Primitivismul n tatuajul contemporan i Body Art

The influences of primitive cultures in contemporary tattoo and Body Art-the tattoo as identity indicator-Bikers, sailors, rock stars, office workers, prisoners, brokers, professors... Almost every social class has members that choose to be the adepts of a cultural phenomenon that has followed us since the birth of the first civilizations... TATTOO.In the following lines we will summarize this cultural phenomenon (as well as some others that derive from this) that became so strong in the present day and we will also draw a parallel with its characteristics from the primitive period, focusing on those that continued to influence todays tattoo. We will briefly speak about tattoos role of identity marker as well. Although in the field of tattoos there are numerous influences from the primitive period, we have to understand that an enormous change tooked place in its characteristic. If the tattoo was invested in the beginning with magical attributes, it being entirely charged with sacrality and so not allowed for everybody, nowadays this characteristic is totally lost, it becoming extremely popular. This desacralization of the tattoo, about which we have to mention the fact that it started during the Antiquity, also entailed an unpleasant feature, the kitsch, about which we will not talk though. The tattoos continues to inspire, yet, in todays society fear, particularly because some ideas, mostly religious ones, that arent so permissive and targets the perfection given by God, Allah, etc. to the human body, the modification of it being considered as an intervention in the divine creation. The range of reactions raised by this practice also goes through interest showed to the different techniques of body modification, admiration, etc. Tattoos will always raise questions, either in the mind of a friend or an enemy, conscious or unconscious, not regarding if the person that judges is and educated and open one or one with a lower intelligence and more obtuse in front of changes. These questions arent asked regarding the technique involved in the process but rather the message that is being carried, the purpose of it

The word tattoo first come into the European continent in 1771 when the brave sailor and explorer James Cook returned from his first journey in Tahiti and New Zeeland. Aboard the ship of which he was the captain, HMS Endeavour, was also the naturalist Joseph Banks to whom it belongs the first mention of the word in his diary. The term has its roots in the geographical area that overlaps the Pacific Ocean, more exactly the Polynesian archipelago, where it was found under different forms amongst the different primitive populations founded there, amongst others being tatu, tatau, tattaw, tattow or tattaow. We can in this way guess the characteristics that derived from the primitive area and become influencing the contemporary tattoo. But what does the tattoo stand for today and how is it done. By tattoo we understand a complex technique of incision into the layers of skin until the derma, followed by applying various pigments specially conceived for this purpose. The complex technique is done with a tattooing machine that relies, largely, on the same principle that was used before, namely the repeated incision with the aim of several needles. The first electrical tattooing machine was invented in 1891 by Samuel Reilly and became increasingly popular ever since, although, in many cases, like for example the prisoners or beginners, when such a precise machine that uses needles that have a thickness of 0.33 mm it is replaced with other more rudimentary mechanisms that uses nails, guitar strings, automatic pencils, etc. The pigments used are synthetically ones and are obtained from a multitude of chemical compounds as iron oxides, titanium dioxide, acridine, etc., some visible under normal light, other only under U.V. light.

