94
with Peace symbols and slogans on
your skin, for example, you had better
walk the talk. Hypocrisy is even more
Illustrations by Mark Alexander, Uproar Design
glaring, when the skin one is baring,
says the opposite of how one behaves!
Tattooees have various
relationships to their body art and a
spectrum of attitudes about showing
them. Some have their tattoos in
discreet locations of their anatomy only
to be seen in privacy by select eyes.
Others have their tattoos in areas like
the back or leg that they can choose to
reveal or not, depending upon situation.
Still others have their tattoos on their
arms, calves, necks and even faces for
the world to see. I have even seen a
man, a veritable “Illustrated Man”,
(ala Ray Bradbury’s paperback cover)
so decorated in tattoos, that even
his eye lids were covered in them.
Extreme? It’s another mind set. Extreme
to this man was to let even a piece of
skin go untouched – without an ink
artist’s blessing.
A friend of mine decided he wanted
a tattoo of the “Aum” symbol. It was
an impulsive act but fortunately, the
designer had been recommended and
did a beautiful job, working freehand
and using ink that had been blessed by
a Tibetan monk. The experience and
end result meant so much to my friend
that he kept the needles and framed the
design. He says that his tattoo and how
it came about holds a deep spiritual
You have to absolutely
some individuals have deeply personal
meaning for him.
messages and symbols imprinted
Others I’ve interviewed for this
give over your trust to the
on their bodies to communicate who
piece had tattoos on impulse without
they really are or what they have
thinking it through and regret the result.
tattooer, a person who, experienced in life.
Emily had hers done when she was
in most cases, you don’t
By association, the bearer of a
18 and says she would do anything to
tattoo is perceived as an extension or
remove it. She explains that she and
even know and let them
representation of the art especially if
her teenage boyfriend went to a tattoo
overtly decorated or touting slogans
parlor and got matching adult-looking
permanently mark your skin. ala the walking billboard variety. If
fairies inked onto their asses. She is so
words, phrases and highly impact-
embarrassed by the tattoo that not even
Intense, if you ask me.
full images are in full display or high
her close friends have seen it and she
quantity upon a person’s anatomy, the
laments that she is only comfortable
impression en masse is of a mindset or
with sex in the dark because of it. She is
wish to broadcast identification with the
saving up to have a laser removal, at a
messages signified. If you are a pacifist
cost of 10,000 pounds.
avantoure
|
homo ludens