I spent the weekend monitoring the border between the known and the unknown. To the fly on the wall it no doubt appeared as if I were merely interviewing people. Tattooed people. And a group of professional photographers. These two tribes were brought together in a unique photo project sponsored by Vanishingtattoo.com.
photo by Vincent Errol Hemingson
You could call it ‘fine art meets tattoo art’, but that glib pitch sells the project short. While the strobes were illuminating some amazing body art, they were also shedding light on a once-taboo cultural practice that remains widely misunderstood today.
The event’s organizer, Vince Hemingson, suggests that tattoos are symbolic of a person’s inner self. It’s that simple. They bring a person’s inside out. If your inner life seems sometimes vague and chaotic (and whose doesn’t?), a visual reminder of who we are, or aspire to be, can’t be a bad thing.
“My tattoos help me steer a less self-destructive course through life,” says Jody, one of the models who volunteered to be photographed.
The soft-spoken tattoo artist from Abbottsford, BC, explains that many of his tattoos were acquired as markers of painful events in his life. This pain, he confesses, was largely his own fault. The extent of his tattoos, encroaching even onto his face and skull, suggest that his life has been a rough ride.
photo by Vincent Errol Hemingson
I can’t imagine adopting this strategy to deal with my own failures as a human being, although I am seriously impressed with the clarity that Jody has gained by these indelible marks.
“I’m reminded every day to choose good over evil,” says Jody, whose skin ink is largely self-applied.
The mystics – from Buddha to Jesus to Gurdjieff – have been teaching us how to be in constant remembrance of ourselves. They implore us to bring an objective awareness to our lives of abject narcissism and subjectivity. Most students in spiritual practice lack the commitment that would result in any real change. Which makes Jody’s commitment remarkable.
He scares us, all right. But why? Could it be because we’re fearful of doing what it takes to bring our dark side into the light of day?
photo by Vincent Errol Hemingson
NOTE: if you’re considering getting a tattoo, you might first want to check out these two resources:
Think before you ink: http://www.youtube.com/user/1tattootribe
What’s a good tattoo: http://www.vanishingtattoo.com/good_tattoos.htm
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh no!! Don’t tell me tattooing is a spiritual practice designed to enlighten and bring us to full consciousness. A new ‘Holy Order’ with priests and priestesses communing with the Almighty. I’ve managed this far without one. Perhaps if I’m really serious about waking up, evolution of the soul and true self-knowlege I should make a bee-line to the tattoo parlour – one with an enlightned Master or Mistress waiting for me.
I’m involved in stage make-up. The catalogues show amazing projects which include similar tattoo like body decorations to paisley swimsuits on naked women.
So while on the subject of tattoos what about what the French call maquillage – meaning both make-up and mask? How is a tattoo different to a “mask” applied whenever one is in public? Once can argue a tattoo is permanent but I will argue for the 93 year old woman whose make-up is daily as perfect as when she was 16
So mask or revelation of inner self?
Interesting point, Sarah… but I would say that a tattoo is more of a ‘statement’, while the makeup in an enhancement of one’s physiology…and is usually conformist…while the tattoo is intended to be anything but. Although one could argue that tattoo culture has gone mainstream and hence getting one is an attempt to conform. In any event, both mask and tattoo are ancient practices, are they not?
You might want to check out my essay: “Ancient Tattoos: Theories of Heaven and Earth” at http://www.vanishingtattoo.com/ancient_tattoos.htm
Oh no!! Don’t tell me tattooing is a spiritual practice designed to enlighten and bring us to full consciousness. A new ‘Holy Order’ with priests and priestesses communing with the Almighty. I’ve managed this far without one. Perhaps if I’m really serious about waking up, evolution of the soul and true self-knowlege I should make a bee-line to the tattoo parlour – one with an enlightned Master or Mistress waiting for me.
+1
Thanks for the facinating link, P.J. Pondering the idea of mask as enhancement vs tatoo as otherwise…