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Beyond the Epidermis: a practical investigation into contemporary western tattooing
Abstract and Figures
Academic focus on contemporary western tattooing is primarily from the disciplinary perspectives of the sciences, economics, history, and anthropology. With few exceptions, attention is placed on the modified body and the recipient of the tattoo rather than the tattoo producer or the processes of production. Though tattooing is an important creative industry, the occupational role of the tattooist and the processes and development of practice is yet to receive academic investigation from a practice-centred perspective. This has led to understanding of tattooing that is either absent entirely, partially informed, or flawed, from a range of perspectives.
This AHRC/NPIF funded research is conducted in partnership with Sunderland (England) based tattoo studio Triplesix Studios, where the researcher has worked as a tattooist. A multi-method methodology was created with practice at its core combined with a contextual overview and autoethnography to contribute insight into tattoo production, the role of the producer and stylistic development that is largely absent in academia. It is suggested that the processes of tattoo production are inherently collaborative between tattooist and client. The tattooist’s role is proposed as both material (provision of medium) and non-material (provision of service). The material facet of the tattooist’s role in the provision of the medium is presented as contingent in accordance with the tattoo brief. Autoethnographic accounts of tattooing practice are utilised to generate insight into the non-material facet of the tattooist’s role in the provision of service. Stylistic development with tattooing as a medium through practical investigation that is informed by design training is then presented, illuminating factors that affect the approach of the tattooist.
This is the first piece of research to be conducted using tattooing practice as a core methodological approach and demonstrates that understanding of contemporary western tattooing more broadly can be enriched as a result. Through the contribution of a novel methodology, frameworks and documentation offered by this research, it is proposed that tattooing may be better understood from the perspectives in which it has previously been studied and be introduced into broader arts and design scholarship.
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This article sets out to enrich understanding of the complexity of ‘meaning’ when discussing tattooing, utilising an autoethnographic account of my experiences of obtaining a tattoo after the loss of my dad. Contributing themes to tattoo meaning are proposed to include shifting personal relationships (with both the figure referenced in the tattoo outcome and tattooist producing it), significant changes in personal and professional circumstances, and the presence of existing tattoos. The musings leading to the production of this article were initiated through my professional experience as a tattooist in North-East England, in which I have tattooed hundreds of individuals with a variety of subject matter. Through the evocative presentation of the variable factors that contribute to meaning, substantiated by professional tattooing experience, the aim is to dispel the notion of the ‘tattoo meaning’ being deducible to something stagnant and possible to examine in the straight-forward manner that it has repeatedly been subject to, and present it as contingent, variable, and resistant of formal classification.
available at: theautoethnographer.com/tattoo-meanings-love-loss-autoethnographic-musings
This paper explores autoethnography within the context of the professional doctorate and argues that it is an excellent way of linking theory to the practical situation. The paper commences by defining the ââ¬Ësecond generationââ¬â¢ of professional doctorates (Maxwell, 2003) where the focus is directed primarily to work-based learning and the development of work-based practice. Candidates are expected to demonstrate the development of practice and their contribution to this in a fundamentally original approach. The researcher is central in the practical or work-based situation and the process of autoethnography can structure and guide the research process, by providing structure to the process of reflexivity. The paper considers two broad approaches to autoethnography: the traditional approach and the post-modernist approach. The post-modernist approach presents challenges in the ways in which the work is presented: a central argument of the paper is that despite the novel ways of presentation, the work should have a strong theoretical base. The paper concludes by summarising the role of autoethnography in the professional doctorate: autoethnography provides a factually accurate and comprehensive overview of the professional doctorate candidateââ¬â¢s career trajectory. It should act as a driver of self-explication for the professional doctorate student thus providing a degree of both catalytic and educative authenticity, and provide an insight for the reader of the professional doctoral thesis.
In recent decades, tattoos have gone from being a subculture curiosity in Western culture to mainstream and commonplace. This two-volume set provides broad coverage of tattooing and body art in the United States today as well as around the world and throughout human history.
In the 1960s, tattooing was illegal in many parts of the United States. Today, tattooing is fully ingrained in mainstream culture and is estimated to be a multi-billion-dollar industry. This exhaustive work contains approximately 400 entries on tattooing, providing historical information that enables readers to fully understand the methods employed, the meanings of, and the motivations behind tattooing—one of the most ancient ways humans mark themselves.
The encyclopedia covers all important aspects of the topic of tattooing: the major types of tattooing, the cultural groups associated with tattooing, the regions of the world where tattooing has been performed, the origins of modern tattooing in prehistory, and the meaning of each society's use of tattoos. Major historical and contemporary figures associated with tattooing—including tattooists, tattooed people, and tattoo promoters—receive due attention for their contributions. The entries and sidebars also address the sociological movements involved with tattooing; the organizations; the media dedicated to tattooing, such as television shows, movies, magazines, websites, and books; and the popular conventions, carnivals, and fairs that have showcased tattooing.
Co-published in Association with the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
This book is a timely and engaging introduction to the way that artists working in all media think about craft. Workmanship is key to today’s visual arts, when high ‘production values’ are becoming increasingly commonplace. Yet craft’s centrality to contemporary art has received little serious attention from critics and historians.
Dispensing with clichéd arguments that craft is art, Adamson persuasively makes a case for defining craft in a more nuanced fashion. The interesting thing about craft, he argues, is that it is perceived to be ‘inferior’ to art. The book consists of an overview of various aspects of this second-class identity - supplementarity, sensuality, skill, the pastoral, and the amateur. It also provides historical case studies analysing craft’s role in a variety of disciplines, including architecture, design, contemporary art, and the crafts themselves. Thinking Through Craft will be essential reading for anyone interested in craft or the broader visual arts.
Growing numbers of trauma survivors have chosen to cope with their ongoing invisible wounds through tattooing their bodies. This phenomenon includes individuals as well as organized and documented projects held in public spaces. The topic of body modification through tattoos has benefited from an explosion in academic interest; however, there has been little scholarly attention directed at examining how tattoo practices may be understood as a means of coping with trauma within a contemporary cultural context. While drawing on psychological and cultural studies’ perspectives we explored the meanings attributed to tattoos by trauma survivors. Analyzing documented personal accounts of tattooed survivors in different countries, we illustrated how being tattooed appears to be a personal way of coping with trauma as well as a cultural practice of meaning making. The meanings attributed by trauma survivors’ included: exposing their trauma for recognition, witnessing, meaningfulness of the tattoo, connection, control, and transformation. The meaning-making process appears to be continuous and dynamic, shaped by psychological responses, social interactions, and cultural narratives.
A memorial tattoo is a tattoo that honors a person who has died. We aimed to understand how memorial tattoos could be an expression of a bereaved person’s continuing relationship with the deceased person that the tattoo memorializes. We interviewed 41 people and used qualitative description grounded in a symbolic interactionist framework to analyze the transcripts. This research expands on continuing bonds theory by showing that memorial tattoos are an expression of the bond with the deceased as well as a way to communicate with others about their ongoing connection and to challenge stigma.