Body art as an art form is not a new phenomenon. The need to communicate, decorate and use our body as a means of creative expression can be traced back to ancient cavemen. Various tribes from across the globe have been documented to paint themselves with natural pigments in order to mark significant events or simply for its aesthetic beauty. The Borneo tribe women for example, used to tattoo themselves with a particular symbol that would indicate their special skill. Deeply embedded in the cultural heritage of a tribe -signifying rituals of adulthood or times of war- the tattoo today, has come a long way.
Celebrating the rich history and practice, India's biggest tattoo festival, The TLC Heartwork Festival, saw 110 tattoo artists and suppliers. Some of the biggest names in tattoo art from across the globe, like Jay Free lancer (Netherlands), Stepan Negur (Russia), Bez 666 (UK), Fabrice Koch (Germany) were headliners of the event. Held at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, the sprawling venue hosted national and international artists.
The tattoo scene in art is still in its nascent stage but has shown huge promise recently. People continue to stick to conventional ideas like butterflies, tribal art or motivating phrases but have started moving on to more complex themes too. The Western world has a larger audience and definitely more experimental, but the Indian audience is catching up too. While the general designs and trends remain similar across the world, there are some variations on popularity of designs from country to country. Garry, an artist from South Korea, explains that his most praised work include colourful, cute images of cats, monkeys or a hybrid form of animal and human. He was wary of the response he might receive outside, but was surprised to find eager, enthusiasts in India too.
There is a growing audience that is willing to try out the inventive, ornamental nature of body art. Sameer Patange of Krayoonz Tattoo Studio , Mumbai, remarks that tattoo artists in India are yet to receive the respect of the people as tattoo art has had a long, complicated history. Previously associated with the underbelly of the society, tattoos were slighted off as a fad. But Bollywood, television and popular media is fast changing this notion. There is growing acceptance and enthusiasm of the aesthetic nature of tattoo as an art form and lifestyle statement.
Modern tattoo has remained true to the core principles of body art. While the process, techniques and inks are continuously evolving, the expressive quality of its form has remained. Several tattoo enthusiasts choose to get a tattoo to symbolise what it important to them or to mark victory over a particularly hard phase/ struggle or even to celebrate the happy memories in their lives. For Sameer, one of the organisers of the event, tattoos are a two way process. It is definitely a self expressive form but for the rest of the world too, it is a window to understand the person. The amount of research (or lack thereof) that a person puts into the selecting the tattoo shows you a deeper side of the individual's personality. Tattoos, for him are not simply a meaning-making exercise, rather, like any other art form it is an aesthetic platform that experiments with visual media.
Talking about the trend of finding meaning in tattoos, Jonathan Hong of Jay Freestyle(Netherlands) presents a different point of view. One of the headliners of the event, his approach to body art stands in contrast to most tattoo artists. Unlike the usual style of the person selecting a design beforehand and the tattoo artist executing that design, Jay prefers the abstract style and creates the design from his own imagination. Before the design is complete, the person has no idea what the finished product will look like. After a brief discussion about what the person wants, Jay uses his imagination and interprets the person's needs to create unique, one-of-a-kind visually aesthetic design. For instance, Deni Kurkova who was tattooed by him back in 2014, had flown to Amsterdam especially to be tattooed by him. She went in holding an image of two orchids that she wanted on her side. After three hours of discussion and six hours of strenuous tattooing, what emerged was a giant tattoo of a butterfly resting jeweled orchids splashed in ethereal colours, that stretched from her ribs to the side of her waist. But she does not regret it at all and loves that there is art on her skin. Going back to the ancient practice of tattoo art, he says the original motive of body art has been aesthetic and that is what he tries to achieve. He explains, “Meaning-making is a modern practice where humans try to ascribe some definition and quantify the symbols to give some sense of solace/comfort.” To be tattooed by him, you have to agree to be his canvas. “A tattoo can be a beautiful piece of art, it does not need to have meaning or some special life story.”
