The influences of primitive cultures in
contemporary tattoo and Body Art-the tattoo as identity indicator-
Bikers, sailors, rock stars, office workers,
prisoners, brokers, professors... Almost every social
class has members that choose to be the adepts of a
cultural phenomenon that has followed us since the birth
of the first civilizations... TATTOO.
In the following lines we will summarize this
cultural phenomenon (as well as some others that derive
from this) that became so strong in the present day and
we will also draw a parallel with it’s characteristics
from the primitive period, focusing on those that
continued to influence today’s tattoo. We will briefly
speak about tattoo’s role of identity marker as well.
Although in the field of tattoos there are numerous
influences from the primitive period, we have to
understand that an enormous change tooked place in its
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characteristic. If the tattoo was invested in the
beginning with magical attributes, it being entirely
charged with sacrality and so not allowed for everybody,
nowadays this characteristic is totally lost, it becoming
extremely popular. This desacralization of the tattoo,
about which we have to mention the fact that it started
during the Antiquity1, also entailed an unpleasant
feature, the kitsch, about which we will not talk though.
The tattoos continues to inspire, yet, in today’s
society fear, particularly because some ideas, mostly
religious ones, that aren’t so permissive and targets the
perfection given by God, Allah, etc. to the human body,
the modification of it being considered as an
intervention in the divine creation. The range of
reactions raised by this practice also goes through
interest showed to the different techniques of body
modification, admiration, etc. “Tattoos will always raise
questions, either in the mind of a friend or an enemy, conscious or
unconscious, not regarding if the person that judges is and educated and
open one or one with a lower intelligence and more obtuse in front of
1 the desacralization of the tattoo happened because of the need to permanently mark the slaves in order to be recognized if they would escape
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changes. These questions aren’t asked regarding the technique involved in
the process but rather the message that is being carried, the purpose of it2”
The word tattoo first come into the European
continent in 1771 when the brave sailor and explorer
James Cook returned from his first journey in Tahiti and
New Zeeland. Aboard the ship of which he was the captain,
HMS Endeavour, was also the naturalist Joseph Banks to
whom it belongs the first mention of the word in his
diary. The term has its roots in the geographical area
that overlaps the Pacific Ocean, more exactly the
Polynesian archipelago, where it was found under
different forms amongst the different primitive
populations founded there, amongst others being tatu,
tatau, tattaw, tattow or tattaow. We can in this way guess the
characteristics that derived from the primitive area and
become influencing the contemporary tattoo.
But what does the tattoo stand for today and how is
it done. By tattoo we understand a complex technique of
incision into the layers of skin until the derma,
followed by applying various pigments specially conceived
for this purpose. The complex technique is done with a2 SCHIFFMACHER, Henk; RIEMSCHNEIDER, Burkhard, 1000 Tattoos, Köln, Taschen, 1996
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tattooing machine that relies, largely, on the same
principle that was used before, namely the repeated
incision with the aim of several needles. The first
electrical tattooing machine was invented in 1891 by
Samuel Reilly and became increasingly popular ever since,
although, in many cases, like for example the prisoners
or beginners, when such a precise machine that uses
needles that have a thickness of 0.33 mm it is replaced
with other more rudimentary mechanisms
that uses nails, guitar strings,
automatic pencils, etc. The pigments
used are synthetically ones and are
obtained from a multitude of chemical
compounds as iron oxides, titanium
dioxide, acridine, etc., some visible
under normal light, other only under U.V. light.
When it comes to the reason of making a tattoo and
its functionality we can affirm the fact that besides its
esthetical purpose it satisfies a series of other roles,
more or less important about which we will talk in the
following lines.
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We need to understand that the tattoo plays a very
important role in transmitting a nonverbal message, it
having the extraordinary capacity of overcoming the
cultural-linguistic boundaries. In this case we have for
instance the tattoo as a carrier
of personal optimistically beliefs
about life, love for the wife or
lover, mother, patriotism, etc. In
this way we have the example of
the most famous contemporary tattoo, the marking on
visible surfaces of the body of the name of the wife,
lover or mother, often associated with a heart or some
flowers. The patriotism (which sometimes degenerates in
some subcultures like skinheads with their extremis
nationalistic convictions) is illustrated by tattoos like
Made in and the name of the mother country.
Another type of messages transmitted with the help of
tattoos is constituted by happy or sad milestones from
the life of the tattoo bearer. The wedding day, the day
of achieving a certain goal,
the birthday of a son or
daughter or other important
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places and memories are reasons for this tattoos. Sailors
for instance mark their first sail near an important
maritime checkpoint (Equator line, Cape of Good Hope or
Cape Horn being only a few of them) with a tattoo.
Soldiers put into their tattoos information about won
battles, this practice being used by primitive societies
also where heroes were tattooed after each wined battle.
