Category: AR474 (Page 7 of 10)

After watching everyone’s presentations last Wednesday, I got some inspiration for possible avenues of research. In her presentation, Zehra talked about a clothing brand that embroidered Balkan tattoo designs on the sleeves of shirts. This made me wonder how frequently tattoo motifs – especially images from traditional flash designs – appear on album covers. Grace talked about how Marquesan warriors’ tattoos would essentially demand respect from others; do certain types of tattoos, or lack thereof, make a musician more likely to be taken seriously in their profession? In a similar vein, are there situations in which it is beneficial for musicians to cover their tattoos (or display them)? What is the relationship between the tattoo industry and the music industry like? How many musicians have made celebrity tattoo artists out of the artists they have been going to for years? Basically, I have a lot of questions to explore, and many directions I could go with my research. 

In preparation for class, I also read the articles by Sarnecki and Gentry/Alderman. I found Sarnecki’s assertion that tattoos can be a way to process and heal from trauma through an almost counterintuitive repetition of pain very interesting. While describing Trachtenberg’s book, Sarnecki writes that Trachtenberg’s “tattoos are keys that…[help] to unravel the tangled narrative strands that weave together a life story both unconventional and altogether human” (38). This is a beautiful way to describe tattoos, and made me wonder how common “narrative” tattoos are. Sarnecki also asks “Do tattoos usually mark painful stories rather than happy ones?” (39). Because the readings for this session all revolve around trauma and tattooing, I am inclined to say yes, but I know that is not always the case. 

Gentry and Alderman’s article was a much more focused study on trauma and tattooing, revolving around Hurricane Katrina-related tattoos. I loved the narrative style of this article, following the authors’ exploration of what they call “a more permanent and mobile form of visible memory work…etched in the skin of many of the survivors” (185). Gentry and Alderman discuss the consistency of imagery they observed in these Katrina tattoos; do certain events, professions, and communities always tend to have their own set of common or “acceptable” tattoo designs? In addition, the authors say that many Katrina tattoos act to publicize wearers’ feelings about the disaster, which I thought was interesting. This tendency creates an interesting balance between private/personal grieving and public acknowledgment of those feelings.  

Reading the articles for this week’s class left me incredibly sensitive towards the significance of tattoos to a person and has made me more aware of what tattoos may symbolize for an individual.

While I will admit that going to private school as a child definitely cast a negative light on tattoos, my further understanding and comprehension growing into an adult has shifted my perspective due to the amount of time, effort, and psychological thought put into the tattoo process. Sarnecki’s “Trauma and Tattoo” synthesized the ways that tattoos have served as a way to communicate and overcome the struggles that the tattooed has experienced. Unable to verbalize these experiences, a tattoo allows those consisting of the public to analyze and create conclusions of their own as to what the tattoo may represent or symbolize. Sarnecki’s key-lock metaphor of tattoos is incredibly powerful as she states that “keys that unlock mysterious processes of memories, helping to unravel the tangled narrative strands that weave together a life story both unconventional and altogether human” (Sarnecki, 38). The amount of psychological thought that goes into the process of getting a tattoo is enormous and something that I cannot even fathom as each person internalizes and expresses their pain differently. Glenn W. Gentry and Derek H. Alderman’s “Trauma Written in Flesh: Tattoos as Memorials and Stories” evoked a sense of understanding that trauma and tattoos do not only fall into one category like sexual assault, which can commonly associated with trauma, but fall into categories of tragedy or loss. Sarnecki also highlights this in her article when describing how tattoos can function as a spiritual way to commemorate loss of a loved one and how these tattoos allow them not to forget such individuals or such experiences, but allow them to move forward and empower themselves.

The reading for this upcoming class was honestly devastating. I was always aware of people getting tattoos as a reaction to a traumatic event in their life, but I see now that I underestimated the number of forms that could take. I always saw them as personal, something close to the tattooed person, and while that is true, it is not all there is to it. The reading on Hurricane Katrina tattoos showed that tattoos meant to symbolize a traumatic event can be shared as well, that there is a community stored within these tattoos. In the reading, a tattoo became a shared point of remembrance as it became a gateway for people to share their own stories as they recognized the symbol that was on the man’s leg. From there comes a community. Even without explicitly saying anything, there are people that will understand what a traumatic tattoo holds from just the mark itself and I believe that even just knowing that someone understands can create a sense of community.

In terms of the presentation for this week’s class, I decided to find tattoos that aimed to cover up self harm scars. These scars represent something traumatic to the vast majority that have them, a reminder of a time when they were in a darker mental state. Because of this, some choose to cover them with tattoos. These tattoos also made me think of the reading in that the pain of the tattoo is a necessary part of the healing process, that something had to be done to the spot that represents the trauma for it to be overcome in a sense. In addition to this, I also thought of my research topic. This was because one of the tattoo artists I found that did a self harm cover up tattoo is based in South Korea. It was interesting to think about the interplay of these two things, tattooing and self harm scars, that are supposed to fall under medical jurisdiction, yet fail to find anything of value there. What I mean is that tattooing in South Korea requires a medical license, but most do not, instead going underground and using other methods to book clients and have spaces to tattoo and it is interesting to see this version of tattooing be intertwined with something pertaining to mental health, which is also supposed to fall under the jurisdiction of medical professionals, but fails to gain validity as an actual issue in South Korea.

