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An exhibition on the evolution and science of body art
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Surma People Maasai People
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INKARNATION • Ink Origins • Sacred Ink • Men Of The Naga • The Last Philippiine Headhunter
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Prison Ink Yakuza
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Perforated People
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Conclusion
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PUNCTURED •
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CONTENTS
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Introduction
Body art is a type of contemporary art, in which the artist’s own body becomes the “canvas” or “artwork”. The most common forms of body art are tattoos and body piercings. Other types include scarification, branding, subdermal implants, scalpelling, shaping (for example tight-lacing of corsets), full body tattoo and body painting. Body art is also a sub-category of performance art, in which artists use or abuse their own body to make their particular statements. More extreme body art can involve mutilation or pushing the body to its physical limits. In more recent times, the body has become a subject of much broader discussion and treatment than can be reduced to body art in its common understanding. Important strategies that question the human body are: implants, body in symbiosis with the new technologies, virtual bodies, among others.
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Overview
Surma is a panethnicity residing in South Sudan and southwestern Ethiopia. The term Surma is the Ethiopian government’s collective name for the Suri, Mursi and Me’en groups that inhabit the southwesternpart of the country, with a total population of 186,875. All three groups speak languages belonging to the Surmic branch of the Nilo-Saharan language family. Suri or Shuri is the name of a sedentary pastoral people and its Nilo-Saharan language. They inhabit the Bench Maji Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities,and People’s Region (SNNPR) in Ethiopia as well as parts of neighbouring South Sudan.
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Mursi or Murzu is the name of a closely related sedentary pastoral people whose language (Mursi) is over 80% cognate with Suri. They are located next to the Suri, in the center of the SNNPR and the lowlands southwest of Jinka in the Debub Omo Zone. The Mursi do not regard themselves as Surma, despite the cultural and linguistic similarities. Population: 7,500 of whom 92.25% live in the SNNPR (2007 census). Me’en is the name of a closely related sedentary pastoral people whose language, Me’en, is over 80% cognate with Mursi. They are located in and around Bachuma, and in lowlands to the south, near the Omo River. Population: 151,489 of whom 98.9% live in the SNNPR
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At a young age, to beautify themselves for marriage, most women have their bottom teeth removed and their bottom lips pierced, then stretched, so as to allow insertion of a clay lip plate. Some women have stretched their lips so as to allow plates up to sixteen inches in diameter. Increasing with exposure to other cultures, however, a growing number of girls now refrain from this practice. Their children are sometimes painted with white clay paint, which may be dotted on the face or body. Their villages normally range in size from 40 to 1,000 people, but a few may reach 2,500 people. Village life is largely communal, sharing the produce of the cattle (milk and blood, as do the Maasai). Though their chiefs (styled komaro) may wear the fur crown of a pagan priest-king, they are merely the most respected elder in a village and they can be removed. Few Surma are familiar with Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia, and their literacy level is very low.
They have a fierce culture, with a liking for stick fighting called Donga or Saginay bringing great prestige to men — it is especially important when seeking a bride — and they are very competitive, at the risk of serious injury and occasional death. The males are often shaved bald, and frequently wear little or no clothes, even during stick fights.
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All three peoples share a similar culture. Their homeland is remote, located in desolate mountains, and traditional rivalries with their tribal neighbors such as the Nyangatom have become quite bloody as automatic firearms have become available from the parties in the Sudanese Civil War. The police allow foreigners to travel there only with a hired armed guard.
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Shared culture
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The Surma people, made up of the Suri tribe and the Mursi tribe, are known for their impressive lip discs, a sign of beauty and status for the women.
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Lip Plates
Although the pain for this tradition may last from 3-6 months, these tribes have very good plant based ointments to heal the wounds. Afterwards, it is very common to see women stretching their lips as if to massage them, or they tenderly allow their babies to tug on their lips without it causing them any discomfort.
The Suri also paint their bodies white for some occasions.
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There are theories that the women and young girls would wear these lip plates to make themselves less attractive on purpose so they wont get captured and raped by other tribes or even used for slave trade. Nevertheless, today it is an important sign of beauty and prestige, which is why most girls choose to wear a lip plate even though they are not forced to do so. Surma men have to pay their bride’s family for their wives (traditionally with cows and Kalashnikovs) and the bigger the lip plate, the better the wife, and so more expensive.
The Suri pride themselves on their scars and how many they carry. Women perform scarification by slicing their skin with a razor blade after lifting it with a thorn. After the skin is sliced the piece of skin left over is left to eventually scar. On the other hand, the men scar their bodies after they kill someone from an enemy tribe. These rituals, which are extremely painful, are said by some anthropologists are a type of controlled violence; a way of getting the younger tribe members used to seeing blood and feeling pain. It is also a way of adapting these young children to their violent environment.
Each young Surma girl will cut her lip and insert a wooden ’plug’ in it as a form of body modification. Each plug is gradually changed for a bigger one until the lip is stretched enough and a clay (or occasionally wooden) plate can be used. To make the plate fit in well, 2-3 lower front teeth have to be pulled out. Some women can wear lip plates up to 30 cm in diameter!
However, it somewhat effects a woman’s speech, changing an ‘s’ sound to a softer ‘th’ sound, but certainly not her ability to sing or communicate. It is even possible to see girls dancing energetically while wearing their lip plates. Also, these women don’t always wear their lip plates, which means they take it off during the day and when eating. They only put them in when serving meals to their men, and also for ceremonies and other special occasions.
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The Mursi and Surma people are well known for the large clay plates their women wear in their lower lips, decorative scarification, and also because the men paint their bodies with white clay.
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The Mursi people are for the c l plates women in their
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and Surma well known large a y their wear lower lips
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Surma Warriors
most of their time looking after their precious herds
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The Surma men spend
against thieves from neighbouring tribes with the machine-guns they carry (these days it is typically a fully loaded AK-47, Kalash-
of cows. They guard them
are completely naked but their latest ’fashion’ is to wear a big colourful pieces of cloth wrapped around them or tied across on their shoulder. The cloth doesn’t always have to cover intimate parts, but it is definitely practical as a blanket againstthe night chill.
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nikov). Traditionally the men
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those times, they eat only milk mixed with blood.
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neck, opening a vein.
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In these competitions, you want the fun of being part of a band, you don’t paint a body all alone — at the very least it is you plus the model. In its traditional functions, body painting is a social act, a shared community activity. For one thing, you can’t paint your full body yourself, and I believe that in traditional cultural uses (such as the Surma men painting each other in preparation for the ceremonial stick fights, or the Surma women painting together by a river bank for their part of the festivities) the participants experience the time spent painting each other in a unifying, celebratory way — in much the same way bodypainters enjoy the communal spirit of all painting together in a room at a convention. Any time you see an example of tribal or traditional body art, with full bodypainting or intricate designs on the back or the limbs, it is created communally, with the help of another person, and usually a reciprocal social act, as I paint your back and you paint mine.
Sacred patterns that have adorned the people of this region for thousands of years present simple designs comprised of interconnected lines, waves and circles that clearly present the geometric structure of resonant standing waves. Wisdom traditions of the Surma people confirm that the many specific ways in which these patterns are presented is done in awareness of the sacred bioelectrical effects of focused infrasound that synchronizes onsciousness. In many Surma villages there are some of the children painted their faces whitewhen we came. These children are the chief’s kids and they do this to separate themselves from other children when there are visitors in the village.
Living almost entirely without clothing, wearing mostly paint and adornments in the equatorial African climate of southern Ethiopia emphasizes the simple elegance of sacred body decoration among the tribes of Surmaland. The herding traditions that have been adopted during these changing times are far predated by the deeper cultural practices of body art that have not changed significantly over the last 100,000 years.
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The Surma people create intricat multicolored patterns, covering the entire body. These decorations have no symbolic or ritual value but are simply done for aesthetic reasons and on certain occasions. The Suri are a people who take great pride in beautiful physique.
Men paint their bodies with chalk in mesmerizing concentric waveforms that snake up and down their torso and thighs, in preparation for Donga stick fighting competitions where individuals demonstrate their strength and endurance of pain by engaging their opponent with optional protection allowed only on their forearms, neck and head.
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Overview
Piercings & Traditions
The Maasai are a Nilotic ethnic group inhabiting southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. They are among the best known local populations due to their residence near the many game parks of the African Great Lakes, and their distinctive customs and dress. They speak their own tribal language known as Maa, but also enjoy an education and sometimes fluency in both Swahili (the official language of Tanzania) and English. They are also educated in the official languages of Kenya and Tanzania, Swahili and English. The Maasai population has been reported as numbering 841,622 in Kenya in the 2009 census, compared to 377,089 in the 1989 census.
The men of the Maasai community are raised to be skilled warriors, and their traditional dress includes brilliant red garments and beautifully intricate bead work, for which they’ve become quite famous. One of the most interesting characteristics of traditional Masai culture though is the ear piercings.
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The Tanzanian and Kenyan governments have instituted programs to encourage the Maasai to abandon their traditional semi-nomadic lifestyle, but the people have continued their age-old customs. Recently, Oxfam has claimed that the lifestyle of the Maasai should be embraced as a response to climate change because of their ability to produce food in deserts and scrublands. Many Maasai tribes throughout Tanzania and Kenya welcome visits to their villages to experience (for a non-trivial fee) their culture, traditions, and lifestyle.
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According to their own oral history, the Maasai originated from the lower Nile valley north of Lake Turkana (Northwest Kenya) and began migrating south around the 15th century, arriving in a long trunk of land stretching from what is now northern Kenya to what is now central Tanzania between the 17th and late 18th century. Many ethnic groups that had already formed settlements in the region were forcibly displaced by the incoming Maasai, while other, mainly Southern Cushitic groups, were assimilated into Maasai society.
The piercing and stretching of earlobes is common among the Maasai as with other tribes. Various materials have been used to both pierce and stretch the lobes, including thorns for piercing, twigs, bundles of twigs, stones, the cross section of elephant tusks and empty film canisters. Both men and women may have multiple piercings, but the most common is a set of stretched lobe piercings, combined with upper ear cartilage piercings, usually just under the upper helix. The cartilage piercings may be stretched as well, though usually not by much, and are often worn with dangling beaded earrings. In contrast to many other tribes who practice stretching, the Maasai also employ a very unique form of ear decoration. Once the lobe has been stretched successfully, instead of continuing to wear wooden plugs, the enlarged fistula is wrapped in rows of beads, and sometimes weighted with a single, simple earring. Women wear various forms of beaded ornaments in both the ear lobe, and smaller piercings at the top of the ear. Amongst Maasai males, Circumcision is practiced as a ritual of transition from boyhood to manhood. Women are also circumcised. Also, the removal of deciduous canine tooth buds in early childhood is a practice that has been documented in the Maasai of Kenya and Tanzania. There exists a strong belief among the Maasai that diarrhea, vomiting and other febrile illnesses of early childhood are caused by the gingival swelling over the canine region, which is thought to contain ‘worms’ or ‘nylon’ teeth.
