For as long as I can remember, I've been fascinated by tattoos, the art of tattoos, and the general culture surrounding tattoos. My fascination runs the full gamut, covering everything from the moment of inception when someone even begins to contemplate getting a tattoo, on through the decision-making process of where to put it, to choosing the artist to do the honors, on through ultimately the moment when the vision that was initially conceptualized becomes a reality etched on skin. In about all aspects of life, I'm all about the process, and I guess tattoos are no different.
My fascination encompasses all forms of tattoos. Although I'm particularly drawn to the Samoan style of tattooing, I'm also enthralled by prison tats, "old school" work, military tattoos, tribal work, Japanese and Russian tattoos, and tattoos emanating from pretty much every other corner of the world. I'm also fascinated with how one becomes a tattoo artist, what their apprenticeship entailed, what training they undertook, how they learned about the different parts of the body and acquired knowledge about different types of skin and how different colors and shading combine to influence the outcome of a tattoo. I'm fascinated with the use of the body as a canvas for the artwork, and tattooing is most certainly art in my book.
I'm not sure where or why my fascination was born. It wasn't like my parents walked around with a body full of ink. My dad has exactly one tattoo on his back, and he didn't get that until I was in high school. My uncle did own his own tattoo business for a period of time, but it wasn't as if I hung out on a stool for hours at a time watching him ply his trade. In fact, I never witnessed him practicing his craft even once. There wasn't a tattoo parlor in my hometown that I'm aware of that would have influenced me. I wasn't exposed to all that many people growing up who had tattoos, and the ones that did frankly weren't sporting work that was all that eye-catching or that wasn't fairly run-of-the-mill. And still somehow and for some reason this fascination grew.
I've met a lot of people over the years who frown at tattoos and the people who possess them. I personally know people who view tattoos and those who wear them as being low-brow. I've met people who consider tattoos undignified or beneath them, people who pass judgement based on the number of tattoos on a man's arm. I'm not that person, but to each his own. My judgments about tattoos pretty much start and stop with what I believe to be the quality of a tattoo and where a tattoo is located on the body. Opinion on quality is something everyone forms, so I'm not unique there. Although I'm not a fan of "homemade" tattoos, self-inflicted tattoos, or tattoos that feature cartoon characters or other cliche images, that's all a matter of taste, and what I consider lacking quality others may not. As far as location goes, I may be a bit of a snob, but I'm not a fan of tattoos on the neck or face. Aesthetically, it doesn't appeal to me and I don't understand it, though I notice increasingly more people these days donning ink in those areas.
All that said, my fascination of tattoos is primarily fueled on knowing what a tattoo means to the person who wears it. I crave to know the insight behind the tat. In the same way I want to know why a person buys a particular painting or is drawn to a particular style of music or what exactly she sees in the same photograph I'm viewing, I desire to know why a person selects a particular image to have permanently inked on his or her body. Meaning is big to me. Representation is key. Symbolism is something I gravitate to. I'm a big fan of significance, and that's very much true where tattoos are concerned.
Take the tattoo on my left arm, for example (above). I've gotten a good amount of comments about it, but most of them have been something to the effect of "what is it?" or "what does it mean?" I like those questions. I like that people are curious. I like that they're curious enough to need to ask. When I explain what it means to them, I think it also helps them to learn a little bit more about myself (whether they're really interested in doing so or not). I know that's the case when I ask others about their ink.
So, what does my tattoo mean? Good question. It's inspired by a painting done by an artist belonging to the Salish tribe, native people traditionally located along the Pacific Northwest coast. As legend has it, members of the tribe equated the sight of lightning in the sky to be the Thunderbird, a supernatural creature that some believed humans descended from. One legend states the Thunderbird battled a killer whale on behalf of the tribe's people in order to return to them the food supply (salmon) that a killer whale had cut off from the people. The Thunderbird's main weapon was the Lightning Snake, which the Thunderbird kept under its wings and which is shown in my tattoo emerging from the clouds. For me, the entire scene represents my willingness to strike and battle whatever enemy is at hand on behalf of my own people (my family and loved ones), as well as to provide for them what they need to survive.
Overall, I love that tattoos and why people get them are unique to the individual. The experience is unique. The way the individual views the end result is unique. No matter the quality or placement even, the tattoo is special in one way or another.
The tattoo above belongs to my friend Tim, who says his "love for the Sox runs deep." I can attest to that, and this tattoo suites him well.