We can talk also about memento mori3 and in memoriam4
tattoos that are done to commemorate the death of someone
loved. Suggestive images reminding about death are often
putted together with the portraits of the deceased ones
in this kind of tattoos. Either if we’re talking about
skulls, graves, blood or sometimes the place in which the
loved one died they are only a few of the elements of
these tattoos. This kind of tattoos has its roots in the
primordial need to keep alive the memory of a loved one,
believing that if this thing is done the deceased one can
continue its life after death. This belief gave birth to
an entire death cult that is the natural response of the
human reason to the unknown, the death.
3 (lat.)remember you die 4 (lat.)in the memory
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Another type of messages transmitted this way is the
protest against authorities. The tattoo becomes this way
the most extreme form of protest against the leading
class because it can not be
removed any other way than by
painful methods like acid
rinsing or removing the
entire skin, or by killing
the bearer. As illustrative
examples for this kind of message are the tattoos of the
prisoners from the Russian gulag5. The dissidents
imprisoned there wrote, for example, on their bodies
words like “I thank communists for my happy childhood” and added,
for increasing the satirical character of the message, an
image of a child suffering of starvation. Other tattoos
illustrated the rulers of the communist state, Lenin and
Stalin, as pigs in various situations. Sometimes they
were represented with swastikas or being crucified, at
other times having sexual intercourse’s with other pigs
or even with the devil, smoking from a pipe filled with
opium, etc. another manifest materialized in the art of
body modifications is the famous tattoo with three dots
made between the opposable finger and the index, better5 Soviet labour camps
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known as “mort aux vaches”6, which is a undermining message
targeted towards the French police authorities, it’s
members being identified as cows. The police is very
often the target of such protesting tattoos in most of
the cultures.
The tattoo as indicator of group or life style
appurtenance is probably the most often one today. We
have in this way the so-called American gangs7 or the
infamous motorcyclist bands as Hells Angels, which have
their own distinctive signs tattooed on the skin of their
members. Those tattoos are as important today as they
were for the members of the kakean society for example, a
society of head hunters from the Indonesian archipelago,
for which the appurtenance tattoo was vital in order to
not be mistaken with an outsider and be killed. The same
thing happens in the case of the tattoos of the gang
members, they also being extremely violent. Also today’s
consumerist society ended up reflecting its influences
even in this field with tattoos that illustrates
different logo’s, usually being preferred those of famous
brands such as tobacco, alcoholic drinks or clothes. The
6 (fr.) Death to the cows7 groups with a strong “territory instinct”, organized around a neighbourhood
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profession is in many cases another influence factor in
determining the model of the tattoo, the objects or
episodes that are most characteristic
being chosen to be illustrated.
Another strong field of influence is
made up by the music field, the fans
of music stars taking their
obsessions so far that they choose to
tattoo the name of the band or their
sign.
Another purpose of the tattoo is the intimidation.
The tattoo that is done to serve this reason misleads the
enemy’s focus in the middle of a street fight, thus
offering the chance to strike back. This role was present
also amongst the primitive populations, they often
choosing to tattoo their skin in such manner that it
would induce the illusion of a bigger physic. The
warriors sometimes resorted to an
entire arsenal of monstrous images
to serve this purpose, like for
instance another pair of eyes over
the real ones. Today violent
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messages are used in order to stir fear and to make the
opponents conscious of the physical superiority of the
bearer. Words like “death before dishonour” or “born to fight” are
building up this category of tattoos and as
representative images that have the power to impress the
enemies are those filled with power such as skulls,
daggers, black panthers, etc. Japanese gangsters, the
so-called yakuza are covering their entire body for
helping them in the illegal card games, hanafuda. The
skinheads about which we have already talked are marking
the signs of radicalism groups that are known for the
strong racism that characterizes them. Nazi swastikas
are some of the symbols that offer a hint about the
violent character of such persons
The sexual tattoo, filled with erotic meaning, can
let to be known the sexual orientation of the bearer or
can be done as a “sexual ornament” that indicates the
virility of the one that is tattooed with it. The most
often symbol used is the famous sign of the band Rolling
Stones which illustrates some lips with a hang out tongue.
Messages such as kiss this, placed on the buttocks or in
the pubic area, represents an explicit call for sexual
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intercourse. This is found out on the bodies of sado-
masochists, perverts, gays, lesbians, etc.
The protective tattoo is one that lost the importance
that it used to have but which continues to exist even
today. The reason why this kind of tattoos lost its
importance is the technological progress seen all over
today’s society, progress that makes our world safer.
Despite this it continues to exist even today under
various other forms, it’s role not being the protection
against diseases, for instance, anymore, how the majority
of them used to be but for protection against some
dangers that can not be controlled by science, hazards.
In order to illustrate this we have the example of
sailors that have tattoos that protects them against
death by drowning. They are tattooing on a leg the image
of a rooster and on the other the one of a pig. This kind
of tattoos that protects the bearer against the dangers
raised by the sea were also seen amongst the old
populations, Maoris for instance chose the image of a
dolphin to protect themselves against sharks. The often
snake or dog bites are another reason for making this
type of tattoos. Protection against today’s biggest
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danger, guns, constitutes the strongest reason for making
a protective tattoo. We see this kind on soldiers, police
man, gangsters, generally on those that have to deal with
guns on a regular basis. This kind of tattoos originates
in the protective tattoos used once by the warriors in
battles to be protected against enemy weapons.