This belief and practice is
In rural Kenya a group of 95 children aged between six months and two years were examined in 1991/92. 87% were found to have undergone the removal of one or more deciduous canine tooth buds. In an older age group (3–7 years of age), 72% of the 111 children examined exhibited missing mandibular or maxillary deciduous canines.
The jewelry they create is not only beautiful but also has important cultural significance. The beadwork an individual wears will signify their age and social status. Generally individuals of high social standing will wear more colorful and intricate jewelry. Beads also serve as an important source of income for the Maasai. Tourist visiting the Maasai regions in Kenya and northern Tanzania will find many beautiful pieces for sale that make great gifts for women and for men.
Matching beadwork necklaces are also very popular, and more ornate dangling earrings with larger beads, stones, or metal discs are prevalent, mostly among females. Beadwork has been an important part of Maasai culture for many years. Maasai women set aside time every day to meet and work on beaded jewelry which includes colorful necklaces, bracelets, and pendants. It is considered the duty of every Maasai women to learn the jewelry making craft. All the tribes beadwork is made by the women but is worn by both women and men.
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• Women will wear a very elaborate and heavy beaded necklace on their wedding day. The necklace often hangs down to the brides knees and can make it very difficult for her to walk. • A married Maasai woman will wear a Nborro, which is a long necklace with blue beads.
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• Unmarried Maasai girls often wear a large flat beaded disc that surrounds their neck when dancing. They use the movement of the disc to display their grace and flexibility.
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History Of The Maasai Bead Jewlery
The Maasai have been creating bead jewelry for a long time, well before their first contact with Europeans. Before contact with the Europeans the tribe used the natural resources around them to create their jewelry. These natural resources included clay, wood, bone, copper, and brass. In the late 19th century trade with the Europeans made glass beads available to the Africans. The Maasai started using these glass beads to make their necklaces, bracelets, and other jewelry. Today glass is still the main material used by the tribe for their beads.
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Colors
The colors used in the beadwork are selected for their beauty. The colors are also symbolic and have important meanings understood by the tribe. Often these meanings have an association with cattle, which is the Maasai’s main food source and for which they have a deep connection. Below is a list of the main colors used in Maasai beadwork and the meanings associated with each. • Red - stands for bravery, unity, and blood. Red is the color of cows blood. Often a cow is slaughtered when the Maasai meet and therefore unity is associated with red.
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• White - represents peace, purity, and health. The association with health comes from white cows milk which the tribe drinks to stay healthy. • Blue - represents energy and the sky. Rain falls from the blue sky which provides water for the cattle. • Orange - Symbolizes hospitality. The association with cattle is that visitors are served cows milk from orange gourds. • Yellow - like orange yellow also symbolizes hospitality. The animal skins on visitors beds are yellow. • Green - symbolizes health and land. Cattle graze on the green grass of the land. • Black - represents the people and the struggles they must endure.
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In contrast to many of their neighboring ethnic groups, tattooing and scarification are almost non-existent amongst the Maasai. Those that do have permanent body art, such as tattoos, will generally be elders or holy men, while younger warriors may use plant material or clay, aslo known as body paintings, to fashion temporary skin markings, primarily for ceremonial purposes.
The Maasai are a perfect example of modern society’s encroachment on indigenous populations around the world, as some tribal members may at once wear traditional clothing and piercings, along with digital wrist watches and designer sandals. Either way, their continuation of traditional modification practices makes them a visually stunning and unique African culture.
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Overview
Egypt
The word tattoo comes from the Tahitian “tatu” which means “to mark something.” It is arguably claimed that tattooing has existed since 12,000 years BC. The purpose of tattooing has varies from culture to culture and its place on the time line.
There’s certainly evidence that women had tattoos on their bodies and limbs from figurines c. 4000-3500 B.C. to occasional female figures represented in tomb scenes c. 1200 B.C. and in figurine form c. 1300 B.C., all with tattoos on their thighs. Also small bronze implements identified as tattooing tools were discovered at Humans have marked their bodies with tattoos for the town site of Gurob in northern Egypt and dated to c. thousands of years. These permanent designs—some1450 B.C. And then, of course, there are the mummies times plain, sometimes elaborate, always personal—have with tattoos, from the three women already mentioned served as amulets, status symbols, declarations of love, and dated to c. 2000 B.C. to several later examples of signs of religious beliefs, adornments and even formsof female mummies with these forms of permanent marks punishment. found in Greco-Roman burials at Akhmim.
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Tattoos have always had an important role in ritual and tradition. In Borneo, women tattooed their symbols on their forearm indicating their particular skill. If a woman wore a symbol indicating she was a skilled weaver, her status as prime marriageable material was increased. Tattoos around the wrist and fingers were believed to ward away illness. Throughout history tattoos have signified membership in a clan or society. Even today groups like the Hells Angels tattoo their particular group symbol. TV and movies have used the idea of a tattoo indication membership in a secret society numerous times. It has been believed that the wearer of an image calls the spirit of that image.
Because this seemed to be an exclusively female practice in ancient Egypt, mummies found with tattoos were usually dismissed by the (male) excavators who seemed to assume the women were of “dubious status,” described in some cases as “dancing girls.” The female mummies had nevertheless been buried at Deir el-Bahari (opposite modern Luxor) in an area associated with royal and elite burials, and we know that at least one of the women described as “probably a royal concubine” was actually a high-status priestess named Amunet, as revealed by her funerary inscriptions.
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And although it has long been assumed that such tattoos were the mark of prostitutes or were meant to The most recent discovery shows that the 5,200 year protect the women against sexually transmitted diseasold frozen mummy of the Iceman from the area of the es, some people believe that the tattooing of ancient Italian-Austrian border in 1991 and his tattoo patterns, is Egyptian women had a therapeutic role and functioned believed to be the evidence of some of the first tattoos. as a permanent form of amulet during the very difficult In terms of tattoos on actual bodies, the earliest known time of pregnancy and birth. This is supported by the examples were Egyptian and were present on several fe- pattern of distribution, largely around the abdomen, male mummies dated to c. 2000 B.C. The tattoos found on top of the thighs and the breasts, and would also in Egypt during the time of the construction of the great explain the specific types of designs, in particular the pyramids . When the Egyptians expanded their empire, net-like distribution of dots applied over the abdomen. the art of tattooing spread as well. The civilizations of During pregnancy, this specific pattern would expand Crete, Greece, Persia, and Arabia picked up and in a protective fashion in the same way bead nets were expanded the art form. Around 2000 BC tattooing placed over wrapped mummies to protect them and spread to China. “keep everything in.” The placing of small figures of the household deity Bes at the tops of their thighs would again suggest the use of tattoos as a means of safeguarding the actual birth, since Bes was the protector of women in labor, and his position at the tops of the thighs a suitable location. This would ultimately explain tattoos as a purely female custom.
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Yet amongst the Greeks and Romans, the use of tattoos seems to have been largely used as a means to mark someone as “belonging” either to a religious sect or to an owner in the case of slaves or even as a punitive measure to mark them as criminals. The fashion was also adopted by Roman soldiers and spread across the Roman Empire until the emergence of Christianity, when tattoos were felt to “disfigure that made in God’s image” and so were banned by the Emperor Constantine (A.D. 306-373).
Accounts of the ancient Britons likewise suggest they too were tattooed as a mark of high status, and with “divers shapes of beasts” tattooed on their bodies, the Romans named one northern tribe “Picti,” literally “the painted people.”
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The Scythian Pazyryk of the Altai Mountain region were another ancient culture which employed tattoos. In 1948, the 2,400 year old body of a Scythian male was discovered preserved in ice in Siberia, his limbs and torso covered in ornate tattoos of mythical animals. Then, in 1993, a woman with tattoos, again of mythical creatures on her shoulders, wrists and thumb and of similar date, was found in a tomb in Altai.
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Primitive Tattoos
Funereal Art
Skin was the first canvas for art. Sticks and other pointy objects were the first paintbrushes. Tattooing was first a form of scarification. This involved wounding oneself and packing dirt or ashes into the scrape or cut to discolor it permanently. It is believed that prehistoric man cut holes in his skin, charred sticks in the fire, let them cool and then applied the black substance to the wound to create tribal markings.
Tattooing in ancient history was a funereal art. Images of tattooing are found on Egyptian female figurines that are dated between 4000 and 2000 years BC. Libyan figures from the tomb of Seti (1330 B.C.) also boast figures with tattoo markings on the arms and the legs.
Tattoos were also used to bring one’s soul in alignment with God’s purpose, increase virility and fertility, ensure the preservation of the body after the death and delineate hierarchies and roles within tribes. For instance, a tribal chieftain would have a very different tattoo than the individual in the tribe who was thought to bring them all bad luck.
The ancient Egyptians reportedly spread the practice of tattooing throughout the world. The pyramid-building third and fourth dynasties of Egypt developed international nations that ruled Crete, Greece, Persia, and Arabia. By 2000 B.C. the art of tattooing had found its way to Southeast Asia and the Ainu (western Asian nomads) then brought it with them on their migrations to Japan. Elsewhere, the Shans of China introduced the craft to the Burmese, who still include tattooing as part of their religious practices.
Both in ancient and modern times, primitive people believe that the spirit or astral body resembles an invisible human body. This is similar to many modern occultist As tattooing involved pain, blood and fire, primitive man beliefs about the astral body. Tattoos are applied so that the spirit is allowed to pass into the spirit world undisbelieved the process released sacred life forces. The turbed by evil entities. The primitive peoples of Borneo letting of blood was also associated with a sacrifice to the Gods. The symbol or animal form of the tattoo was believe that the right tattoo ensures prompt passage to the other side as well as a guaranteed positive occupathought to bring one protection from attack from that tion in the spirit world. very same animal.
As skin does not preserve that well there is very archeological evidence that prehistoric people engaged in tattooing, although a few Paleolithic artifacts that have been discovered seem to suggest that the art of tattooing is as old as mankind.
