When you think of someone who has tattoos, most would immediately conjure up an image of a grimy, dishonourable outcast, with the words ‘love’ and ‘hate’ tattooed across the knuckles and an inked immobile teardrop on their cheek, a caution for you to steer clear. It would be a pleasant surprise to discover then, that tattoos have lost their rebellious stereotype for being typical accessories for sailors, thugs and rock stars, and that actually, the sweet young lady working behind the counter you purchase your paper from every morning, might just have one – or many.
Historically, it has been a tradition for tribes in Africa to implement the ancient art of ‘stick and poke’ tattoos to differentiate who belongs to which tribe, and some specific tribal patterns can symbolise strength and power, to intimidate rival tribes. When asked about how old the art of tattooing was, 22 year old tattoo artist Rei Hall of Sanctum Tattoo Studio answered, “Tattoos are found on mummified corpses that are thousands of years old and we have no idea when the first tattoo happened! I’d go as far to say that tattooing has been around since the beginning of civilisation.” This technique has been documented to have also spread throughout South America and South East Asia, and even Europe when a body was discovered buried in the Alps that dated as far back as 3300 BC.
Now that the art of tattooing has spread throughout Western civilisation, centuries later than ancient cultures, the views on the art form can still be dubious. Tattoos can have an infinite amount of sentimental meanings behind them, or none at all. They can be an inside joke or memory, an inspirational quote to keep you going through the tough times, or a piece of extraordinary art work that took hours of dedication that gives you pride every time you catch a glimpse of it. Another reason to get inked up is that for some it can be a life-changing confidence booster for your body image, as 22 year old games designer Abi knows all too well. After suffering from a skin condition for 10 years covering her entire body, “it got to the point where even in summer I wouldn’t be seen without trousers and long sleeves because I was so embarrassed. Since getting tattoos to cover the scars, it’s made me proud of my skin and has turned something I once saw as ugly into a work of art to be proud of.” Displaying beautiful and colourful works of art on her skin has managed to give Abi a new sense of freedom in her life, something no type of medication could have given her.
For some people though, getting a tattoo is just a day dream that can’t be materialised. 21 year old sales support administrator Sophie curses her phobia of needles for stopping her from getting the tattoos she wishes she could get. “When my nan and pops died I thought of getting tattoos on my wrists; one that said ‘nan’ with a rubber duck, and the other that said ‘pops’ with a pint next to his. They’d always be with me and guide me through life, despite not physically being here. Whenever I’d look down, I would always remember the good times.” Although simple and straight to the point, such small images can have so much of a strong, positive and lasting effect on someone’s mind frame. The fact that tattoos can do so much for someone’s body confidence, mental health, and overall self-satisfaction, is something to be utilised.
It’s not just collecting tattoos as a customer that is a gradually growing accessory, but pursuing tattooing as a career path as well is rapidly becoming an accepted and common occupation. As of today, Jersey is now home to eight individual tattoo studios, (not counting those that work out of private appointment-only studios) all of which are located in the islands bustling heart of St Helier. Monsters Ink, Sanctum, Stained Nation, Somewhere Else, Dark Side, Black Label, Beneath the Surface, and Golden Canvas, all offer a comfortable, affordable, and professional service. Each studio employs different artists who specialise in their own unique and distinctive styles of tattooing, so if you’re thinking of getting one you must bear in mind that these are permanent works of art on your body, so make sure to do your thorough research.
Thanks to British TV shows like E4’s Tattoo Fixers and MTV’s Just Tattoo of Us, it’s brought to light the other side of the coin; the regrettable and nasty reality of permanently inking your skin. Being spontaneous and adventurous is not a quality trait to have when emblazoning your body with lewd, tasteless, and cheap illustrations. As beautiful and impressive as some tattoos can be, not everyone will have the same views and opinions as you as it won’t mean the same thing to them. This is important to remember if you’re thinking of getting something potentially risky. From experience, I have a rather large tattoo which is a dark and gothic nun, holding a bleeding skull. The majority of reactions focus on the breathtaking talent and detail gone into her, yet there’s always a few who are more shocked. When I decided I wanted to get her immortalised onto my skin, I thought long and hard about what it was about the image that mesmerized me so much. To me, she represents good versus evil and the balance of light and dark within life. I try to explain it as if it was like my own personal ying yang as it reminds me of how without the bad times, we wouldn’t be able to appreciate the good ones, and vice versa.
If you’re going into a major and permanent decision like this, it’s imperative that you’re fully aware of the unfortunate but thankfully dissipating stigma and judgement surrounding such large tattoos within the work place on the island. It’s a well-known fact that a significant number of career paths require you to cover up tattoos no matter what of or how small; teaching, finance, some retail jobs, and office work. Pearce Jewellers on King Street has been in business for 110 years, and current owner Jane Pearce has witnessed attitudes and trends change over her 35 year career as an employer at the shop. “As an employer my own attitudes have changed, along with the fact that quite a number of my own children have got tattoos, when previously no one in my family did. Now days, social attitudes have changed dramatically towards tattooing as they’re now seen as a thing of beauty, rather than the old school stigma of it being only men that had them depicting images of something grim and dark. Now, modern tattoos can have a lot more colour, which is where the art and the beauty come into play, which can be seen in the surge in tattooing in the last 10 years.
When I first started 35 years ago, not a single person would’ve been able to get a job with a tattoo. Now it entirely depends on what they are, maybe some might need to be covered up if they are potentially offensive, as that’s something I don’t want to risk in my business. In today’s day and age it would be wrong of an employer if somebody has an innocuous tattoo to not allow them to have it on display. Because of the specific nature of what we’re selling, things like skulls or something connecting to violence are things I feel I have to still be careful about. Not for me, but I don’t want to put a customer in an uncomfortable position where they feel threatened by the person that’s serving them. Our younger customers wouldn’t care, but some of our elder customers would. There’s a little bit more acceptance now but it definitely seems to be a generational thing, a lot of my customer base is over 50, so when I get to their age I can’t imagine I’ll even notice if someone has a tattoo, whereas I feel a lot of my customers are still taken aback by someone having a tattoo, no matter how innocent it might be.”
Having tattoos has become so normal within the last few years that there are even certain designs that have become so popular they are now in a league of their own; infinity symbols with birds flying away from it, moustaches on the finger, roses, stars on the elbow, the list of repeated tattoos could go on. Although having evolved within the last decade, there is still a considerable amount of progression to make to ensure tattoos have their place in today’s 21st century western environment. With more and more people deciding to get inked, it’s becoming difficult for work places and society to ignore the deafening sound of new advancing generations and their desires to exhibit meaningful and stunning works of beauty on their bodies.
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