There is a type of tattoos that has an extremely
pragmatic reason, them serving for finding out someone’s
identity if mutilated, in time of war for instance or for
marking the medical history or blood type. Let’s remember
about the Maori tattoos that consisted of numerous curved
lines scattered on the face,
representing the genealogical
line or in other words the
identity of the person. We can
say about the above mentioned
tattoos that have their origins precisely from these
genealogical tattoos. The identity becomes this way
integrated in the physiognomy of the person through
imagistic means. Today we have the example of American
soldiers that are tattooing on their under arm region
their blood type or the SS soldiers on their forearm.
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The last but not least of the influences of primitive
culture in the field of tattoos about which we want to
remind is the famous tribal tattoos. We can not speak
though about any other kind of functionality besides the
purely aesthetic one or, although no so often, to mark a
travel in an exotic region. This kind of tattoo is today
totally destitute of any kind of hidden symbolism like it
was when every line, point or spot had its own hermetic
meaning. The only aspect kept from this kind of tattoos
is the reach palette of signs and patterns.
Now we will begin to talk about another field that
interests us regarding our discussion about primitive
influences in body changing. We are talking about a
relatively new founded movement which nevertheless
presents some archaic aspects, Body Art.
Although the tattoo is included in the field, Body
Art doesn’t limit itself only to this. Body Art is a
category of body changing techniques taken to the extreme
and which intends changing the public’s perception over
the human body by desacralizing or on the contrary, by
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sacralising the human body. Among the techniques involved
in this cultural phenomenon we reckon subdermal implant
or transdermal8 one, skin perforation, piercings, tongue
splitting, modifying the shape of the body by encorseting
or other mutilating methods.
Defining for this movement is the pain and radical
changing. In the primitive societies where to achieve a
spiritual goal, usually communication with gods, a
physical sacrifice is needed. Exactly this is aimed
during different Body Art performances, giving up the
consciousness by submitting the body to pain by extreme
body modifications until falling into unconsciousness.
Let’s begin the series of presentations by displaying
those who chooses to radically change
their bodies so that they resemble
animals. The concerned modifications
remind us to a great extent about the
primitive cult of animism, of The Animal
Spirit. We have the examples of Denis
Avner, cat man, Erik Sprague, lizard man and
Jocelyn Wildenstein, cat woman. We need to8 which penetrates the derma, coming out to the surface
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understand the fact that these people subdue themselves
to this kind of modifications not only because they want
to resemble them but also because they’re actually
identifying themselves with them, exactly like the
shamans illustrated in caves like Lascaux or Altamira.
Those shamans embodied on the divine level into animals
during the ecstatic processes they subdued.
Another primitive cult that still makes its presence
felt by its influences in Body Art is the death cult.
Body Art, as we already
mentioned wants that
through its performances
to emphasize the human
body’s ephemeral
character. We have as an example Rick Genest, the zombie man
that chosed to tattoo his entire body so that it
resembles a decomposed human body. Noticing that he
illustrated a skull on his face we can not forget about
the importance showed by the primitive societies to the
skull and skeleton which were considered the shrines of
the soul. We also need to remind about Orlans for whom the
change of aspect is on a regular basis. For example she
tooked some pictures with women that personified the
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canon of beauty in different periods and submitted
herself to surgical operations so that she will resemble
them. In the moment in which the procedures were done she
choses another canon and started the whole process from
the beginning.
We would like to briefly remind about a technique
that’s used also by Body Art. We
are talking here about attaching
metal rings around the neck. We
can not overlook the women from
the Chiang Rai region in
Thailand whose most well known tradition, preserved from
ancient times, is exactly this practice, the attaching of
metal rings.
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Maybe the most known representative of
Body Art who’s influenced by primitive
cultures is Fakir Musafar. He is considered
to be the father of modern primitive
movement, which is formed by people that
are submitting themselves to extreme and
painful body modifications which resembles
some techniques implied by passing
rituals. The artist executed during his
1966 performance a so-called O-Kee-Pa suspension,
technique that is found amongst the Mandan American
Indian tribes on the banks of the river Missouri. These
practices, similar to those involved in the Sun Dances from
other tribes, targeted the achieving of a state of
unconsciousness which was liken to be assimilated to a
trance, ecstasy, contact with the spiritual world, such
moments being an occasion for a journey into the upper,
sacre world. Being done as part of crossing rituals, the
pain was the sacrifice that every neophyte had to make in
order to access specific powers and atemporal universes.
Musafar accesses those shamanic realities, him being
closer than anybody else who practices Body Art.
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As a conclusion we would like to affirm the fact that
Body Art is one of the most important art from the point
of view of conceptual connection with the primitive
cultures. This art calls in different body modification
and pain induction techniques that are similar to those
used by primitive cultures
Bibliography
SCHIFFMACHER, Henk; RIEMSCHNEIDER, Burkhard, 1000 Tattoos, Köln, Editura
Taschen, 1996
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_art
23.05.2013 19:37
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_modification
23.05.2013 19:45
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