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Today, tattoos are still used to create a spirit connection with deceased loved one and family members. These types of tattoos are rarer, but they often appear as hearts with initials, tombstones with parent’s initials and heavenly symbols such as five, six and seven pointed stars.
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Branding
Clan Markings
Around the same time, the Japanese became interested in the art but only for its decorative attributes. The Horis -- the Japanese tattoo artists --- were the undisputed ancient masters of the color tattoo. Their use of pigments, perspective, and imaginative designs gave the practice a whole new appearance. During the first millennium A.D., Japan adopted Chinese culture and confined tattooing to branding wrongdoers.
Primitive peoples also used tattoos to create what are called clan markings. These marking came in handy during battle to identify foe from friend. These tattoos also guaranteed that you would be able to greet your friends again in heaven, after you had passed away.
Tattooing was first associated with criminality in the Mediterranean region in the middle of the third century. These labels would include the crime, the punishment and the names of the criminal’s victims branded on their foreheads. In ancient Greece and Rome, slaves with tattoos could never become citizens, even if they were able to buy their freedom. This was because a tattoo was seen as degrading to the bearer. In essence, the tattoos were permanent marks of guilt. Eventually those tattooed out of punishment started to be proud of their markings. Tattoos are still a mark of honor among criminals today. In Tahiti, tattoos were a rite of passage and told the history of the person’s life. Men were marked when they reached adulthood when they got married. When the Turkish Ottoman Empire ruled Bosnia, military authorities tattooed all of the soldiers in order to recognize them in case they chose to flee conscription.
In New Zealand, the Maori would treat the body like a piece of wood in order to make their world-famous moko style tattoos. Using a small bone-cutting tool, they would carve intricate shallow grooves on the face and buttocks, and infuse them with color. Thanks to trading with Europeans, they were able to make the method more efficient by using metal tools instead of bone. A “moko”, meaning to strike or tap, is the long-standing art form of Maori tattooing. This art form has been practiced for over a thousand years, and has withstood time and colonization. It was used as a form of identification with regards to rank, genealogy, tribal history, eligibility to marry, beauty and virility. Moko designs were finely chiseled into the skin. Maori women were traditionally only allowed to be tattooed on their lips, around the chin, and sometimes the nostrils. A woman with full blue lips was seen
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Most of the early uses of tattoos were ornamental. However, a number of civilizations had practical applications for this craft. The Goths, a tribe of Germanic barbarians famous for pillaging Roman settlements, used tattoos to brand their slaves. Romans also tattooed slaves and criminals.
In the Americas, native tribes used simple pricking to tattoo their bodies or faces. In California some native groups injected color into the scratches. Some northern tribes living in and around the Arctic Circle (mostly Inuit) made punctures with a needle and ran a thread coated with soot through the skin. The South Pacific community would tap pigment into the pricked skin using a small rake-like instrument.
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In the Balkans, the Thracians had a different use for the craft. Aristocrats, according to Herodotus (500 B.C.) were tattooed to show the world their social status. Although early Europeans dabbled with tattooing, they truly rediscovered the art form when they explored new cultures in the South Pacific. It was a familiarity with the tattoos of Polynesian and American Indian tribes that introduced tattoos to the modern Europe. The word, in fact, is derived from the Tahitian word tattau, which means, “to mark.”
Family and marriage tattoos were also clan markings that enabled spouses who were separated in death to find each other again in the afterworld. A good example of this is the ancient Ainu tribe who believed that a bride without a tattoo would go straight to Gehenna - their version of hell.
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Skin was canvas for and other objects we
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the first art. Sticks pointy re the first r u s h e s
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Love Charms
Physical Health
Good Luck
In the ancient and primitive worlds, tattoos were also used as love charms. Often the dye used for these types of tattoos was concocted from magical ingredients. For instance, the dye for an ancient Burmese love charm is made from a recipe that consists of a bright purple pigment called vermilion and the skins of a trout and a spotted lizard. This tattoo was usually a small triangle created by three dots and was concealed by clothing so that others could not identify it.
In ancient Asian cultures, tattoos were often applied to ensure long term physical health. The Tibetans equated designs called mantra wheels with many minutes of chanting. These designs were tattooed on chakra (energy points) on the body to help the bearer of the tattoo achieve physical, emotional and spiritual harmony. Sometimes tattoos were created from medicinal dyes and marked on acupuncture points of the body in an attempt to cure chronic health problems and diseases.
Historically tattoos have always been thought to bring the wearer good luck. In China, tattooing one’s animal astrological symbol, such as The Pig or The Horse is thought to bring good fortune. Images of Koi, carp or goldfish were thought to bring prosperity and wealth to the bearer.
Nowadays the equivalents of magic love tattoos are Celtic knots, hearts, cherubs, the Venus symbol and love goddesses.
In quite a few cultures an image of a God or Goddess could also be tattooed on an acupuncture point or an afflicted part of the body in an attempt to heal it. In India, the Monkey God, Hanuman, was tattooed on dislocated shoulders. Older Maori women tattooed their lips and face to prevent failing vision. Ainu women tattooed a Goddess on their skin so that the evil spirits that bestowed disease would mistake them for the Goddess and flee in terror.
Pilgrim Tattoos
The rise of the Christian and Islamic religions brought a halt to tattooing in the Europe in the Middle East. In the Old Testament of the Bible, the book of Leviticus states, “Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the Lord.” This crede against tattooing caused the practice to disappear In Burma, a parrot tattooed for about two thousand on the shoulder is thought years as both the Christians to bring luck. In Thailand, a and the Moslems revere scroll representing Buddha the Old Testament. in the posture of meditaStill despite the widespread tion is said to charm Lady popularity of this religious Luck. Card tattoos such belief, pilgrims in the Midas the Ace of Spades and the Ten of Diamonds were dle Ages still got tattoos once they reached the worn by American soldiers in Vietnam to protect Holy Land to prove to the against bad luck and vene- folks back home that they had actually made the real disease. journey. The Coptic priests who sat outside the walls of Jerusalem waiting for tourists practiced this kind of tattooing. Usually these tattoos were just a simple cross, but some pilgrims opted for more elaborate symbols of their trip such as images of the Pieta or St. George slaying the Dragon.
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In the 1960s tattooing for art’s sake alone became popular and nowadays the sight of a tattoo on someone’s shoulder, hip or ankle has become commonplace. In recent years Celtic Tattoos have enjoyed a revival, as have primitive tattoos. Some people collect tattoos the way others collect antiques or works of art. Others are interested in the super sleek designs that are a product of the thinking of the 21st century such as biomechanical designs (which look like muscles beneath the flesh) and designs that resemble the interior workings of cyborgs.
The years ahead would see vast improvements in O’Reilly’s machine, plus the establishment of tattoo equipment manufacturing companies. This machine was the prototype for the tattoo gun that is the standard of the industry today. In the 1920’s and 30’s the styling of tattoos adapted to include comic strip characters like Mickey Mouse and Felix the Cat, Lindbergh’s crossing, stars and starlets of the silver screen and phrases that were popularized in the press. Cosmetic tattooing also originated during this time period. Many artists offering specialties such as moles and beauty marks rosy cheeks, permanent eyeliner and red lips to both male and female customers.
by the late 1980s, become accepted by mainstream society. Today, tattoos are routinely seen on rock stars, professional sports figures, ice skating champions, fashion models, movie stars and other public figures who play a significant role in setting the pace of contemporary culture. Tattooing today is the sixth-fastest-growing retail business in the United States. The single fastest growing demographic group seeking tattoo services is middle-class suburban women.
Tattooing is recognized by government agencies as both an art form and a proIn the 1970s, artists trained fession. As tattoo-related in traditional fine art disci- artwork is considered to be plines began to embrace fine art, tattoo designs are tattooing and brought the subject of museum and innovative imagery and gallery art shows across drawing techniques to the United States, Canada the industry. Advances in and Europe. Nowadays electric needle guns and everything from Andy Warpigments provided them hol portraits to Teletubbies with new ranges of color, to instant messenger smiley delicacy of detail and face icons just about any artistic possibilities. image is fair game for a tattoo. Your choice of a The cultural status of tattattoo design is only as tooing has steadily evolved limited as the reaches of from that of an anti-social your imagination! activity in the 1940s to that of a trendy fashion statement in the year 200s. First adopted and flaunted by influential rock stars like the Rolling Stones in the early 1970s, tattooing had,
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Tattooing was revolutionized by Samuel O’Reilly’s invention of the electric tattoo machine during the last decade of the 19th century. The time required to complete a design went from hours to minutes, moving the art away from personally conceived, hand picked designs towards stock choices that were displayed like art on the walls of the tattoo parlor. Much of this tattooing was also conducted in the back of beer halls and barbershops.
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Thailand’s Magic Tattoos
Every year, usually in early March, more than 10,000 people flood into Wat Bang Phra, a Buddhist temple about 30 miles west of Bangkok famed for its magic tattoos and amulets. The participants enter the dusty temple grounds under the early morning sun for a heady festival revolving around a sacred tattoo tradition known as sak yant. Those who make the pilgrimage to the temple hope to recharge the magic coursing through the sacred geometrical patterns and figures inked into their skin through a ceremony called Wai Kru (“paying respect to the teacher”). Starting at the designated time of 9:39 am sharp, monks lead the rite with a series of prayers and incantations. CHAPTER 2
What may sound sober takes a surprise turn as the energy of the crowd builds. One after another, devotees enter a trance state known as Khong Khuen (“magical force rising”), in which they jump, scream, and charge headlong, arms flailing, toward the front of the temple grounds where the monks sit and oversee the festival. They have become possessed by their tattoos, which force them to embody the tigers, crocodiles, mythical Himapant animals, and Hindu gods depicted in the designs etched into their skin.
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A phalanx of soldiers and paramedics guard the temple shrine from the onslaught of tattooed devotees, bringing them out of the trance by rubbing their ears. As the festival concludes, the monks lead a prayer before the crowd rushes toward the stage to be blasted with holy water from a high-powered hose. The devotees leave, confident their tattoos have been sufficiently charged with magic again.
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A Thai History of Ink
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This spectacle, widely known among travelers in Thailand today, is linked to a tradition with ancient roots in Southeast Asia. “Sak” means “tattoo,” and “yant” means yantra, a mystical diagram found throughout Dharmic religions. These tattoos draw inspiration from Buddhist, Brahman, and animist imagery, and incorporate sacred geometry and magical incantations (kata) written in the Khmer version of Pali Sanskrit known as Khom.
