The art of tattooing

by Kamalanath LIYANAGE

Tattooing is accomplished by injecting a coloured pigment into small deep holes made in the skin. They are interpreted into two distinct derivations for the word tattoo. In Polynesian the word 'TA' which means striking something whereas Tahitian word 'TATAU' which means "to mark something".

The history of tattoo extends to over 5000 years in the past since Neolithic times. (New Stone Age). The first set of tattoos probably were created by an accident. Someone had a small wound, and rubbed it with a hand that was dirty with soot and ashes from the fire. Once the wound had healed, they saw that a mark stayed permanently the presence of the number of facts discloses the historical background of this art.

Historical evidence

In 1991, a five-thousand years old frozen body of a tattooed man "otzi the ice man" was discovered on a mountain between Austria and Italy. This is the best preserved corpse of that period ever found. The skin bears 57 tattoos: a cross on the inside of the left knee, six straight lines 15 centimetres long above the kidneys and numerous parallel lines on the ankles.

Tarim Basin (West China, Xinjiang) revealed several tattooed mummies of a Western (Western Asian/European) physical type some of them could date from the end of the 2nd millennium BC.

Tattooing has been featured significantly in one of the Four Classic Novels in Chinese literature, Water Margin. Henna and Mehendi were highly in demand in ancient India and ancient Egypt and still remain popular all over the world. When the Spanish first landed in the Philippine Islands, they were met by the tribal people of the Visayas who had full body tattooing, the Spanish dubbed these Islands as "La Isla De Los Pintados" or "The Islands of the Painted Ones". Several Indonesian tribes have a tattoo culture. (Dayak people of Kalimantan - Borneo). Pre-Christian Germanic, Celtic and other central and northern European tribes were often heavily tattooed, according to surviving accounts. Chinese visitors observed and remarked on the Japanese tattoos in 300 BC. Tattooing for spiritual and decorative purposes in Japan is thought to extend back to approximately 10,000 BC and was widespread during various periods for both the Japanese and the native Ainu.

Changing cultural status

The art of tattooing grows quickly during the last few decades because; people are always looking for something new and something to make their tattoo a unique style and something that stands out from the crowd.

America vastly demands tattoos. During the period of the 1960s the American supposed the cultural status of tattooing as an anti-social activities. Rolling Stones were the first rock star groups had exhibited tattoos on the body in the early 1970s and nowadays it has become a trendy fashion. So, tattoos are routinely seen on rock stars, professionals, sports figures, ice skating champions, fashion models, movie stars and other public figures.

The company of artists trained in traditional fine art disciplines began to embrace tattooing and brought with them entirely new sorts of sophisticated imagery and technique.

Advances in electric needle machines and pigments provided them with new ranges of colour, delicacy of detail and aesthetic possibilities. Styles are constantly changing and the world of tattoos shifts all the time and this will help you to spot some of those trends early. Ambigram Tattoos, Celtic Tribal Tattoo Designs, Polynesian and Hawaiian Tribal Tattoo Designs attracts the younger generation.

The same trend of tattooing can be observed in Sri Lanka during the prevailing phase.

The Demand for tattoos increases due to the existence of tattoo removal methods and the temporary tattoos. Various methods have been developed for tattoo removal such as Fade Away Methods, Surgical Methods and Laser. Temporary tattoo is a non-permanent image on the skin resembling a true tattoo. Those can be drawn, painted, or airbrushed, but most of the time these tattoos are transferred to the skin.