When it comes to the reason of making a tattoo and its functionality we can affirm the fact that besides its esthetical purpose it satisfies a series of other roles, more or less important about which we will talk in the following lines.We need to understand that the tattoo plays a very important role in transmitting a nonverbal message, it having the extraordinary capacity of overcoming the cultural-linguistic boundaries. In this case we have for instance the tattoo as a carrier of personal optimistically beliefs about life, love for the wife or lover, mother, patriotism, etc. In this way we have the example of the most famous contemporary tattoo, the marking on visible surfaces of the body of the name of the wife, lover or mother, often associated with a heart or some flowers. The patriotism (which sometimes degenerates in some subcultures like skinheads with their extremis nationalistic convictions) is illustrated by tattoos like Made in and the name of the mother country. Another type of messages transmitted with the help of tattoos is constituted by happy or sad milestones from the life of the tattoo bearer. The wedding day, the day of achieving a certain goal, the birthday of a son or daughter or other important places and memories are reasons for this tattoos. Sailors for instance mark their first sail near an important maritime checkpoint (Equator line, Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn being only a few of them) with a tattoo. Soldiers put into their tattoos information about won battles, this practice being used by primitive societies also where heroes were tattooed after each wined battle. We can talk also about memento mori and in memoriam tattoos that are done to commemorate the death of someone loved. Suggestive images reminding about death are often putted together with the portraits of the deceased ones in this kind of tattoos. Either if were talking about skulls, graves, blood or sometimes the place in which the loved one died they are only a few of the elements of these tattoos. This kind of tattoos has its roots in the primordial need to keep alive the memory of a loved one, believing that if this thing is done the deceased one can continue its life after death. This belief gave birth to an entire death cult that is the natural response of the human reason to the unknown, the death.Another type of messages transmitted this way is the protest against authorities. The tattoo becomes this way the most extreme form of protest against the leading class because it can not be removed any other way than by painful methods like acid rinsing or removing the entire skin, or by killing the bearer. As illustrative examples for this kind of message are the tattoos of the prisoners from the Russian gulag. The dissidents imprisoned there wrote, for example, on their bodies words like I thank communists for my happy childhood and added, for increasing the satirical character of the message, an image of a child suffering of starvation. Other tattoos illustrated the rulers of the communist state, Lenin and Stalin, as pigs in various situations. Sometimes they were represented with swastikas or being crucified, at other times having sexual intercourses with other pigs or even with the devil, smoking from a pipe filled with opium, etc. another manifest materialized in the art of body modifications is the famous tattoo with three dots made between the opposable finger and the index, better known as mort aux vaches, which is a undermining message targeted towards the French police authorities, its members being identified as cows. The police is very often the target of such protesting tattoos in most of the cultures.

The tattoo as indicator of group or life style appurtenance is probably the most often one today. We have in this way the so-called American gangs or the infamous motorcyclist bands as Hells Angels, which have their own distinctive signs tattooed on the skin of their members. Those tattoos are as important today as they were for the members of the kakean society for example, a society of head hunters from the Indonesian archipelago, for which the appurtenance tattoo was vital in order to not be mistaken with an outsider and be killed. The same thing happens in the case of the tattoos of the gang members, they also being extremely violent. Also todays consumerist society ended up reflecting its influences even in this field with tattoos that illustrates different logos, usually being preferred those of famous brands such as tobacco, alcoholic drinks or clothes. The profession is in many cases another influence factor in determining the model of the tattoo, the objects or episodes that are most characteristic being chosen to be illustrated. Another strong field of influence is made up by the music field, the fans of music stars taking their obsessions so far that they choose to tattoo the name of the band or their sign.

Another purpose of the tattoo is the intimidation. The tattoo that is done to serve this reason misleads the enemys focus in the middle of a street fight, thus offering the chance to strike back. This role was present also amongst the primitive populations, they often choosing to tattoo their skin in such manner that it would induce the illusion of a bigger physic. The warriors sometimes resorted to an entire arsenal of monstrous images to serve this purpose, like for instance another pair of eyes over the real ones. Today violent messages are used in order to stir fear and to make the opponents conscious of the physical superiority of the bearer. Words like death before dishonour or born to fight are building up this category of tattoos and as representative images that have the power to impress the enemies are those filled with power such as skulls, daggers, black panthers, etc. Japanese gangsters, the so-called yakuza are covering their entire body for helping them in the illegal card games, hanafuda. The skinheads about which we have already talked are marking the signs of radicalism groups that are known for the strong racism that characterizes them. Nazi swastikas are some of the symbols that offer a hint about the violent character of such personsThe sexual tattoo, filled with erotic meaning, can let to be known the sexual orientation of the bearer or can be done as a sexual ornament that indicates the virility of the one that is tattooed with it. The most often symbol used is the famous sign of the band Rolling Stones which illustrates some lips with a hang out tongue. Messages such as kiss this, placed on the buttocks or in the pubic area, represents an explicit call for sexual intercourse. This is found out on the bodies of sado-masochists, perverts, gays, lesbians, etc. The protective tattoo is one that lost the importance that it used to have but which continues to exist even today. The reason why this kind of tattoos lost its importance is the technological progress seen all over todays society, progress that makes our world safer. Despite this it continues to exist even today under various other forms, its role not being the protection against diseases, for instance, anymore, how the majority of them used to be but for protection against some dangers that can not be controlled by science, hazards. In order to illustrate this we have the example of sailors that have tattoos that protects them against death by drowning. They are tattooing on a leg the image of a rooster and on the other the one of a pig. This kind of tattoos that protects the bearer against the dangers raised by the sea were also seen amongst the old populations, Maoris for instance chose the image of a dolphin to protect themselves against sharks. The often snake or dog bites are another reason for making this type of tattoos. Protection against todays biggest danger, guns, constitutes the strongest reason for making a protective tattoo. We see this kind on soldiers, police man, gangsters, generally on those that have to deal with guns on a regular basis. This kind of tattoos originates in the protective tattoos used once by the warriors in battles to be protected against enemy weapons.