While historians debate exactly when Thais began tatting up, the tradition is believed to be between one to two thousand years old, with the first concrete evidence dating to the time of King Naresuan Maharaj. During the golden age of the Ayutthaya Kingdom (1351-1767 CE), warriors took to the battlefield clad in suea yant, or shirts covered in yant designs meant to protect them. Officials and civil servants from the period also wore sak yant to signal their status.
“We use the ancient Khmer language in sak yant because Thailand was once a vassal state of the Angkor Empire,” Ajarn Neng Onnut, a renowned, Bangkok-based sak yant master who has tattooed Steven Segal and Brooke Shields, among other luminaries, told The Diplomat. “Sak yant was influenced by the Khmer language since around 1,200 years ago. The language has no power in itself. But power comes from the [tattooing] ceremony.”
Today the sacred art form is most alive in Thailand, and to a lesser extent in Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar. Unlike in Japan, where a rich tattoo tradition is still struggling to shake off its stigma, a growing number of Thai people from all walks of life are inking up.
“Generally, sak yant have been worn by working class people in Thailand though this has changed in recent years,” said Tom Vater, the author of Sacred Skin: Thailand’s Spirit Tattoos. “Since Western celebrities got inked, Thais in the public eye have followed suit and the tradition now has some traction amongst some younger middle class people as well.”
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Stories of Protection
This is a lot to consider before going under the needle. But many are doing just that. Part of the appeal is the lore that surrounds the tattoos. Modern-day wearers make claims of receiving protection or good luck, much like the warriors of yore who charged into battle wearing shirts covered in yant.
yant and felt that these might protect them in their political struggle,” Vater said.
“There are many amazing stories of sak yant since ancient times, especially in the Ayutthaya period, when Thailand was fighting a lot with the Burmese. At that time most Thai men had sak yant,” Ajarn Neng said. “Nowadays, some people who have yant have a sixth sense before bad things happen. They can avoid such incidents.”
“Judging by my regular visits to the studio of Ajarn Neng Onnut, there is no let up in the popularity of the tradition amongst Thais,” Vater said. “The studios of sak yant masters around Bangkok remain packed both with locals and foreigners.”
These tales took on a political flavor during the kingdom’s political crisis of 2008-2010, when the rival factions of the “red shirts,” or supporters of deposed former Primer Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, clashed violently with the “yellow shirts,” or loyalists to King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who recently passed. “In 2009 and 2010, I interviewed several red shirt supporters who wore sak
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While it is great that sak yant have found favor overseas, this is ultimately a win for the locals. “Working-class Vater added: “I have spoken to many Thais and some people have few means of expression in Thailand,” Vater foreigners who swear on the tattoos’ protective powsaid. “Their views and culture are rarely seen or heard ers. Young Thai nakleng (small-time gangsters) have in the Thai mainstream media, and much of what they described to me how they almost got shot or stabbed, consume is dictated from above. Sak yant offer an alteronly to be saved by their sak yant, which caused the gun native, a community based cultural ritual that is pointed at them to misfire or turned their skin to steel so all theirs.” that a knife could not penetrate.”
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Between the lore that has built up around sak yant over centuries and the recent boom among Westerners, the ancient art of sak yant remains as relevant as ever.
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Once a year, the Wai Kru ceremony takes place in order to pay homage to the current and late tattoo masters. The current master who represents the past masters will bless all followers.
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Lost in Translation
As recently as the 1990s, sak yant was still very much a Thai phenomenon, aside from a small number of foreign Muay Thai fighters or temple devotees who found their way into an ajarn’s studio or temple. The late monk and tattoo master Luang Por Phern Tidtakuno — whose statue now stands on the grounds of Wat Bang Phra — played a huge role in spreading the word about sak yant, which has become wildly popular among foreigners in recent years.
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For those ready to navigate the cultural minefield of getting a sacred tattoo, a few specific designs account for the bulk of the sak yant received by foreigners, with the Gao Yord (Nine Pillars) or Ha Thaeo (Five Stripes) atop the list. The former symbolizes the nine peaks of the mythical Mount Meru, home of Brahma and other Hindu deities. It offers a range of protections and is preferred by male devotees who usually have it tattooed on the back of the neck, according to Vater. The Ha Thaeo, he said, bestows blessings for success and good luck, and “Ever since Angelina Jolie had her back inked with is typically worn by female devotees on the left shoulder. Thailand’s sacred tattoos, the sak yant culture has been The five lines are individually unique and vary from one steadily spreading beyond Thailand’s borders,” Vater said. tattoo master to another. For a glimpse of the evocative “And while celebrities like Brooke Shields, Michelle Rodri- range of potential sak yant designs, click here. guez, and Steven Seagal have also acquired sak yant in recent memory, the annual Wai Kru event at Wat Bang All of these designs are composed of lines referred to Phra is attended by more and more foreign devotees as “bones of the yant”, and can be grouped according every year.” to their intended effect, ranging from boosting physical and political power and increasing romantic magnetism The Thai culture ministry “called for a ban on foreigners to attracting good luck and even being shielded from receiving religious tattoos in 2011 but this has not been bullets and blades. enforced,” Vater added. “The issue is not sacred tattoos per se, but the placing of such tattoos on inappropriate parts of the body.”
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Far from a mere aesthetic concern, the placement of a spiritually charged sak yant is crucial. In Southeast Asian culture, the head is considered the holiest part of the body, which is seen as increasingly base further down. Enough foreigners have riled pious locals by getting religious icons etched into their legs that 15-meter billboards have been placed along the highway leading from Suvarnabhumi Airport to Bangkok that read: “It’s wrong to use Buddha as a decoration or tattoo.”
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Getting Inked
This is just the beginning. “The science of sak yant is not very popular among Thai people,” Neng continued. “There is essentially a secret society where you have to find a really good master to pass on the knowledge you seek. Some masters test their disciples to make sure they are sincere and would not ruin their reputation.” Although many go to a temple to be inked, “sak yant are traditionally done by layman tattoo masters,” Thaewchatturat said. “Tattooing is not a monk’s duty, but in a Buddhist society monks are the most respected figures after the Buddha. So some people seek to be tattooed by a revered monk.”
The inking process is only a small part of the experience. There’s also a ritualistic aspect, which applies to both the tattoo master and the devotee. “The application of sak yant involves the recitation of katas (mantras) by the sak yant master and the relationship between devotee and master, so the time invested is not just spent getting inked,” Vater added. “It’s important to remember that aesthetic considerations are secondary for sak yant wearers. The image is sacred only when devotees follow certain rules and adhere to the advice of their master.” For the spiritual essence of a sak yant to remain intact, it is believed that both the ajarn and devotee must live by the “Sin Haa” (five precepts), which are essentially the five basic rules all Buddhists are called to follow in their lives. Upholding at least this modicum of purity keeps the yant from devolving into a state of “Sueam” (entropy). Beyond this minimum standard, there is a host of other rules, depending on the master, from not eating pumpkins or indulging in alcohol or drugs, to never ducking under a specific type of banana tree.
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Becoming an ajarn is no small matter. According to Ajarn Neng: “To be sak yant master, you have to practice meditation and study for many years with many other masters. You have to read and write ancient Khmer fluently.”
“Sak yant don’t take a great deal of time,” Vater said. “Smallertattoos such as the popular Gao Yord (Nine Pillars) or Ha Thaeo (Five Stripes) take less than an hour to complete. Larger sak yant such as Yant Sua (Tiger Yant) can take half a day or longer to complete.”
“The ajarn (literally ‘teacher,’ or in this context, ‘sak yant master’) or monk who applies the tattoo, decides what is best for the devotee,” Vater said. “But as the tradition becomes increasingly commercialized, and as ordinary tattoo studios churn out sak yant imagery without understanding the cosmology behind the tattoos, and as we increasingly live in a world of instant gratification, many Western visitors now choose which tattoo they want. Thais, for the most part, leave that decision to their ajarn.”
Whether a devotee has opted for a small tattoo studio or an opulent temple, the traditional process of receiving a sak yant follows a similar protocol. After agreeing on the appropriate yant, the ajarn, monk, or ruesi (seer) uses a metal or bamboo rod with a needle attached to the end to lightly hammer the ink, containing charcoal and snake venom, among other ingredients, into the devotees’ skin. Unlike the process of receiving an elaborate Japanese style full-body suit, which can take years if not decades, a sak yant is a relatively brief affair.
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Traditionally, each person will receive a sak yant that suits their place in society. This means a different design for a teacher, dancer, artist, or musician. Ajarn Neng explained that he would give a yant focused on protection to a disciple who frequently travels, or a yant meant to increase powers of attraction for a merchant.
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Introduction
Dr. Lars Krutak (Lincoln, Nebraska April 14, 1971) is an American anthropologist, photographer, and writer known for his research about tattoo and its cultural background. He produced and hosted the 10-part documentary series Tattoo Hunter on the Discovery Channel, which traveled the indigenous world to showcase vanishing art forms of body modification. Between 2010-2014, Krutak worked as an Archaeologist and Alaska Repatriation Case Officer at the National Museum of Natural History, facilitating the return of human remains, funerary objects, sacred and ceremonial objects. Today, he works as a Research Associate for the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.
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Less than fifty years ago, Naga warriors of northeast India and neighboring Myanmar hunted for human heads in the mountainous terrain of their ancestral homelands. On my travels in this region I’ve met many inveterate warriors who can vividly remember those stressful and dangerous times like they were yesterday. Finding these men is not easy, but once located they stand out from the crowd because of the incredibly bold tattoos they wear across their bodies: symbols that bond them to tigers who are their powerful spirit companions, or special markings earned through their tiger-like combat skills, with designs inspired by the stripes on a tiger’s back or the patterns on its forehead.
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But there were risks associated with having an animal counterpart. If a soul-animal was wounded or killed, then the human linked with it would experience a similar fate. Also, if your animal companion had a very powerful spirit and you could not control it, then it was very likely that you would become insane. Men who have these powerful spirit companions are oftentimes tattooed with symbols of their animal friends to permanently bond themselves to each other. These types of tattoos are extremely rare today and the only place to find them is in one of the most remote and wild corners of India, the Patkoi Range which borders Myanmar – the homeland of the Chen Naga.
