that matters. I reflect who I am in what do, say and in how I behave. I don't need someone drawing pictures of stuff on me.

[sedgwick]

I am a heavily-tattooed woman working on a full bodysuit. I just got a sizeable book deal to write a memoir about the process. This is because I am an idiot who spends all my time running with a gang. Ahem.

 

For those who can't see anything in tattoos beyond gang affiliation and "idiocy," I'm sure you've backed up your opinion by studying the phenomenon and familiarizing yourselves with the work of the pioneering artists in the field, yes? You've read Armando Favazza's "Bodies Under Siege," the RE/Search volume "Modern Primitives," and you've spent a fair amount of time on bmezine.com, I'm certain. You've looked at the work of artists such as Anil Gupta, Hannah Aitchison, Denise de la Cerda, Cory Kruger, Emma Porcupine, and Tim Kern? If so, Curmudgeon and others, what did you think about the literature and imagery? What was it in Gupta's work that you saw as gang-affiliated?

 

It amazes me how fired up and pissed off people get about what OTHER people do to their bodies. It especially amazes me that anyone would say anything about ANY subject without having done their homework, but I'm sure I'm fighting a losing battle here.

 

I will say to those considering getting tattooed: you don't have to walk in with your own design! The best way to get a good tattoo is to talk with the artist about your concept and let THEM do the drawing. That's why they're there! The greatest gift you can give a tattoo artist is your trust. If you show them you trust their vision, they'll put something on you that is vastly cooler than whatever you drew! At this point I just find artists I love, give them a big chunk of my skin, sit back, and get through the pain in order to come out on the other side of it with a piece of original artwork I will cherish.

 

As for what I have: right arm, sleeve of 1950s B-movie mad scientists. Left arm, sleeve of female robots. (150 hours on my arms alone.) Chest piece, Polynesian Tiki/cat/toucans. Backpiece of a 1950s New Orleans burlesque girl. Sanskrit yoga sutra around my neck. Skull and crossbones from 1960s PSA about blasting caps on the side of my neck. Rib panel of Eve bellydancing with a snake. One calf, a large telephone made of bones. The other calf, a Day of the Dead skull gotten in Mexico on the Day of the Dead. Rockets on my ankles. Sailor Jerry piece on my butt (it's my anti-eating-disorder tattoo, long story.) I think that's it. At this point I have a hard time remembering what and where they all are.

 

If anyone who thinks tattoos are ugly or dirty or scary ever wants to get into this discussion with me and really open his or her mind to what a tattoo can be, PM me anytime.

Edited February 17, 2008 by sedgwick

[sb129]

Is that you in your avatar Sedgwick? I like the arms.

 

As with anything, there is a spectrum- some tattoos are silly or risky (ie your high school boyfriends name might not be the wisest thing to have) and you do need to think about the placement of them depending on what you do for a job, because some people ARE very judgemental.

As sedgwick says though- its your body, your choice.

 

I don't have any problem with most tattoos.... I haven't got one myself, but its because there is nothing I can think of that I would like permanently inked on my body. I used to work with a woman who had a cool sleeve, and I would still have given her a job, she was excellent at it.

 

I am also a baby when it comes to pain. Wonderboy has one on his shoulder- he and his best buddy chose them for eachother when they were teenagers. Guess who got the worst one? His is not very nice- he hates it, which is a shame, because if the design was a bit better, it would really suit him.

 

I was out last weekend and I saw a guy with his entire head and face tattooed- I don't find that attractive, it would be like seeing someone who is wearing a mask. I imagine its limited his romantic possibilities somewhat.

 

Each to their own people, each to their own.

[raining_at_sunset]

I have two at the moment. I have a music note on my left arm and some stars on my wrist. I'm really tempted to get I 'love' NY on my other wrist when I go to new york this April.