Tattoos: Body Graffiti or Art?

When you think of the word tattoo, do you wrinkle your nose in disgust or simply approve with respect? It is amazing how tattoos mean so many things to so many different people. I was flipping through an issue of Latina magazine when I came across an article on Kat Von Drachenberg, the female star of the popular TLC reality show, Miami Ink. Simply remembering the few episodes I watched last year made me think of why people mark themselves permanently when some people look down on them because they are “dirty.” I recall a father getting a family of lions tattooed on his arm to represent the wife and children he tragically lost. There was a man getting a tattoo of his wife to show her that his love would last forever. Many men and women had various religious icons inked into their skin as a testimony to their faith. There were many cases, too, in which individuals had symbolic images tattooed onto them as reminders of achievements or self-image. Tattoos seem to be a very symbolic form of art.

I find it a bit distressing that a number of people believe those who have been tattooed are lost, unclean, misguided individuals. The majority of those who are seen with inked images covering much of their skin are young adults who are usually in to rock and punk. Most of the popular rock and punk bands are tattooed: Green Day, Good Charlotte, Kiss, My Chemical Romance, members from Fall Out Boy, and various others. Rappers are also increasingly getting inked. Tattoos, then, are obviously a form of expression.

Some people get tattooed strictly for beauty purposes. Patients who lose their hair from diseases such as cancer get their eye brows tattooed on. Many other people do things similar to that just to enhance their beauty. Think of it as permanent makeup.

Many people seem to forget how long tattoos have been around, however. In certain times and cultures, only priests and nobility were allowed to wear tattoos, and they showed your rank in society. Some cultures also used tattoos to ward off evil spirits. Egyptians and Greeks used them a long way back to communicate rank. About 300 years ago, Japan was famous for its tattoos. Only nobles could wear elaborately decorated clothing so the common people resorted to body art to be considered well-dressed. In Polynesia, China, and India, tattoos are incredibly common today. Indian women get tattooed all over on the day of their wedding. In so many cultures they are considered body art.

So why do countless people in our culture have trouble seeing tattoos as anything other than weird and unnecessary body graffiti? Many respectable people have tattoos. Personally I know a very good doctor who has a tattoo. I also am on great terms with a respectable fireman who has been inked permanently a few times. Coach Kerber has a couple tattoos to commemorate going to state. I’m sure there are countless other respectable people who have tattoos. When I attended a leadership summit at the University of Chicago, the man in charge was covered in tattoos. But as I paid closer attention, I saw that he had the “straight edge” tattoo (three Xs in a row), which signifies refraining from alcohol, drugs, and tobacco. The man was also a second grade teacher.

There are so many different, matchless designs of tattoos. There are colorful tattoos, images that look exactly like a photograph, tattoos with intricate shading, and so many other unique artistic styles. It takes skill to wrap an image around a leg or adapt it to the curves of a back. Some people seem to be under the allusion that tattoos take away from women’s feminism. So many women get beautiful lettering, fairies, butterflies, flowers, and pixies. I don’t see how it takes away from feminism. It doesn’t seem fair to regard a tattoo on a woman as simply a “tramp stamp” when it could mean so much more. Tattoos, I think, are a form of permanent, confident, perpetual art. It’s amazing that people are so into what they believe in that they want to mark their bodies with it forever.

If we all take the time to consider what an image inked on to a body forever means, we could discover the true beauty and symbolism. Whether it be a tribute to a lost loved one, a sign to a loved one or to God, or even a Chinese saying that means something to its wearer, it can be a form of art.