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What is therianthropy I hear you ask? It is a concept whereby humans are believed to be able to transform themselves into other animals; powerful animals that serve as spiritual protectors and guides. In the Naga universe these beliefs are still strong and I have met several men, usually old chiefs (anghs) or great warriors, who have tigers and leopards as their “companions.” When these men sleep, their soul travels out of their bodies and into that of their animal familiar. They can see through the eyes of their tiger or leopard friend, hear and smell what their animal companions encounter on the trail, and in the headhunting era warriors could employ the help of their protector to track the movements of their enemies. Men who possessed these spiritual assistants would become tiger-like or leopard-like in their actions and rarely were they defeated in battle.
There are over twenty Naga tribes in India and more than half of them tattooed. Naga tattooing is a visual language and if you know how to read this book of body art then you can begin to decipher the life history of the person before you. Sadly, however, tattooing is the most endangered of the Naga’s cultural practices. Today, traces of the indelible art can only be found on elders (many of whom are between eighty and one-hundred years of age) and on very old forms of sculpture that adorn men’s houses (morungs). Missionization, the cessation of tribal warfare and headhunting, the adoption of European dress and less permanent forms of body decoration all contributed to the decline of this once important custom that was intimately connected to rites of passage, social status, mythology, spirituality, religion, and therianthropy.
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Meeting The Chen Tiger Men
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The Chen region is extremely difficult to reach because road conditions are simply terrible! In the rainy season, the road is impassible and rock falls and landslides block traffic several times a year for months at a time. There are eight Chen villages in India and many more in Myanmar, and men are the primary gatekeepers and bearers of tattooing tradition here. Apart from tiger/leopard-man tattoos, Chen warriors who have killed more than two enemies are allowed to wear bold geometric designs that cover their upper chests and neck. The four elder men I met that were marked in this way (each also had dark goggle-like tattoos around their eyes indicating that they had participated in combat) were certainly considered to be great village heroes, but none of them had companion animals like other Chen men I would soon meet.
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Before heading to Chen territory I had read about one famous Chen chief, Angh Tolei of Chen Wetnu village, who owned distinctive back tattoos that were associated with his animal familiar – a tiger. As we drove up the mountain to his home village, we asked several people if he was still alive but I was saddened to learn that he had apparently died just months before. Our guide, sensing my despair, then told us that there was another man marked in this way: a warrior from his home village of Chen Loisho just up the road. Energized by this news, we sped up the winding and twisting road in our SUV for another three hours until we approached the residence of Wengkang. Wengkang is perhaps one of only a handful of Naga men in India today who bears the symbolic tattoo of a tiger-man. Wengkang stated he was over 100 years of age, although he looked hardly over 80, and his back was covered with circular tattoos representing the fur coat of his animal familiar, the indomitable tiger, that according to mythology was born from the same primal mother as man. After a few hearty cups of rice beer (zu) and heaping plates of ginger rice and stewed pork at Wengkang’s house, we eventually made our way to Chen Wetnyu, since I wanted to pay my respects to the family of Angh Tolei who I had so very much wanted to meet. As I stepped into our truck, I began to think of all the many other tattooed elders I was not able to meet before they had passed into the afterlife and how much traditional tattoo knowledge was being lost worldwide before it could be recorded. But then I recalled something I had been told before: “expect the unexpected because life is never what it seems.”
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At Chen Wetnyu, we spot a hand-painted sign for the “Angh’s Residence.” As we enter this immense house, huge wooden beams carved in relief with all sorts of jungle animals greet us, each one painted in various shades of color. It is early morning and a group of men and women are gathered about the central hearth of the kitchen enjoying hot tea, biscuits, and their breakfast meal. Through my translator, I make the necessary introductions and explain the purpose of my journey as well as my regret at arriving too late to meet the venerable Tolei. To my surprise, the chief’s wife looked up at me from her steaming cup of brew and called out, “Tolei, you
have visitors here!” Suddenly, a short man emerges from his bathroom to be confronted by several dumbfounded travelers who, until that moment, had been certain that the Chief was dead! Overjoyed, we interview Tolei and upon further questioning he reveals that his spirit-familiar was not, as I had read, a tiger. It was a leopard. He also explained that, although other animals can act as someone’s familiar (for example boars and wildcats), only tigers and leopards are associated with tattoos.
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The road from Loisho to Wetnyu is steep, abrupt, circuitous, and simply dangerous. Serious car sickness becomes a real possibility, but chewing local betel nut activated with lime is a great way to get through difficult moments like these. However, on this bumpy ride, when I spit out the bloodred residue it frequently misses its mark and by the time we reach our destination the back panel of the Landcruiser is splattered with the crimson liquid!
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Man and tiger are regarded as siblings
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a tiger in the jungle
killed a “brother.”
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Yimchungru And Tikhir Tattoos
Near neighbors to the south of Chen territory, the Khiamniungen Naga also had tattoo traditions associated with tigers, but in a different way. Warriors who successfully brought back enemy heads were permitted to have their chest tattooed with what writers have variously described as “ostrich feathers,” a “V-shaped” chest marking, “fertility fountain,” or what the Khiamniungan call “tiger chest,” in reference to the belief they become “tiger-like” when hunting their enemy. After additional victories, tattoos of human figures could also be added to the chest (as they were among the Wancho, Lower Konyak, Chang, and Myanmar Naga groups).
Meat taboos were also observed by the Yimchungru. I met the last great warrior of this tribe, a hero named Lakiumong who has twenty kills to his credit! Lakiumong, who passed away in 2016, did not receive any tattoos until after his tenth kill, at which time he was over 35 years of age. His ear ornaments and brass necklace also indicate that he is a proven headhunter. The necklace especially reinforces his status since the circular elements symbolize that he “circled the enemy like a tiger and killed it.”
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The final leg of my Naga trip brought me to the Tikhir village of Shamatore. Here, only one man wore the chest tattoo reserved for great warriors, but I did learn other interesting details about other body markings. One man, Khungkiu, did not take enemy heads but he did sever the hands and legs of at least one enemy. He also went to war with a crossbow, and for these reasons he was tattooed with the crossbow symbol on his upper right arm. He noted that men of his tribe had to take a head to receive the V-shaped chest design. However, brave men could also earn the right to receive a chest tattoo if they had killed a tiger in hand-to-hand combat. In essence, a tiger was equated to two human kills and, like men, was hunted with a crossbow.
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Today, however, younger generations of Naga still have a keen interest in tattooing, albeit not typically in the tribaltattooing traditions of their ancestors, although a revival is underway.* Instead, Western-style tattoos – barbed-wire armbands, Batman symbols and other kitsch designs – have largely replaced timeworn patterns once associated with bravery and Naga identity. And Naga men no longer have tattoos linking them to their mythical brother, the tiger, who is himself nowadays nearly extinct in the Naga Hills of India.
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With the arrival of Christianity in the early 1940s, Naga tattooing soon ceased across this remote region of India. The era of inter-tribal warfare was over, and male prowess and rites of passage were no longer expressed with indelible markings. Instead, new opportunities for social achievement emerged through education and forms of wage-labor as the countryside slowly opened to the outside world. More and more villagers migrated to towns and cities in search of jobs and college educations, further dislocating them from ancient traditions like tattooing that formerly were an integral part of their cultural and spiritual identities.
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118 Upper Konyak warrior Lanlang. His V-shaped chest tattoos represent the stripes of the tiger and demonstrate he has participated in hand-to-hand combat.
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Khiamniungan Naga warrior Khon with ‘tiger chest’ tattoo. His collar tattoos relate to the way a tiger hunts its prey: circling, then moving in for the kill. Khon took five trophy heads during his prime
120 Chellia, a great Khiamniungan warrior of Noklak village who tallied eight human kills. His arm tattoos represent the ‘path of the tiger.’
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And Longshei of Yakao village, my Khiamniungan companion in the Patkoi
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Tattooed Chen warrior Shri Wangpoh who has tallied several kills on the battlefield and an old Konyak carving depicting the association between severed heads and male virility
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The great Yimchungru war hero Lakiumong and Shuven, a Tikhir warrior with upper arm tattoos of the crossbow – a favorite weapon
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Wengkang, the tiger man of Chen Loisho and Tolei the Angh of Chen Wetnyu
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The Last Philippine Headhunter
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Introduction
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Whang-od Oggay is a Filipina tattoo artist from Buscalan, Tinglayan, Kalinga, Philippines. She is considered as the last mambabatok (traditional Kalinga tattooist) from the Butbut tribe in Buscalan Kalinga and the oldest tattoo artist in the Philippines. Her tattoo ink is composed of the mixture of charcoal and water that will be tapped into the skin through a thorn end of a calamansi or pomelo tree. She was tattooed when she was a teenager. Each of her arms took one day to be finished and her family paid bundles of rice for it. When her tattoo was completed her father killed a pig to celebrate it. This ancient technique of tattoing is called batok that dates back a thousand years before her time is relatively painful compared to other conventional techniques. She uses designs found in nature and basic geometric shapes. Due to her status as the last mambabatok, many netizens are lobbying her to be one of the National Artists of the Philippines. Instead of National Artist, Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago urged her colleagues in the Philippine Senate through a resolution that Whang-od should be nominated as one of the National Living Treasures or Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan, which is equal rank to National Artist.
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Whang-od has been tattooing headhunters and women of the Butbut tribe in Buscalan Kalinga for more than 80 years.
earned tattoos through protecting villages or killing enemies no longer exist.
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But the warriors who once
applies the traditional art form to tourists visiting Buscalan. Some of her notable customers include Rhian Ramos and Drew Arellano. There are also foreigners who are eager to have their skin tattooed by Whang-od.
Instead, Whang-od now
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No one knows the exact date of her birth but it is estimated that she is now 92-94 years old. She has no children but has instead dedicated most of her life tattooing the warriors of her tribe.
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Grace Palicas, Whang-od’s grandniece, doing a facial tattoo and continuing the tradition of batok. At the age of 25, she lost her boyfriend during the Japanese occupation. She was never married. According to tradition, her tattooing skills can only be inherited through lineage. Whang-od believes that if someone outside the bloodline starts tattooing, the tattoos they do will get infected. Due to modern living, the young people of her village are no longer interested in embracing the tattooing works of their elders. Despite that, she trains Grace Palicas, her grandniece, and Ilyang Wigan, another bloodline successor, to continue her tattooing work. Aside from being a tattoo artist, Whang-od is a respected village elder. CHAPTER 2
Whang-od’s image is included in an exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum in Ontario, Canada. The exhibit entitled “Tattoos: Ritual. Identity. Obsession. Art.” has been running since April 2, 2016. Exhibitors chose the photograph from several photos from another exhibit at Musee Du Quai Branly in Paris. They did not know about Whang-od until a visitor told them.
