Self-image
Out Of The Borders
Am I the “girl from jail” because of my looks?
How tattoos draw an image of our personalities
by Carol Väljaots
The history behind tattooing goes back thousands of years. It was mostly practiced
among indigenous people, sailors, criminals, army deserters and military personnel. For a long time the stereotype was that people with tattoos are a threat to our communities and they wish to rebel against society although recently this is not the case at all. Young people wish to express themselves in a creative way.
Tattoos through my eyes
Since a really early age, I always looked up to peo-
ple who had tattoos. There was something about them that got me hooked. The way they walked, the look on their face - like they owned the world. I never saw the typical stereotype that they might be criminals or people from lower class - I think that could be my privilege of living in Estonia.
Interviewing 15 people with- and without tattoos
The average age people had their first tattoo
was 18, for some 15 and for others 22. The main thing that made them get one was the love for art. There is something about tattoos that hooked them - on friends or what the media was showing. Their favorite band or a character from a TV-show. When asking people When I was 17, I had a friend who already had without tattoos which personality traits they a lot of tattoos so that encouraged me even more to go and get one. Since I had been living alone for almost a year at that point and I believe my parents trusted me, they were okay with me making that decision. I was super excited about my first tattoo. After it healed I wanted another one, and then one more, and of course one more.
Now I have one arm full of tattoos and also a
few others around my body and I get it. This is the look on those people that I admired while being young. They could be going through a lot but if you’re happy with the art that you put on yourself, then you will develop an attitude that you actually can conquer the world. I couldn’t really explain why that happened. So I decided to ask around a bit. I decided to interview my friends from Estonia, other volunteers who I live with and locals in Greece.
“Eugenia Sapountzi”
© Carol Väljaots
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