The tattoo above belongs to my longtime co-worker and friend Marty, who says, "i GOT ThIS IN folsoM tu MAke mee LooK tuffER." If you know Marty, that makes perfect sense. In reality, though, Jada is his daughter, and I have to say this is pretty bad ass.
The tattoos above you'll find on the back of Shawn, a former co-worker and friend. From the left to right, the first symbol is "a personalized version of the alchemical symbol for the Perfect Red King (sulfur), the 'fiery male element' that represents potential energy." To Shawn, "it reminds me to seek the *potential* in the everyday, rather than just accepting what is there in front of me." The center (spiral) symbol is based on the Golden Ratio, which in art and mathematics is seen as "perfect," he says. "It reminds me to strive for perfection in everything I do." The tattoo on the far right, meanwhile, is a symbol from the cover of the *Hagakure*, a feudal Japanese book on living the way of the Samurai. "Specifically, it brings to mind this bit of the book: 'When one has made a decision to kill a person, even if it will be very difficult to succeed by advancing straight ahead, it will not do to think about going at it in a long roundabout way. The Way of the Samurai is one of immediacy, and it is best to dash in headlong." While Shawn by no means endorses killing anyone, he does say "when I set to a task, this reminds me to charge straight in, to keep hammering at it until the task is done." Shawn's ink is the very reason I love tattoos.
The little girl above belongs to my former co-worker Joy, who says, "for my 22nd birthday, my husband gave me a gift certificate to get a tattoo. This is what I got." When Joy's husband was 18, she says, he and a friend got tattoos. Joy's husband, all 6' 2" of him, got a smiley face on his shoulder. "Tough, right?" she says. "Smiley faces quickly became 'his thing,' and when we started dating, they became mine. I can't tell you how many smiley face gifts we've gotten over the years! So, this tattoo is my girl smiley face, complete with eyelashes, a daisy in her 'hair,' and lips." The next time Joy gets ink, she wants it to be something that represents her kids.
My friend Brian, who just happens to own many a black belt, sports the tattoo above on the entire left side of his back. The kanji translates to "karate." The actual work was done by a Japanese man. Brian has had the tattoo 18 of the 28 years he's trained in the martial arts. "You can imagine the significance," he says. He plans to expand on the tattoo soon and will probably add "the kanji for my school, Shorei Shobu Kan," which itself means "school of courtesy and manners." On a personal note, I can attest to Brian's love of martial arts. Early on, he literally knocked me out with a roundhouse kick to my mug while we were sparring in his dorm room way back in the day. My face still hurts.
I see the tattoo shown above pretty much every day. It belongs to my wife, who "got this with my best friend. It is a serotonin molecule. Serotonin is one of the chemicals responsible for making us happy. Plus it just looks cool," she says. Agreed.
Probably the best example of what a tattoo can mean to the person wearing it that I came across while putting this post together related to Linda, who I grew up with and spent every year of elementary, junior high, and high school in the same class with. Her story is beyond touching and it oozes with significance. Linda has "two very unique matching tattoos, uncommon among some, yet an unwanted reality among others. My tattoos are my nipples," she says. "Simply put, they are what gives the skin grafting that was needed for the nipple reconstruction its color.
Linda was diagnosed with breast cancer in the left and right breast in April 2009. "Early stage 1, thank God," she says. "To me my options were simple, remove it all whatever it takes, and if that means me getting a pair of 'new girls' out of the deal so be it. That was and is the ONLY perk because what I really cared about was my four babies." At the time she was diagnosed, Linda's four children were 17, 16, 12 and 8. What she cared most about was "not leaving this world before they had a chance to live and to watch them live and be a part of their lives."
After a double mastectomy in June 2009, Linda's last procedure four surgeries later was in November 2010. "To me seeing the color of my tattoos somehow makes my 'new girls' better," she says. "While they will never be the same as the 'old girls,' they put it all in perspective and in all honesty now complete me. However corny that may sound, they somehow made it alright. I wear my scars proudly and they are the icing on the cake," she says.
Not everyone's tattoos carry as much significance as Linda's. Mine certainly don't. But I do believe everyone's ink is "their ink," no matter what it represents.
If you're someone with tattoos and we should cross paths somewhere down the line, you'll now know why I'll probably be staring at your work so intently and why I'll probably ask why you got it, where you got it, who did it, what it makes you think of. . . .
Here's the pledge I'm making to myself this weekend: Big boy, get the hell off the grid and stay off, no matter what that entails. 
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