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Introduction
A few generations ago, most tattoos were viewed as potential gang tattoos – whether or not they were actually gang related. That’s because tattooing was relatively uncommon among the mainstream public, and having a tattoo almost automatically meant that you had some sort of criminal association.
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In other words, though most people didn’t have the skill to identify symbols, it was more or less taken for granted that tattoos were connected to a criminal underworld.
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Luckily today, tattoos are very common and have lost that kind of association. This doesn’t mean that gang tattoos have disappeared altogether. There are still tattoo designs that are specific to the different ethnic gangs that operate in the major cities. Gang and prison tattoos have more in common with traditional tribal tattoos than they do with modern decorative body art: they are designed to mark an individual as a member of a group, as well as being an indication of status.
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Since tattooing in prison is illegal in the United States, the inmates do not have the proper equipment necessary for the practice. This forces inmates to find ways to create their own tattooing devices out of their belongings.
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Tattooing in Prison
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Tattoos have always been big in prisons across the world because they represent a form of rebellion. Tattoos are a way of broadcasting to the prison administration that, “hey, you might be able to control where you house my body, but you can’t dictate what the hell I put on it”. That’s just one of several reasons. Another more honorable reason is a prisoner’s passion for art. Having quality tattoo skills in prison is a blessing since tattooing is a way of earning funds behind bars. Although slinging ink is against prison policy, seasoned tattoo artists stand a greater chance in making money than say the untalented penitentiary clown selling drugs behind the scene. In fact incarcerated tattoo artists are much smarter than the average bear and earn the respect of correctional officers who often view tattoo felons as humble and talented. Unlike most penitentiary predators that entertain their small brains with reckless gossip, habitual lies and gang related drama, a true tattoo artist occupies his or her mind with skin and art.
The money a convict makes while slinging ink is well earned. Nothing is free in prison as most people may assume. Basic necessities such as toothpaste and shampoo cost money and if a prisoner doesn’t have family or friends assisting him with funds, he’s probably going to wear down the enamel on his teeth with state issued baking soda.
Not only is tattooing in prison a complicated art, but a deadly one as well. HIV, Hepatitis C and other nasty diseases are always a major factor when handling the blood of an incarcerated stranger. There are 2.2 million offenders in U.S. jails and prisons who are infected with Hepatitis C and over 29,000 are infected with HIV. Such prison environmental conditions pose a grave risk on correctional officers who must deal with inmates on a daily basis. That’s why many convicted tattoo artists conform to the laws of sterilization. Scoring chemicals such as powdered bleach and latex gloves in prison is a challenge but isn’t impossible, especially if the artist maintains a good relationship with both officers and convicts alike. Tattooing in prison is all about connections and the last thing a true artist wants to do is burn his bridges. One, an artist must know the right trusties who are able to smuggle in basic tattoo necessities and two, hope that officers let them slide if caught slinging ink or with tattoo contraband.
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Tools
Last but not least, ink is made by simply burning Baby Oil, plastic razors or Vaseline, then collecting the black powder soot. With a little soot, soap and water the ink is ready to be tattooed into skin.
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A magnet is then removed off headphones and then attached to the tattoo guns armature bar made from a scrap metal pallet strap. The empty plastic housing of ink pen is then attached to the home made relay which serves as the guns cylinder. Prisoners cut pieces of window screen off of their cell windows and use the wire as needles when straightened out and sharpened.
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Offenders make tattoo pistols with parts taken off of AM/ FM clock radios and headphones sold in prison commissaries across the United States. The clock radios are dismantled and its transistor is removed. The transistor is gutted for it’s hair-thin spool of copper wire which is then wrapped around a metal bolt or screw. A simple negative and positive relay is made to power th tattoo gun.
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Prison Stories: Secret Prison Tattoo Parlor
Receiving a prison sentence might seem like a slam door shut to your future, but for those who chose the hard-knock life and ended up forfeiting their freedom for it, life goes on. At least the tattoo parlor lights always stay on in the prison black market. We had some questions about this illegal artistry, so we turned to our prison contact Leon Kingsley - who revealed to us how inkwork is done in the not-so-free world. The lack of proper equipment only further shows the dexterity of the artists, and like in the real-world, creative competition behind bars has risen to another level — these tattoos no longer look like the standard prison ink.
For the ink, the tattoo artist needs a boot polish can — which can also be purchased from commissary — which he then fills up with baby oil. A small hole is put at the top of the can, and a wick is inserted through. The oil is used to burn the wick, and soot will appear encrusted to the top of the can. Finally, this soot is scraped off, placed on white paper and patted to remove any remaining baby oil residue. The artist then takes the powdered soot, places it inside the top of a toothpaste tube, add a drop of water and ink is created.
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Here’s where it gets tricky: For all of this to work, fire — or heat — is needed for both the needle and the ink. The most important part of the process is getting your Kingsley says to get this, they need to “pop a socket,” hands on a tattoo gun. Kinsley sent us some pictures of then stick a pencil and wire up to it, which will create a what the finished homemade device looks like, but in spark. They then place tissue paper against the spark and order to get there, you have to collect some contraband — voila! — fire is made. And if the tattoo man wants to materials. Kingsley says you first need a motor, which can create his artwork away from the prying eyes of prison be taken from a CD or tape player. These things can be guards, he can do so with a battery pack — again, purchased at the prison store (commissary). Once a motor purchased from commissary — which will run the is attained, the inmates tie it to an empty pen barrell. tattoo gun. For the needle, the artist will pull the spring out of a stapler, or a combination lock by breaking it, and stretch the metal out with heat or fire. Then, they sharpen it with sandpaper. The sandpaper is attached to the motor, which causes it to spin around and sharpen the metal quickly.
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“That’s where the needle runs through — the pen — so that you can hold it like you’re holding a pen,” Kingsley tells us on his smuggled cell phone. For sterilization, Kingsley says they “put fire on it, and anything that’s on it, is going to die anyway. ”Surprisingly, he says the inmates’ new tattoos rarely ever gets infected. “The tattoo man knows what he’s doing, that’s how he makes his money.”
The jailhouse black market might amass extreme returns, but when it comes to artwork, the prisoners don’t try to beguile one another out of their “savings.” Maybe it’s in the name of art, or getting a tattoo isn’t as high on the list of necessities as nicotine or connecting to the outside world through smuggled smartphones. Kinsley says you might pay more than $1,000 for a “sleeve” — a collection of tattoos that covers a person’s arm — in the real-world, but behind bars, you can get it for around $100. All transactions are finaled over prisoner credit cards. Kinsley shares an open cell with 40 other people. He’s serving a 10-year state sentence and 110-month federal sentence and has about five years left to serve. **Leon Kingsley is not his real name. businessinsider.com
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Prison Gun Tattoo
Russian Prison Tattoo
The gun is what leads to the conviction of a high percentage of prisoners as it is their preferred tool of choice for committing the crime. Due to this there is a lot of fascination with this weapon and so it’s common to find convicts with gun tattoos.
Russian tattoos are the most respected and also the most feared symbols in any prison in the world. Any prisoner with these markings on his body is treated with a lot of respected and also feared by other inmates.
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Whether it is because of the gangs that this tatThere are many types of guns that can be drawn in toos symbolize loyalty to or purely out of superstithis sort of tattoo and besides from giving the tattoo tion, the Russian tattoo a different look, each type will always attract a lot of attention. These tattoos of gun can hold its own are highly coded, and they symbolic meaning. often tell a story of the inmates corrupted past.
Prison Gang Tattoo
Most prisons are run by gangs, especially in the Americas. Convicts have to show affiliation to a particular gang in prison to ensure their survival and to get special privileges and special treatment. Since prisoners cannot have uniforms to show where their loyalties lie, tattoos are the only way to show this. A prison gang tattoo can be a number or an image associated with the gang one is affiliated to.
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The five dots tattoo, on the other hand, is used to represent time done in prison or to show that you were once a convict.
This tattoo is among the few prison tattoos that can be described as an amazing work of art. The watch obviously represents doing time in prison, but the lack of hands on the clock shows that one is serving a lengthy sentence. The face of the clock can come in many forms, and this tattoo can be drawn anywhere, but it will be more meaningful when placed on the wrist with watch straps drawn to complement it.
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Having this image tattooed on your shows that you are a member of this gang or you at least pledge allegiance to it and what it stands for.
The three dots prison tattoo represents “my crazy life� and it is not necessarily a symbol of affiliation to a specific gang, but it shows that one leads a gang lifestyle. The three dots can also carry some religious symbolism like representing the holy trinity.
Clock With No Hands Tattoo
The five-point crown is a symbol of the Latin Kings Gang. This gang is one of the largest Hispanic gang in the USA, but its influence and affiliation is spread to different parts of the world especially in South American prisons.
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Playing Cards Tattoo
The EWMN Prison Tattoo
Although playing card tattoos can be drawn by different people to mean different things they are often associated with the prison life. A tattoo of playing cards usually indicates that the prisoner likes to gamble or that their life is a gamble, and so they are not worried by the conviction.
The letters in this tattoo stand for “Evil, Wicked, Mean and Nasty.� By having this tattoo, a prisoner wants to show the world what he thinks of his character or at least what he believes people think about him or her.
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Thus tattoo is very popular in Russian prisons where each deck has a specific meaning.
The four words can also be replaced with any other words that you like, but you will have to change the abbreviation also. The tattoo is usually drawn on the knuckles.
Prison Break Tattoo
Every now and then you will hear of a prison break or an attempted prison break as convicts try to gain their freedom. However, the numerous prison breaks are not the source of inspiration for this type of tattoo as the name might suggest.
The prison break tattoos are inspired by a popular TV series by the same name. In the series the lead character had a blueprint of a prison inked on him which he used to break out of jail. The TV series was a massive hit, and it is what gave birth to this type of prison tattoos.
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This is the most widely recognized prison tattoo, and it can be found in most prisons around the world. However, its meaning varies from one prison to another or from one geographical area to another.
