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UK and US tattoo businesses. You can
Illustrations by Mark Alexander, Uproar Design
also find message boards, chat rooms
and online communities of people
who want to talk about tattoos. There
are also numerous blogs of tattoo
fans sharing the finer details of their
first tattoo and how they came to be
“hooked on ink.” Psychologists have a
few theories, but no solid answers as to
why some people get an itch for tattoos
and can’t seem to stop getting them.
Studies show the top reasons people
seem to be hooked on body art include
rebellion, body worship, obsession, and
the need to outwardly mark a belief or
event and self-expression.
For this article, I spent quite some
time studying pictures of tattooed
people. On Flickr, a photo sharing
website, a young woman has posted
pictures of herself in various poses
showing her body, almost entirely
covered in colorful tattoos. Her
comments with the photos say things
like this: “I’m sure some of you are
going to think I’m crazy for posting a
practically fully nude shot...but I did this
Tattooees have various relationships to their body art
to see myself to see my body with all
and a spectrum of attitudes about showing them.
my ink. It’s nice to have a view of what it
looks like and how it flows together.”
Some have their tattoos in discreet locations of their
She has a nearly perfect body along
with a lovely face. Her tattoos look like
anatomy only to be seen in privacy by select eyes.
they are choreographed with a nature
theme in mind. A vine trails from her
right shoulder along her side and down
to her hip. The design is beautiful but
recipients are now choosing designs parade on a cat walk while museum
not for everyone. Strangely, the same
that flow more with the natural patrons sip cocktails discussing the
woman later talks about getting some
movement and shape of the body. designs. I’ve attended the event and
of them removed – so that she can
It is fascinating to realize the shift in though the tattoos are jaw dropping,
tattoo over the skin again!
psychology - branding a permanent you do wonder how the models are able
“The tattoos from the knee down
message onto ones flesh used to mean to walk around without constant stares
I got when I was 16 and 17. They aren’t
you were committing yourself to the and whispers from the mainstream
the best quality. I have an appointment
message conveyed, or that it was an public. Maybe this attention is part of
set up to get it all laser removed.
initiation, a kind of promise or even the thrill of having an angel of death that
Then, I will be able to start with a
contract. These days, it is, more often covers your neck, back and buttocks.
blank canvas.”
than not, purely “cool” and decorative. So, in this respect, extreme tattoo is still
But laser removal doesn’t leave a
And public acceptance of tattoos mainstream taboo.
blank canvas....the after shadow of what
has drastically changed over the years.
was before, remains.
The international award-winning
Ink thrills
Contemporary Arts Center, in Cincinnati
Type in “tattoo addict” on any search
Ohio, hosts an exhibit each year in
engine and instead of self-help groups,
which people covered from head to toe
you’ll get a generous listing of mostly
avantoure
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homo ludens