TATTOO

Tattoos celebrating the sisterhood, gender spectrums and busting the age old narratives surrounding women.

Do you ever wish to make a statement? I think the answer would be positive. I cannot fathom a day without making sure that we are heard for what we are and what we can do. With life spreading in all directions, making statements seems like a way of outleting your emotions and everything that goes in your mind. When I say, in your mind, I mean everything uncensored. When I look at social media, the people around me, the conversations that we are having, I see the hunger in people to express themselves, be heard and most importantly be a part of conversation they may or may not be a valid part of. This is when I look for signs that are profound to tell us about that person. You may ask me, ‘what is that you see first in a person?’ and I answer you searching for that black ink on the melanin.

Still wondering about this black ink? Read along.

Tattooing has joined the forces in being the most provocative, life changing and very rebellious body art to be sought after. On the first glance, one views tattoos as an act of defying societal norms or even an act of ‘disobeying your parents’. But this made me wonder, how far does this act of rebellion really go? Do people really want to get tattoos just to annoy their parents? Is it that one dimensional? Hence all of my answers were answered when I started seeing where tattoos stand together in this time and era.

 

 

For her, for me and everything in between Tattoos are symbolic and celebrate literally infinite meanings. People are going lengths to find the perfect design and artwork to get the right one done. They travel to places to get desired tattoos https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2022/03/21/tattoo-travel-ink-paris-brooklyn/ , a permanent decision in one’s life, to be perfect in their own way of expression. Something to regret, that's another story to tell. But something to celebrate, tattoos are your saviours.

Reading about pop-star and actress Selena Gomez’s (as i type this the co-incidence staggers me as the song playing on my playlist is ‘A year without rain’ by Gomez) interesting watercolour tattoo https://www.teenvogue.com/story/selena-gomez-cara-delevingne-matching-tattoos that she got from a renowned celebrity tattoo artist. It is the same one as Cara Delevigne, runway model and actress. Explaining the deeper meaning of this gorgeous rose watercolour tattoo, Gomez expressed that Cara calls her as ‘rosebud’. This cemented their relationship of the past one and a half decade as something to commemorate their relationship and sisterhood. Matching the similar sentiments of friendship, Euphoria star Alexa Demie got a butterfly tattoo to celebrate the same https://www.vogue.fr/beauty-tips/article/celebrity-tattoos-2022 . Expressing friendship as a troupe, these celebrity/influencers got matching tattoos as well https://www.teenvogue.com/story/olivia-rodrigo-charli-damelio-avani-gregg-iris-apatow-matching -tattoos . Olivia Rodrigo and Iris Apatow opted for hearts on their pointer fingers whereas Charli
D'Amelio and Avani Gregg opted for smiley faces.

Rightfully back to the roots
Tattoos have been an age old craft or some may see it as Body Art. While it is an open discussion to decide Tattoo’s perception, this historic craft takes pride in being symbolic to many tribes spanning the entire globe. In India, the common application of Tattoo could be called ‘Ghodna’. ‘Ghodna’ comes from the art of applying tattoos from a stick and poke method https://www.healthline.com/health/body-modification/stick-poke-tattoo (Kindly note, this method is to be done under the supervision of or by professionals) . A fond memory I carry with me as a seven year old who always asked my maternal grandmother about her ‘Ghodan’ on her hand. She would express she got it when she was very young as every woman in the household had got it done. This gave me two ways to think about tattoos and their perception, one- women have a standard in society they have to uphold and the other one, my grandmother didn’t let her daughter have it as she found it to be obsolete in the era where tattoo’s weren’t acceptable in professional jobs. Thankfully, the technique is seeing its heyday as Delhi-NCR saw its first Stick and Poke tattoo festival.https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/delhi/2021/oct/11/linked-to-the-past-2370254.html back in October of 2021. Organised by Shriya Josh, who is a leading Stick and poke artist, saw a welcoming change for women to take a step further and embrace this generational body art. Calling it a feminist move because most of the tattoo creators are Men, Josh emphasises on the softer appeal of Stick and Poke that embraces femininity and calls for women to apply this as a way of expression. This indeed celebrates the idea that I even witnessed with what my grandmother had mentioned- women did it to celebrate oneness among them and as an act of standing up for each other as a troupe.