A cobweb is usually used to represent a lengthy term in prison and so people who spend a long time behind bars choose to get this tattoo. This symbolism comes from spiders trapping its prey the same way that a prisoner is confined In some places, it can be behind bars. It is usually used to mean that a person placed around the elbow has been convicted of and neck. There are certain gangs murder while in other that use face tattoos as places it is a symbol of a If you wish to get this their identity, and so mem- lengthy prison sentence. tattoo you should keep in bers must get a face tattoo In some cases, an inmate mind that it will only look to be considered one of can use it to symbolize like an authentic prison them. For others prisoners that one of his friends was tattoo if you do not use the more the tattoos they murdered, and they are multiple colors since they have on their face, the seeking revenge. are usually not available more hardened they are or, in prison. the more the crimes they have committed.
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Many people do not like getting tattooed on the face but in prison among hardcore criminals this in not the case as you would find some that are tattooed on almost their entire face. Prison face tattoos are thought to cool by their wearers and are also used for symbolic purposes.
Prison Cobweb Tattoo
The Teardrop Tattoo
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The History of Japanese Yakuza Gang Tattoos
The yakuza refers to a criminal or the organized crime syndicate operating in Japan for more than hundred years. The yakuza tattoo is worn by members of the gang as a mark of identity that shows their allegiance to a particular group. The origin of the tattoos can be traced back to the practice of branding the criminals with tattoo marks as punishment. In all probability, the yakuza tattoos have been influenced by the aforementioned act. The mysterious tattoos, worn by the gang members, have numerous symbols representing the Japanese culture.
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Yakuza tattoos are a source of fascination for many tattoo lovers. The high level of secrecy surrounding the tattoos, combined with the painful method of “hand-poking” the designs and the association with the Japanese underworld gives yakuza tattoo art a mysterious appeal.
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The history of the yakuza begins in the early 17th century in Japan. Members of the Japanese underclass; men who sold stolen or illegal goods or ran gambling dens began to form groups that they called ninkyō dantai (chivalrous organizations). Many of these men had been to prison where they had been tattooed by authorities to mark them as criminals. Early yakuza members began to incorporate tattoo art into the customs and traditions of the group, adding to existing prison tattoos and creating new tattoos as a symbol of status within the organization. Tattoo art wasn’t widely practiced in the region at the time because of the association between tattoos and Japanese criminals.
Many traditions formed within the yakuza groups during the next few centuries, including body art and body modification. One tradition, yubitsume, is the act of cutting off the tip of a finger as a way to apologize to the gang for disobedience. Gang members also began to modify their bodies with tattoo designs in a painful process called irezumi (hand poked tattoos) as a way to identify themselves to other yakuza members and wear symbolic imagery on their skin. Because of the painful process, an irezumi body suit is a way for a yakuza gang member to prove their courage and determination. The cost of the tattoos is a symbol of success – being able to afford an entire body suit of irezumi tattoos means the yakuza member is successful in his business pursuits.
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Irezumi, Tattooing the Art of Pain
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Hand poked tattoos, known as irezumi in Japan, are created using a “brush� made from either steel or bamboo. The tattoo artist dips the needle tips in ink and repetitively pokes the skin to create a design. Compared to modern, high speed tattoo machines, this method of delivering tattoo ink to the skin is remarkably painful and slow. The traditional yakuza body suit of tattoos can take decades to complete, as the yakuza member can only add to the design when he has time and money available.
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Irezumi artists begin their careers as apprentices. For the first few years the apprentice cleans the work space, prepares tools and watches the irezumi artist tattooing clients. The apprentice is then allowed to begin practicing designs by drawing them. Only when the apprentice is a competent artist may they begin practicing tattoo art, often on themselves. Many irezumi artists lead fairly mysterious lives and prefer to gain new clients through word-of-mouth rather than advertising their services.
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Historical Identifications
Tattoos were associated with criminals. It was hard for someone to escape their confines and go into hiding when they had the symbol for ‘SLAVE,’ ‘THIEF,’ or ‘MURDERER’ imprinted on their cheek. Although there was a period of time where tattoos were ceremonial and respected features, their usefulness outweighed this and they gained their negative connotation. Something changed when the samurai decided to take up tattooing.
Yakuza Tattoo Body Suits
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Because of the connection between criminals and tattoos in Japan, yakuza members traditionally wear their tattoos on parts of the body that can be hidden by clothing. Yakuza tattoos often cover the entire body from the ankles to the wrists and the collar, a placement of body art that means the hands, feet and face can be shown in public without revealing the presence of the body art beneath the clothing. Some yakuza tattoo body suits have a strip of bare skin running down the center Throughout history, the armor and weapons that of the chest so that the yakuza member can unbutton samurai carried were worth a pretty penny. Samurai that his shirt without the tattoos being seen. were slain in battle often had their belongings stolen, either by fellow warriors or by people who scavenged The majority of designs in yakuza tattoos focus on the battlefields and hoped to increase their living by Japanese mythology and history. Dragons and koi fish selling off the metal. One theory that draws a connecoften appear in yakuza tattoos as symbols of wealth tion between samurai and their tattoos is that it was a and prosperity. Samurai warriors represent honor and a means of identifying bodies after the armor and clothes moral code, while geisha stand as symbols of fertility, had been stripped away. good fortune and tradition. Other traditional Japanese designs that feature in yakuza tattoos are lotus flowers Instead of having rings or jewelry that could be used as and cherry blossoms, tigers and elemental symbols. a toll in the afterlife, as was common in western sailors, the importance of the body took precedence. In many dominant religions of the region, the body is required for funerals. You are expected to perform certain rites a certain amount of time after the death, always in the presence of the dead body. For samurai who could be far from home, this was their way of ensuring that their family both knew of their demise and knew where their body was located.
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From Samurai to Yakuza
Of course, the Yakuza existed prior to this—they were known for small peddling, and were even permitted to carry smaller blades to protect themselves. When the tattoo ban and weapon ban occurred, their very livelihood was put at stake. They were granted permission to wear those weapons for a reason, after all—traveling the road alone, dragging along countless valuables, was incredibly dangerous. Now, they had no protection. It was only natural that the Yakuza would reach out to the samurai in a show of support. These two groups combined to become the Yakuza we know today.
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Others were dissatisfied with their fall from power, and it is there that we see another theory as to why the samurai are so closely associated with tattoos: they became Yakuza and inked themselves as a way of showing that they were true to their origins, rather than the law. At the start of the Meiji era, tattoos were outlawed as a show of civility to the west. Even today, plenty of businesses ban the showing of tattoos—including many public pools, where no one really cares about your business sense. Samurai who flaunted their older tattoos, as well as samurai who inked themselves as a show of solidarity, were now considered outlaws.
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Some of the Samurai went on to become businessmen, scholars, and poets—after all, they were the most literate class in all of Japan. Others went on to enlist in the new, modernized army—which exists to this day.
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Yakuza gang members pose for a photograph that shows their traditional irezumi tattoo designs. Although the designs are each created in traditional Japanese styles, the content of the design depends on what the owner of the tattoo would like to express to the world. Fierce looking samurai warriors are often shown in yakuza tattoos as a symbol of honor, strength and tradition
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A yakuza tattoo that depicts a geisha figure. The hand poking method of tattooing is painful and the process is slow, meaning that each yakuza tattoo design costs not only money, but time and pain too
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This yakuza tattoo design stops at the neck and elbows so that it can be hidden beneath clothing. This tradition of hiding tattoos from Japanese society began centuries ago when tattoos began to be associated with criminals
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Body piercing, a form of body modification, is the practice of puncturing or cutting a part of the human body, creating an opening in which jewelry may be worn. The word piercing can refer to the act or practice of body piercing, or to an opening in the body created by this act or practice. Although the history of body piercing is obscured by popular misinformation and by a lack of scholarly reference, ample evidence exists to document that it has been practiced in various forms by both sexes since ancient times throughout the world.
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Body modification is certainly unique to humans and, in one form or another, has been practised for as long as 30,000 years by our species’ earliest ancestors.
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The ‘Kama Sutra’, which was probably written in India as long as 1,500 years ago, describes the practise of male genital piercing as a sexual aid. The gladiators of ancient Native North American Rome and the athletes of tribes, and the Inuit of what ancient Greece pierced the is now Canada, used lip scrotum and the foreskin piercings and wore bone for the practical purpose of jewellery, which has now keeping their genitals out of been reinvented as the their way while performing labret stud. They also used in sport and combat. But ear piercing as a status this practice was also used symbol, where even the in ancient Rome, ancient act of piercing the ear was Greece and also in South a celebrated ritual that East Asia (where the horiwas undertaken at great zontal Palang piercing was cost to the piercee; so used) to prevent slaves, and showing how wealthy the convicts, from engaging in piercee was. sexual activity. The peoples of the pacific islands have practised the piercing of ears, noses, genitals and lobe stretching for generations. The men of Borneo, for example, would pierce the Ampallang, as did the men in the early history of the Filipino people, while the women of Borneo (and central Africa) practised piercing and stretching of the labia in an effort to attract a suitable husband.
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The discovery of jewellery dating back to the bronze ages in Europe and the British Isles shows that the peoples of that time probably pierced and stretched their lobes with heavy bronze jewellery.
Aboriginal Australians practised penile sub-incision and elongating of the labia. The pre-Egyptian, Nubian civilisation elongated their skulls and used a simple technique to make tattoos. Later, ancient Egyptians practised ear piercing while ancient South American cultures, like the Mayans and Aztecs, ritually pierced their tongues for blood offerings.
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Origins Of Body Piercings
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Ear piercings are the most popular type of piercing. It’s so popular that some parents even choose to get piercings for their babies!
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When picking the type of ear piercing you want, it’s best to go by what kind of jewelry you want to wear. If you only want to wear studs, then that rules out conch, auricle, rook, and snug piercings. If you want to wear industrial jewelry, you will want to get piercings in multiple locations. With that in mind, let’s look at the different types of ear piercings!
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Ear weaving is the most difficult type of industrial piercing to get, although it heals quickly compared to the others. As with the other piercings, it can be located anywhere on the ear, but the jewelry must spiral through at least one location. The end result is suited for springlike or screw-like jewelry. It’s difficult to shop for jewelry for this type of piercing, since the space between coils varies drastically from person to person and is determined by whatever base jewelry the piercer has in stock. If you want to wear particular jewelry, purchase it ahead of time and compare it with your starter jewelry to see if the sizes match.
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Orbital Piercings are small-scale industrial piercings. Instead of containing a bar, they contain a loop. They can be placed anywhere with a pinch—that can mean the side of the helix, the rook, the conch, the tragus, you name it! Even the eyelid is possible. Transverse lobe piercings are interior industrial piercings. They go through one part of the ear lobe and out the other, perpendicular to the typical earlobe piercing. Most of the bar is hidden inside of the cartilage.
