TATTOO from SUBCULTURE to POP CULTURE BY CARLOS HUETE
Tattoos from Subculture to Pop Culture Thirty years ago, tattoos were actually quite common... on soldiers/sailors, prison inmates, and members of tough motorcycle gangs. Our society still held prejudices against tattoos and, while some people were getting them on their own, no one would say tattoos were a part of pop culture. Personal note: Growng up in California I’ve been exposed to the well-entrenched tattoo culture. I would see it everywhere from surfers at the beach to rock musicians at Hollywood clubs but nowhere else was it more evident than within the prison population at the state penitentiary system that I regularly visited as a health investigator. As you can imagine my views on tattoos at that time was that of anti-establishment or counterculture. But how times have changed! What caused the change? Two significant events took place that help propelle tattoo into the mainstream. 1. Discovery Channel launched the first popular tattoo television show called Miami Ink, a tattoo shop in Miami Beach introducing charismatic tattoo artist. Before this show, not many people knew what the inside of a tattoo studio look like. People weren’t aware of the amazing work being done there or to the dynamic personalities and various styles of different artists. It made for good TV. It was a huge success and it changed everything. It wasn’t long before more tattoo programs were being produced increasing the visibility to a much larger audience. Enter social media. A game-changer for the tattoo industry. Platforms such as facebook and Instagram has fueled the popularity of artists with followers from all over the world numbering in the thousands. Because of these platforms it also helped fan the popularity of tattoo conventions popping up all over the world. Milano host one of the biggest tattoo conventions in Europe attracting visitors as far away as California. In this presentation I will introduce to you artists from three Milanese tattoo studios that have a combined total of nearly 400 thousand instagram followers. I will also share some interesting stats.
INSTAGRAM STATS
To give you an example of the popularity of these artists, I will present the following eight tattooist that I met and photographed at three Milano tattoo shops. They have a combined total of nearly 400 thousand followers on instagram.
Linda Iacono of Trafficanti d’Arte Tattoo Shop - 166,000 followers Stizzo of Best of Times Tattoo Shop 78,700 followers Stefania Pallestrini of Best of times Tattoo Shop - 44,000 followers Hangman Dex of Miami City Ink Tattoo Shop - 25,300 followers Daigor Perego of Trafficanti d’Arte Tattoo Shop - 23,400 followers Simone Folliero of Trafficanti d’Arte Tattoo Shop - 22,700 followers Caterina Molin of Miami City Ink Tattoo Shop - 21,000 followers Simone Mariotti of Best of times Tattoo Shop - 12,100 followers
Welcome to Milano City Ink
HANGMAN DEX 25,300 followers
CATERINA MOLIN 21,000 followers
Welcome to Stizzo’s Best of Times
STIZZO 78,700 followers
STEFANIA PALLESTRINI 44,000 followers
SIMONE MARIOTTI
12,100 followers
Welcome to Trafficanti d’Arte
SIMONE FOLLIERO 22,700 followers
DAIGOR PEREGO DAIGOR PEREGO 23,400 followers 23,400 followers
LINDA IACONO 166,000 followers
Survey conducted by Dalia in April 2018: The online survey of 9,054 covered Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Denmark, Spain, France, the U.K., Greece, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Sweden, Turkey, the U.S., and South Africa. It was conducted in April 2018. According to the survey, 48 percent of people in Italy have at least one tattoo, with 47 percent in Sweden being similarly inked and 46 percent in the U.S. INTERESTING STATS Most tattooed Countries: Italy - 48% Sweden - 47% USA 46% Australia - 43% Argentina - 43% Spain - 42% Denmark - 41% UK - 40% Brazil - 37% France - 36% Germany - 36% Greece - 35% South Africa - 33% Russia 33% Canada - 33% Mexico - 32%
Age 14 and 29 - 32% 30 and 49 - 45% Over 50 - 28% No regrets - 72% Gender Italy - female 49% male 47% Sweden - female 48% male 46% UK - female 47% male 33% USA - female 46% male 46% Australia - female 41% male 45% Argentina - female 41% male 42% Denmark - female 40% male 42% Greece - female 42% male 29% Spain - female 41% male 42% Brazil - female 41% male 33% Germany - female 40% male 33% Israel - female 37% male 23% Canada - female 36% male 29% Mexico - female 36% male 27% France - female 36% male 36% Turkey - female 35% male 25% South Africa - female 31% male 35% Russia - female 27% male 39%
All photographs by Carlos Huete