 

Get the conversation started
Tattoos can be real conversation starters signifying that women empowerment isn’t a textual term but a living testimony in time. Tattoos are the vehicle of expression as witnessed with Tejasvi Prabhulkar , who currently holds the Limca record for being the woman with most tattoos in India. She expressed her intention in an interview with idiva.com https://www.idiva.com/health-wellness/body-confidence/tejasvi-prabhulkar-is-the-most-tattooed- woman-in-india/18023391 mentioning that tattoos are a form of liberation and tend to give that power to let go of things that bothered you in life. This ties in well with questions about the idea of liberation that has been bestowed upon women and the stringent expectations of the same. Emphasising on the aspect and concern of her parents on tattoos seen as a sign of being looked down upon for marriage, Prabhulkar mentions that her partner would have to accept the art that her body nestles. Her stand mirrors body positivity and loving every inch of her existence and tattoos are scribbles of her journey. Speaking about journey, pageants have endured scrutiny for being archaic and doing less for women empowerment. While it is still debatable among masses that haven’t been able to separate the mould of a pageant contestant to be epitome of perfection. Beatrice Luigi Gomez from Cebu, Philippines made headlines for being an openly lesbian candidate to win the coveted title of Miss Universe Philippines 2021 https://interaksyon.philstar.com/trends-spotlights/2021/12/13/206453/philippines-beatrice-luigi-gomez-explains-tattoos-significance-at-miss-universe-top-16/ She earned the right to represent her country at the 70th Miss Universe back in December 2021. As the preparations were happening, little did she know that she was breaking many pageant stereotypes in one go and her armband tattoo was one of them. When asked about her tattoo on stage and its significance, she said, “...it actually means rebirth and new beginnings. So this is a cherry blossom. I got it on my 23rd birthday and I got it to celebrate my womanhood”. This event also made Beatrice the first openly LGBTQIA+ candidate with a visible tattoo on stage. She also proceeded to be a top 5 qualifier to India’s Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu, who won the title of Miss Universe. Beatrice broke the age-old norm and constrictive act of hiding tattoos where a candidate with tattoos may or may not be frowned upon. She also ended up challenging the
definitions of beauty and supporting the evolution of women in pageantry. Love you, Zindagi! By now, tattoos are quite familiar to us as celebrating womanhood, starting a conversation and being absolute perspective changers. LGBTQIA+ sees tattoos as a way of letting the world know about their state of mind. In The Hindu article https://www.thehindu.com/society/growing-up-non-binary-in-todays-india/article35625327.ece on Growing up as non binary in India, Rubani Singh from Mumbai got a tattoo of Non Binary Signage custom designed by them. This was an expression of letting the world know that their way of life and how they choose to live is a journey of self identifying themselves in the crowd. Their tattoo won’t just be a mere remark but be a sign of reminder as they map their life here onwards. And to us, that one tattoo on their arm would be an indication to see their empowerment and confidence in knowing themselves as an inspiration to behold.

Another instance in Vice’s article https://www.vice.com/en/article/zmpdp8/we-asked-indian-tattoo-artists-about-the-weirdest-requests-theyve-ever-received of weird tattoo requests from customers, Bruna, a transgender tattoo
artist created a tattoo for their gay friend about a polaroid with soft written on it. They explained that their friend got it tattooed as an act of rebellion. This challenged the stigma of calling someone soft because of their identity into a force of being kind and making it a rare quality to find in someone. Emphasising on the harsh treatment of the world, Bruna explains soft is an act of rebellion de-rooting the way we interact and treat humans sometimes.
There you go, from seeing tattoos as a form of liberation and how the world around me pans out, tattoos truly magnify the current time period more closely. Everything is bound to have a larger definition and the way we see tattoos signifying womanhood, identity, sisterhood without having to say much. Call it just the way we use fashion to express or make a statement! Tattoos are becoming more personal and interconnected to our identity more than we could imagine. And next when I see a person with a tattoo, I would always wonder what is their story behind getting permanently inked?

Words by Prasheel (@prsh.journal), Intern at VisioNxt.
The Team - Dr. Kaustav Sengupta, Director - Insights, Dr. Shalini Sood Seghal, Director - Creative, Ms.
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