Also called scaffold piercings, industrial piercings are a little different than other piercings. Instead of being attached to a specific part of the body, it simply describes two or more matching piercings that can hold a barbell between them. In other words, it is a group of matching piercings. Because all of the holes have to be made at the same time, along with the fact that large jewelry is easier to jostle, industrial piercings are notoriously painful among cartilage piercings. While the piercings can use small rings to speed up the healing process, there is a high chance that the rings will be misaligned. The most common type of industrial piercing has both holes going through the helix of the ear. There are some adventurers who opt for more than two piercings for their industrial style and have the barbell split into multiple directions. If you are getting an industrial piercing, take extreme caution while the piercing is healing—it’s very easy to get the bar caught on something, and it could migrate or misalign if it moves too much.
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Tragus Piercing
Auricle Piercing
Conch Piercing
Continuing on with our ear piercing tour, the tragus is the part of your ear that covers the ear canal. The anti-tragus is the other part of your ear that holds inner ear headphones in. Both locations are well suited to rings and studs.
The auricle is where the helix flattens out and transitions to the lobe. This little nook is ideal for rings and hooks, since jewelry can easily wrap around the lower part of the helix.
Conch piercings are located in the second deepest part of your ear—with the first being your ear canal! With conch piercings, subtlety is key—wearing large jewelry is difficult in the area, while even flashy jewelry might go unnoticed because of the location.
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Due to their weird location, industrial piercings and dangling jewelry are difficult to pull off stylishly —the ear lobe gets in the way. Despite this, the area is very noticeable and an excellent area to display jewelry. Historically speaking, tragus piercings have not been wildly popular or religiously significant, but they still look awesome.
The best auricle earrings are large hoops that are as close to a loop as possible. These earrings look excellent from all angles and give the illusion that the piercing is bigger than it actually is. If your auricle is particularly flat, you can also wear studs in the area. Studs can be worn by everyone, but individuals with a particularly long or pronounced lower helix will have the appearance of the stud obscured by their natural anatomy.
Small, quaint piercings are a delightful surprise to the person that notices your piercing! There are two different types of piercings— inner and outer. An outer conch piercing is situated in the flat area below your anti-tragus, while an inner conch piercing is closer to the center of your ear.
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Top ear piercing is interesting because so many piercings can fit in the same place, allowing you to mix and match your earrings. Helix means spiral in Latin and refers to how the region spirals around your ear. Because the helix also folds over, it is ideal for many different types of piercings. Piercings can go through the helix itself or wraps around the helix.
This is the most basic of the basics in the world of piercings. With little maintenance needed and few complications, this is a good starter piercing. Ear piercing has a history that goes back to the ages before writing. In ancient Egypt, children of high status wore earrings and took them off once they reached adulthood. Similarly, most girls and a few boys in India get their ears pierced for a religious ceremony called Kharnavedha.
There are dozens of types of ear piercings, so if you haven’t found a location that matches what you want, go ahead and ask a piercer about it. I guarantee that someone has had a piercing in whatever location you can point at.
There are some areas that are pierced often enough that people have given them names, and I’ll go over a few of them before we move on to face piercHelix piercings are well ings. All of these piercings suited to any kind of jeware well suited to rings, and elry that doesn’t dangle. This ritual is supposed to most of them look good Rings and loops are fine, with studs. First, the rook is and studs look spectacular. open up their inner ears and allow them to hear the first fold on the inside sacred sounds. Since it is of your ear, going from the the most popular type of top. The upper lobe is, well, piercing, a huge variety of right above the typical ear jewelry is available for it, lobe piercing. The daith is and many stores will offer it the bar of skin that attachfor ‘free’ with the purchase es to both your helix and of starter jewelry. Jewelry your tragus and flattens ranges in shape from out in the inner ear. A snug dangles to hoops, studs to piercing is on the same spikes, and even barbells fold of skin as the rook, but to chains. Since this is a it’s closer to the area where cartilage piercing, there is your helix tapers out. minimal to no pain associated with it.
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If you want a more noticeable piercing, the face is the best place to get one. No matter where on the face it is located, people will be able to instantly see it. This can be a double-edged sword, if you end up wearing jewelry you don’t like or picking a location you don’t want. If you intend to get a face piercing, make sure you sit on the idea for a few weeks to ensure you aren’t getting it on impulse. If you still like the idea at the end of the wait period, you’re set!
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Eyebrow piercings are an excellent way to accent your natural features. There are three different types of eyebrow piercings—vertical, horizontal, and anti-eyebrow. Vertical piercings go over and under the eyebrow, while the insertion points of horizontal piercings are both above the eyebrow and aligned with it. Anti-eyebrow piercings are located beneath the eye, normally above the cheekbone.
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If you walk into a piercing shop and point anywhere around your mouth, chances are that they can put a stud there. The most popular lip piercings are labret piercings, and these are done just below the lip. A vertical labret piercing goes through the lower lip and hooks out where a normal labret piercing would be. Jestrum piercings are the same thing, but on the upper lip. Horizontal piercings through either lip are also possible. Since the area moves around a lot, be careful while your wound is still healing. Symmetrical lip piercings are called bites.
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Lip and Labret Piercings
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Nose Piercings
Tongue Piercings
After the ear, the nose is the most popular piercing site. The default nose piercing is situated above the nostril on either side of the nose, and can be low or high. Septum piercings hook into the fold of skin that separates your nostrils. Nasallang piercings go through one side of the nose, then through the septum, and finally out the other side.
Tongue piercings are one of the most difficult types of piercings to get. On top of the extended pain, long healing process, and huge infection potential, some people find it difficult to speak after getting a piercing.
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Bridge piercings go through your nasal bridge, which is the same place that sunglasses rest on. It is possible to get a vertical piercing on the interior of the septum as well as the lower sides of each nostril.
Of course, this difficulty will go away after a few months as you adjust to your new piercing. If you get a tongue piercing, avoid smoking, drinking alcohol, eating spicy food, and eating acidic foods like citrus fruits while the site heals up. Two horizontal piercings are called venom piercings.
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Other Ear Piercings
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TYPES OF BODY PIERCINGS TYPES OF BODY PIERCINGS TYPES OF BODY PIERCINGS TYPES OF BODY PIERCINGS TYPES OF BODY PIERCINGS TYPES OF BODY PIERCINGS TYPES OF BODY PIERCINGS
Genital piercings are incredibly expensive. They aren’t particularly hard to do, but piercers are reluctant to do them because the areas have a higher probability of being unwashed than the rest of the body. Plus, some people are pervs. If you’re up to date on your hygiene and comfortable with having anyone pierce you, there are a few different areas to pierce down there.
Body piercings are intimate and are rarely noticed by strangers. They are there for your personal pleasure, and only those close to you get to know about them. Unlike nose and ear piercings, many of these piercing sites have long healing times and a higher chance of complications. This is because it is easier to reject non-cartilage piercings.
If you are female, the clitoris hood and the clitoris itself can be pierced. A vertical clitoris piercing is called an Isabella piercing. Genital piercings for ladies are painful at first, but ultimately provide another way to stimulate the area and provide greater pleasure. The labia is also well suited to rings and hoops. For men, an Ampallang or Apadravya piercing passes through the glans of the penis, the Dydoe piercing passes through the ridge of the glans, and the Prince Albert piercing goes from the urethral opening through the glans. The Prince Albert piercing is, understandably, the least painful type of genital piercing a man can get. Both genders can get anus piercings.
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Also called navel piercing, belly button piercing is well suited to most innies out there. While some people might say that body piercings are mostly intimate, there’s no reason for belly button piercings to stay hidden all the time.
Both men and women can get nipple piercings at most piercing shops. The normal nipple piercing goes through the nipple horizontally. Nipple piercings make the area more sensitive, since there is technically more surface area to interact with…even if that surface area is interior.
All jewelry is measured in terms of gauge. Because of this, gauge has become slang for body stretching at piercing sites. The idea is that you start with a small piercing and then increment the gauge of your jewelry until the area starts to stretch. Gauges smaller than 10mm should close to the size of normal piercings if the jewelry is removed for a while, while jewelry larger than 10mm will not close up to the size of a typical piercing again. This means that large gauges are as permanent as tattoos! They’re also a little trickier to remove.
It’s fun to show them off at pool parties or at the beach, and Summer is the perfect season to wear short tanks that accent the area. There is a wide variety of belly button rings to choose from, since this piercing is so popular.
Despite that downside, gauges and body stretching have an extensive history around the world. Jewelry made Nipple piercings do not from stone, bone, and wood could be used for stretching prevent women from before the Bronze Age rolled around. The most common producing milk or breastgauge areas are the ear lobes and the septum of the feeding, but any jewelry nose. Famous figures such as King Tutankhamen and the should be removed while Buddha himself are known for their stretched ear lobes. feeding a child. Not only is The practice of ear stretching can indicate what tribe jewelry a choking hazard, someone is from, their social status, how strong they but the jewelry can make it are, or their simple cosmetic preference. From African more difficult for the infant tribes to American teens, ear gauges remain one of the to suckle enough milk. most popular forms of body modification. Hoops, barbells, and captive bead rings are Dermal punches are the very same thing as gauges, but perfect for this area. they are created using a surgical method instead of a gradual stretching. A surgeon or piercer basically picks a blade with the diameter you want, places it into your cartilage as if they were using a cookie cutter on dough, and removes the living flesh that way. As one might expect, this opens up the body to infection on a greater scale than normal piercings.
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Colophon
http://www.mursi.org/introducing-the-mursi/Body%20Art/lip-plates https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lip_plate http://vanishingworldphotography.com/surma-tribe.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surma_people#Ways_of_life https://www.flickr.com/photos/ronnyreportage/sets/72157632100196790/ http://interesting-africa-facts.com/African-Jewelry/Maasai-Bead-Jewelry.shtml https://www.bodycandy.com/blogs/news/modification-around-the-world-mods-of-the-maasai https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maasai_people https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geisha#Makeup http://thediplomat.com/2016/11/sacred-ink-thailands-magic-tattoos/ https://www.google.com https://www.pinterest.com
Resources: Miller Sherwood Printing A-1 Binding Art District Tattoo
Harutyun Harutyunyan Spring 2017 Term 4 Type 4 Tyrone Drake
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