This week, we had the screening of the movie The Tattooist and read Schildkrout’s “Inscribing the Body” along with Rubin’s “Tattoo Renaissance” in preparation for the class. “Inscribing the Body” was a great review broken down into sections concerning the different subjects within the existing research on tattoos. Thus, when I was brainstorming ideas on what my final research topic could be, I was able to easily find some initial sources about my options through Schildkrout’s literature review. I will definitely refer back to this review and the sources listed there as my research makes progress.

The movie Tattoist also prompted thought-provoking discussions at the seminar. I was able to learn more about the Samoan tattooing traditions and the function of tattoos in the Samoan community through the movie. Although the production elements such as the animations were understandably not the most advanced given that the movie was made in 2007, it was noticeable that the producers and the screenwriters were very knowledgeable about the Samoan tattoo tradition. Seeing the Samoan characters’ perception of tattoos in the movie provided a unique perspective into the functions of tattoos as markers that unite communities and descendants of the same family, and how tattoos signify honor in certain cultures. Seeing the contrast between the opening and end scenes of the movie and discussing it was also very thought-provoking. I was once again convinced that we should definitely analyze and discuss the reaction to tattoos within the context of the culture and community. In a very traditional Christian culture, tattoos can be seen as defiling the body and something that needs to be “erased”, but in the Samoan culture, only the most honorable are deemed worthy of having tattoos.

I chose to research Aboriginal Australian tattooing traditions because I’m going to be studying abroad in Sydney in the spring, and I thought it would be interesting to learn more about the culture. I found that there actually weren’t a lot of tattooing practices in Aboriginal Australia, but there were practices of scarification and ceremonial body painting. I found some information about the ceremonial practices and how women would paint their bodies and sing and dance as a means of healing the community and passing on tradition. These traditions were grounded in the Dreamtime, a time when mythical beings were created and connections between humans and nature were established. They incorporated song in this ritual, which I remember learning about in my Intro to World Music class last fall. I thought this could be a potential topic for my final project about song lyrics, as I could also look into how music is visually represented on the body. Dreamtime is also the basis for much of the natural imagery used in body painting, and now modern Aboriginal-influenced tattooing. In my research on this, I found a tattoo artist, Tatu Lu, who does these Aboriginal-influenced tattoos with the intention of helping people connect to their Aboriginal ancestry. She also tattoos non-indigenous people (such as herself) with designs of Australian botanicals and fauna, connecting people to Australia. Though this is a modern practice, it is rooted in Aboriginal traditions, connecting the past to the present and future, which is exactly the point of Dreamtime.

To prepare for my national traditions presentation on Polynesian tattoos, my information was mainly gathered from Roberto Gemori’s The Polynesian Tattoo Handbook, which encompassed the design process, common symbols and motifs, and the importance of location, size, and placement on the body. I was intrigued by the complexity of the different styles that comprise “Polynesian,” some of these styles which will go into more depth as a separate presentation like Samoan or Marquesan. There is a common presence of geometric shapes and straight lines in all types of Polynesian tattoos. While there are a number of Polynesian tattoo styles, something common among all of them was the lack color (typically only black) and the use of straight lines and repetition. Polynesian tattooing is a sacred ritual and incredibly important to the cultural and social significance of an individual. The function of Polynesian tattooing is not only a performative art, as the practice of this ritual is incredibly selective, but those who practice are highly regarded as “tattoo masters” who are capable of understanding these symbols and motifs and have the ability to organize them in a way that reflects the journeys or achievements made by the woman or man. As a studio art major, the designs and motifs that are incredibly common and what they stand for were important to me in understanding the sacred significance of this to Polynesian culture. 

During my research, I have also been taking a class based on Hollywood and was reminded of Maui in the movie Moana and his song “You’re Welcome” which displays his tattoos and how it is a way to show one’s hardships and possibly overcoming journeys. The distinct style and the story of Moana is based off of Polynesian cultures and I found it interesting the way that they portrayed the various tattoos as story lines for the demigod’s many tales.

