by Alissa Guissine From tradition to religion, from hippie to criminal, from significance to aesthetics, body art has been slowly inching its way into the modern culture since 3100 BCE. The stimulus behind tattoos is rather controversial and undefined, do they bear meaning or are they just senseless blotches of ink on one’s skin. Uncover the true desires and motivations behind the blotches of ink and you realize how hip and eloquent they can become. The antediluvian practice of permanently incising significance onto your body arose from culture and tradition. Initial evidence of the practice was recognized when 12 000-year-old tattooing tools were discovered in Portugal, France, and Scandinavia. Tattoos were used as healing techniques and modus operandi of religious worship in ancient Egypt and India. Countries like the Philippines established status and rank with ink prints, notwithstanding other countries used tattoos as forms of punishment and ridicule. With the adoption of Christianity, Judaism, and Islamic religions tattooing was dissipated and considered to be a sin. Abrahamic religions believed the body was a vessel given by God, in resemblance to God and should not be altered or modified in any way. Consequently, the culture of tattooing slowly began to die in Europe. Only to sail back in the 16th century along with travelers like Captain James Cook and Martin Frobisher, who’s oceanic travels were accompanied by indigenous people, whom they fetched back from their visits to other countries. The indigenous were often inked with spiritual markings. Their spiritual cultures preached that tattooing was a way to express identity, status, and position in their tribes, the process of tattooing metaphorically corresponded with the idea of being reborn. Initially, tattoos were appointed with sailors and the lower class, as time went on ink artists became more skillful and body art grew to become a leisure of aristocracy. Sadly, as tattooing cheapened it was again designated for the lower, poorer classes. For such a protracted time the culture of tattooing was associated with poor and criminal classes that the art was almost omitted. It wasn't until the 1960s when the Hippie movement swept over North America and tattooing was released into the mainstream regarded as a form of self-expression. Symbols, cultures, suits, regarded as emblems of the egregious, the criminal, the savage. Throughout history prisoners and criminals around the world tattooed marks and symbols on their bodies as ways of identification and status. The most common design in North America was the three-point triangle placed beside the eye or between the thumb and forefinger, denoting: “Mi Vida Loca” - my crazy life. Prison tattoos were especially popular in Russia comprising of complex designs and systems. Convicts wore roses and eight-point stars on their chests to display their rank in the system amongst other convicts. Murderers wore with pride daggers and skulls on their chest, informing others of their crimes, and that they were willing to kill again. A pair of eyes upon the pecks showed other inmates that the owner of the tattoo was watching them, these eyes were worn by high-ranked prisoners and leaders of the mafia. The famous St. Basil’s Cathedral was inked onto prisoners’ fronts, each tower indicating the number of sentences served, and the snake around the neck symbolized drug addiction. Prisoners bore tattoos of Stalin and Lenin above their hearts to demonstrate their patriotism and as shields against their keepers knowing they wouldn't dare shoot their leaders. By the 1990s tattooing exploded in western culture, entrepreneurs, accountants, and suburban moms wore tattoos. In the early nineties, folk inked themselves to show their independence amongst other citizens. It was a way to isolate yourself from the pack and embrace your own life. Others wore tattoos for significance; a token, a symbol, a memory, anything meaningful they wanted to keep with them forever. People were inked with symbols of their birthplaces, memories of loved ones, tattoos in dedication to someone, and symbols linked to meaningful events in their lives. Nowadays most people get tattoos for their aesthetic pleasure, they simply relish the way they look. Myriad options come with tattooing; quotes, flowers, animals, people, the options are endless! Getting a tattoo is easy and open. Judgment and stereotype no longer come with tattoos, they aren’t associated with crime or rebellion but merely independence and pleasure.
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