A Life Told in Ink: Tattoo Narratives and the Problem of the Self in Late Modern Society

Abstract

The phenomenon of tattooing became part of mainstream culture in the 1990s. The article analyses portraits that were published in Tattoo magazine, where the meanings of tattoos varied from self-adornment to a narrative structuring of life history and identity protection. Particular focus is put on how tattoos are used to plot life stories. The tattooed body represents a map that enables narration. Dramatic life changes are embodied in tattoos that help subjects to ease their problems. However, since problems are engraved into skin and flesh they are visible and also seen by other people. Subjectivities become visible. The analysis given in the article offers a view upon a paradox of subjectivity in late modern society. The human body is, at the same time, both a subject actively seeking meaning and a mere object to be judged.

Ma(r)king memories: exploring embodied processes of remembering and forgetting temporal experiences

“…If they are not continually consumed, time will eventually "rewrite" itself on the body (Cooke 2008). People also reflexively modify the body following life events and temporally defined turning points, typically through make-up, hair, and fashion makeovers; weight loss/muscle building; cosmetic surgery (Kinnunen 2010;Schouten 1991); tattooing (Oksanen and Turtiainen 2005;Velliquette, Murray, and Evers 2006); and less often in the West scarification and branding (Pitts 1998). Thus, the body's surface can narrate key periods of time and memories in our biographies.…”

“…Tattooing has been used in consumer research and sociology to investigate (gender) identity and the marking/erasing of life events (e.g. Goulding and Follett 2002;Oksanen and Turtiainen 2005;Patterson and Elliott 2003;Patterson and Schroeder 2010;Shelton and Peters 2006;Sweetman 1999;Velliquette, Murray, and Evers 2006). Yet, it has not been adopted to explore time and memory more explicitly, despite Oksanen and Turtiainen's (2005, 127) observation that, "tattoos articulate as memory maps written in flesh that enable life stories to be told."…”

“…Tattoos function as a reminder of the moment the body was inscribed; as Sweetman (1999, 65) observes, " … tattoos retain an echo of the pain involved in their acquisition." Yet, participants also often acquired tattoos to reflexively narrate accounts of past life events, stages, and relationships, reflecting extant research (Oksanen and Turtiainen 2005;Velliquette, Murray, and Evers 2006). According to Ricoeur (1984Ricoeur ( , 1992, humans are temporal beings and time is made sense of through a narrative mode:…”

Do the “Savage Origins” of Tattoos Cast a Prejudicial Shadow on Contemporary Tattooed Individuals?

“…The increased popularity of tattoos among the general population has begun to influence the extent to which tattoos themselves are even seen as an orthodox fashion item (Irwin, 2000). Current media coverage of upmarket tattoo “boutiques” (e.g., in London's glamorous store Selfridges) and the increasing numbers of high‐profile tattooed icons (e.g., David Beckham, Angelina Jolie, celebrities such as the well‐known cast members of the Lord of the Rings movies) are indicative of the movement of tattoos into mainstream fashion (Oksanen & Turtiainen, 2005).…”

Photographing Children in Mexico City's Red‐Light Districts

“…Although tattoos have been steadily gaining mainstream popularity since the 1990s (Oksanen and Turtiainen, : 111), in the context of sex commerce they form part of an array of body modifications required for marketing and selling one's body. Hofmann, in her neoliberal strategy of underlining the importance of individual choice, frames such actions as not just commercial decisions, but as ‘acts of resistance that work through the means of appropriation’ by incorporating Western beauty standards (Hofmann, : 240).…”