In preparing for the National Traditions presentations tomorrow, I had to research the styles and functions of Marquesan tattooing. I learned some really interesting things. One of the things that I found most interesting was the reasoning behind why Marquesan women typically only had their hands tattooed. From what I found, it seemed the tattooing practice was primarily centered around men, with rituals being based around the eldest son and male warriors being the primary focus of a lot of papers. On the other hand, it seemed as if women were only really obligated to tattoo their hands. One passage I found stated that women were obligated to tattoo their hands at around 12 years old because of their beliefs about what the tattoos held. The tattoos held special properties that would allow the girls to then be able to make certain foods that the tattooed men can eat. The idea that tattoos on the hands of women also served as a protection from the energy of the afterlife was also intriguing to me. I never thought that the Marquesans would remove the tattoos from a man’s body when they die and that it was the wife’s job to rub them off. However, considering the ideas that the Marquesans had about death and the afterlife, it makes sense why women sought to protect themselves by markings. Overall it was just interesting to see how a culture so different from what I know utilized tattoos.

In preparation for this class session, I did research on a national tradition of my choice: Inuit tattooing. I ended up reading seven different articles on the history of Inuit tattooing, and found it all to be very interesting. Lars Krutak’s work was an important resource, and something I might return to – if relevant – for my final research project. I loved how woman-focused a lot of the Inuit tattooing traditions were, as well as how intertwined they were with sewing. The idea of skin-stitching is not something I was familiar with before my research; I might try to find a video of it being done, because I am very curious about how far under the skin the needle and thread go. I was also interested by the reasoning behind a lot of Inuit tattooing, which is the belief that every person has multiple souls that live in specific joints throughout the body. I thought it was cool that both human and animal spirits have the power to possess people, hence the tradition of first-kill tattoos. I am happy that I took the time to research current iterations of Inuit tattooing; it showed me that the tradition is not dead, and that people are consciously trying to bring it back in a significant way. I was somewhat aware of this movement because of TikTok funnily enough – sometimes I am recommended videos from an Inuk woman named Shina Nova. She shows aspects of Inuit culture ranging from recipes with whale and caribou meat to traditional throat singing, and has semi-recently gotten some face tattoos. When I found Jana Angulalik’s article in Canadian Geographic, I was mesmerized by the photos of young women’s tattoos presented alongside their reasoning for getting them. Overall, this research process was really enjoyable for me. 

I found Enid Schilddkrout’s article “Inscribing the Body” to be fascinating and very informative – she laid so many interesting concepts out on the table that I feel I could pursue as my research topics. 

I like this article because it did such a great job holistically encompassing the different attitudes towards body art within the literature. It was helpful when she started speaking about specific theories (feminist, poststructuralist); this led me to think more about how I could ask my research question in different ways. 

This quote resonated with me (pg 322):

“Inscribed skin highlights an issue that has been central to anthropology since its inception: the question of boundaries between the individual and society, between societies, and between representations and experiences”. 

I think for my research I want to focus on the practice of getting a tattoo after a traumatic event / specific tattoo designs used (the Medusa tattoo, for example). This quote made me reflect to think about how it would be interesting to explore the history of this kind of tattooing (where it has been documented, what kind of trauma, the people getting it), the societal attitudes towards these tattoos, and its implications for trauma healing.

Schildkrout’s “Inscribing the Body” continues to deepen our understanding and comprehension of the multifaceted purposes of the tattoo as a reflection of one’s identity. Schildkrout alludes to how some view tattooing, scarification, painting as rites of passage, possibly within specific cultures or communities. She mentions how Lévi-Strauss (1963) relayed the idea that the body is “a surface waiting for the imprinting of culture” (Schildkrout 321). Her review consists of three departments which interconnect disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. She explores work done by historians/anthropologists/literary scholars studying historical sources, ethnographic work existing on inscribed bodies outside North America and Europe which has been coined as ‘new ethnography,’ and bodies of literature that address contemporary Western body modification. Schildkrout conveys how Western body art has not only become a practice or fashion, but has become a factor in boundaries concerning gender, class, ‘high’ or ‘low’ culture. One of the major influences connected with Western culture’s acceptance of tattooing was and continues to be tribal practices. One of the points that has already been discussed in our seminar was the multifaceted nature of the tattoo as a form of identity, whether that be a negative connotation or not is dependent on the place, culture and time.  She underlines the boundaries between three groups when unraveling tattoos—the first being self and society, the second being between groups, and the third being between humans and divinity (Schildkrout 338). Moreover, Schildkrout raises the proposition of how tattoos have been utilized “to express different kinds of identities in different social contexts,” (Schildkrout 322). She rectifies our understanding that while the body is a canvas, it is also a cultural landscape and where an individual defines and creates themselves.

Rubin’s “The Tattoo Renaissance” concentrates on the vitality and complexity of contemporary tattoo. Similar to the points made in Schildkrout’s essay, Rubin highlights the crossing of boundaries between social sciences and humanities—culture, sociology, psychology, history, culture, art, and anthropology. Rubin compares the vitality of the tattoo to that of magic, believing that the tattoo is the only thing that has remained somewhat mysterious and fascinating in that it comes not from an academic practice, but a more spiritual one. Rubin’s inclusion of images throughout his essay was insightful as one is able to understand and analyze more accurately the emotions and feelings that may have been brought about to create such tattoos.