It has appealed to men and women of all ages and backgrounds for centuries; the tattoo. Permanent body paint used to display warrior’s courage, experiences, wisdom, snippets of time, significant moments, everlasting relationships and no so everlasting relationships. Each design permanently engraved into a person no longer being merely a picture, but becoming who the person is or will be.
In ancient times, before men were “civilized” and wood was still used for weapons rather than metal, warriors would light their blades on fire to make their attacks on their enemy therefore making the wounds more severe. The burning wood would leave ash in the wound therefore creating a permanent blue streak under the warrior’s skin creating the first tattoos. The warriors wore these scars as badges of bravery and honor. Thus, the honor and pride as well as the tattoos themselves were unintentionally born.
Fast-forward to 1902, New York City in a shadier part of town near Little Italy and
Chinatown. Small tattoo shops began opening up in closet sized room with a single light bulb hanging overhead and a lone tattoo chair. The air always stunk of something like urine, blood and vomit and the bucket of water and rag used to clean off the blood during the tattooing process never seemed to be changed. But the customers didn’t care. In this rough area of town cleanliness was not an issue. These dirty conditions were another way to show you were tough and could handle anything. Age limit did not matter to the artists either. Children as young as 13 would come into the “parlors” to get tattoos small enough to hide from there mothers but large enough to keep them from being beat up on the way to school. Since tattoos were so cheap in those days (a quarter per tattoo) an epidemic broke out in the grade school and parents began to complain to the teachers about their young children coming home with tattoos that rivaled those of the local sailors.
But to the sailors tattooing was merely to show they were tougher than the other kids on the block. To the sailors the tattoos were badges of honor for things they had done and mementos of the various places they had been while in the service. Soldiers also got tattoos of their lovers to give them hope of what was waiting for them at home and to show that they would be loyal to their girls while they were gone. Sadly, the boys would come home only to find that their one and only had left them for another man and so the lovely Rhonda on their chest had to be changed into a sailing ship or a dragon to hide the embarrassed lad’s mistake.
The amazing part of this entire tattoo craze was that is was not reserved for the lower class citizens and laborers as it is today. Men and women alike, no matter what the status felt the need to inscribe ink into their skin. Upper class women would typically get religious symbols, butterflies or hearts, while the men would get patriotic symbols and birds of prey. Even the upper class would get involved. Judges would be fully tattooed from head to toe with suck things as sock outlines and the general public would never know. The upper class women would get their eyebrows tattooed on, have there lips reddened, their cheeks to be rosy.
During the depression the tattoo craze died down and most artists went out of business due to lack of customers. The people who before had brought the artists so much business were now broke, suffering and some were unemployed. The fad had died out. All that was left of the tattooing world were the scars of yester-year. It appeared that an era was over.
Over, that is, until the 1950’s when rock and roll was king, kids were rebellious and a tattoo was just another way to make mom and dad angry. The ink the hot rodding boys and girls displayed on their skin to show that they had no cares for authority, their parents or anyone’s rules at all. The tattoos were their way to prove that they were their own person with their own rules and they were going to do things the way they wanted.
The design of tattoos began to change as well. No longer did people want the plain designs of the olden days and single tattoos. Full sleeve tattoos became popular and eastern designs worked its way onto the flesh of the young Americans. New designs began to evolve. No longer was the focus on birds of prey, flowers and patriotic symbols they now displayed sex, drugs, cars, and rock and roll. And the tattoos were no longer widely accepted; in fact the opposite was true. Tattoos were reserved for lower working class citizens and young delinquents. Parents everywhere were outraged at the monstrosities displayed on their teenage children’s bodies. The controversy was back and so then the fad was back.
Though tattoos may never be as widely accepted, as they were when they first were presented to the general public, they will always exist as a time capsule for an individual. Each drop of ink will always represent the adventures, loves, losses, passions, and sometimes drunken nights that a person will never be able to forget and never want to forget.
Originally published for Daddy-O magazine 2004. (Daddy-O magazine is written, designed and published by myself.)
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