Monthly Archives: January 2015

body mods have been and still ‘R us!

Ukok

Oetzi craze is still going strong but another ancient star is emerging – Ukok who’s been alive 2,500 years ago. She was tattooed, apparently quite special and now her face was reconstructed! Using this occasion, let me also remind all of us about other interesting examples of the very old human love for body modification – a woman from 1,300 years ago and the Wari culture from South America (700-1000 AD) whose preserved artifacts show that the Wari people stretched their ears.

tattoos in North Korea

And now for something entirely different but from a land where the time seems to be passing very slow: tattoos in north Korea!

Freedom Tattoos on the web

The Freedom Tattoos project from Poland hit also German headlines which is quite cool!

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Oetzi and pin-up girls – postmodernism rules, no?

Oetzi's tattoos

A bit more about the most famous Iceman ever and his newly discovered tattoo(s).

Inked Pin-Up issue 2014

The Inked magazine and its pin-up issue (the pic above is from 2014).

Cosmo posted an article about the Polish project ‘Freedom tattoos’ (altho I’d say that ‘liberating tattoos’ might a better name). Controversial as it is, it’s better to have a great tattoo than a bad one!

‘tattoos suffer from misplaced criticism‘ – good point altho it takes a lot of time and effort to change the mainstream’s attitude (not that many of us are going to stop trying!).

American Vintage Tattoo team

Shop talk from a shop owner in CA and a tattoo artist from CO.

Expanded Eye shop seems to be doing a great job with creating quite high brow tattoos.

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East and West, beautiful and mundane

tattoo generation thing

Job and tattoos is a very popular topic around the web. Does it hurt your job hunt? is the number of tattooed employees growing? Are tattooed empolyees decent professionals? (that’s a silly question, isn’t it?)

tattoos and jobhunt

An island where the time stopped in a way but who knows what the future will bring? Cuban tattoo culture!

Changes at the Inked magazine here plus a few photos from a D.C. tattoo expo.

Absolutely stunning in their beauty, message and simplicity – Arabic caligraphic tattoos and a photo project focused on them! Some more on the Islamic art here.

Arabic caligraphy

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major bummer

tattoo limits

Funny how a list of professions I could switch to is shrinking! 😛 As it turns out, with the amount of tattoos I have on me (these forearms, man, these forearms!) I will never be able to join James Bond on MI5 team! Disappointed much? 😉

Let’s not forget that there are also other restrictions; a few of them are listed in the article linked to above. Instead of whining about it, let’s try to change the perception of tattoos, one stereotype at a time! 😉

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Holocaust survivor and her tattoo!

Newsweek has just run a Holocaust survivor’s touching account about her concentration camp tattoo. These tattoos were meant to strip people of their humanity and dignity – they were becoming numbers, no names, no faces, no stories, just numbers. Ms Kor didn’t have a choice about the tattoo but she decided to own it: “I was always proud of my tattoo […]  It is kind of like my badge of courage. I actually like looking at it, even though it’s not very clear. That’s okay – I know why it’s not clear.”

survivor tattoos

Hopefully the Nazi era is gone forever but the memories and lessons learned should live forever; the lives that had been lost should be remembered and celebrated. Some young Jews want to make sure that this tragedy will never be forgotten and celebrate their grandfathers by getting their concentration camp tattoos done as a reminder and warning and so much more. Not everyone looks at it favorably but tattoos always polarize the public opinion!

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the eyes of the Ibad and more

not that breaking news, mind you, but looks like Kickstarter suspended Ilma Gore’s project page. Freedom of expression much? (regardless of your opinion on her idea).

EDITED: where there is a will, there is a way and one must admire Illma Gore’s determination; she’s on gofundme website now.

Whatever we think about her idea, she’s fighting for it and it’s interesting to say the least!

Shannon's eyes of Ibad

BBC ran an article about eyeball tattoos; their curiosity was spured by Jason Barnum, a convict from the US whose one eyaball is tattooed black. Let’s use this opportunity to shed more light on so-called eyeball tattooing, how it all started and what inspired it but let’s also remember about possible risks.

tatuaze wolnosci

Criminal tattoos covered professionally by the tattoo artists is a cool initiative in Poland. The idea is not new, mind you, and similar projects have been run in the US and probably other countries, too but this Polish one is close to my Polish heart!

Tattoos and good initiatives also in a n article about the P.ink organization from Colorado and “Tattoo Fairy” from Canada, who helps cover burn scars.

teens, tattoos and Torah

From St. Louis, MO, an article about Jewish teens and their dilemmas with tattoos; interesting.

horros tattoos

Finally, some gore-ish fun thanks to s lide show focused on the one and only Jason Voorhess of Friday the 13 fame!

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polarizing

gore news

Ilma Gore, a street artist based in L.A., decided to do sth challenging our ways of thinking – she decided to cover her body with the names of or words chosen by complete strangers willing to pay for that. Her kickstarter page states that she’s not only in for an artistic project (a relative thing these days) but also running against the time (seeing how she wants to get covered before she gets sick and old; either that or she’s just using a cheap cliche!).

gore kickstarter

Is she a pioneer? Hardly! Last year Vin Los, an aspiring model from Canada, went for sth quite similar although his focus was on the most used and popular words. He got more sympathy than awe!

years before, Shelley Jackson went for a project called “Skin‘ where random people got seemingly random words tattooed on them to make Jackson’s story really alive!

What I’m interested here in is both other people’s and my own reaction to Ilma Gore’s idea. If I like it, then why? If I’m indifferent, why? If I think it’s a rather silly idea, then why again? In the ways we are reacting to others, we always find some gut knowledge about ourselves!

gore comments

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