There is a type of tattoos that has an extremely pragmatic reason, them serving for finding out someones identity if mutilated, in time of war for instance or for marking the medical history or blood type. Lets remember about the Maori tattoos that consisted of numerous curved lines scattered on the face, representing the genealogical line or in other words the identity of the person. We can say about the above mentioned tattoos that have their origins precisely from these genealogical tattoos. The identity becomes this way integrated in the physiognomy of the person through imagistic means. Today we have the example of American soldiers that are tattooing on their under arm region their blood type or the SS soldiers on their forearm.The last but not least of the influences of primitive culture in the field of tattoos about which we want to remind is the famous tribal tattoos. We can not speak though about any other kind of functionality besides the purely aesthetic one or, although no so often, to mark a travel in an exotic region. This kind of tattoo is today totally destitute of any kind of hidden symbolism like it was when every line, point or spot had its own hermetic meaning. The only aspect kept from this kind of tattoos is the reach palette of signs and patterns. Now we will begin to talk about another field that interests us regarding our discussion about primitive influences in body changing. We are talking about a relatively new founded movement which nevertheless presents some archaic aspects, Body Art.Although the tattoo is included in the field, Body Art doesnt limit itself only to this. Body Art is a category of body changing techniques taken to the extreme and which intends changing the publics perception over the human body by desacralizing or on the contrary, by sacralising the human body. Among the techniques involved in this cultural phenomenon we reckon subdermal implant or transdermal one, skin perforation, piercings, tongue splitting, modifying the shape of the body by encorseting or other mutilating methods. Defining for this movement is the pain and radical changing. In the primitive societies where to achieve a spiritual goal, usually communication with gods, a physical sacrifice is needed. Exactly this is aimed during different Body Art performances, giving up the consciousness by submitting the body to pain by extreme body modifications until falling into unconsciousness.

Lets begin the series of presentations by displaying those who chooses to radically change their bodies so that they resemble animals. The concerned modifications remind us to a great extent about the primitive cult of animism, of The Animal Spirit. We have the examples of Denis Avner, cat man, Erik Sprague, lizard man and Jocelyn Wildenstein, cat woman. We need to understand the fact that these people subdue themselves to this kind of modifications not only because they want to resemble them but also because theyre actually identifying themselves with them, exactly like the shamans illustrated in caves like Lascaux or Altamira. Those shamans embodied on the divine level into animals during the ecstatic processes they subdued. Another primitive cult that still makes its presence felt by its influences in Body Art is the death cult. Body Art, as we already mentioned wants that through its performances to emphasize the human bodys ephemeral character. We have as an example Rick Genest, the zombie man that chosed to tattoo his entire body so that it resembles a decomposed human body. Noticing that he illustrated a skull on his face we can not forget about the importance showed by the primitive societies to the skull and skeleton which were considered the shrines of the soul. We also need to remind about Orlans for whom the change of aspect is on a regular basis. For example she tooked some pictures with women that personified the canon of beauty in different periods and submitted herself to surgical operations so that she will resemble them. In the moment in which the procedures were done she choses another canon and started the whole process from the beginning. We would like to briefly remind about a technique thats used also by Body Art. We are talking here about attaching metal rings around the neck. We can not overlook the women from the Chiang Rai region in Thailand whose most well known tradition, preserved from ancient times, is exactly this practice, the attaching of metal rings. Maybe the most known representative of Body Art whos influenced by primitive cultures is Fakir Musafar. He is considered to be the father of modern primitive movement, which is formed by people that are submitting themselves to extreme and painful body modifications which resembles some techniques implied by passing rituals. The artist executed during his 1966 performance a so-called O-Kee-Pa suspension, technique that is found amongst the Mandan American Indian tribes on the banks of the river Missouri. These practices, similar to those involved in the Sun Dances from other tribes, targeted the achieving of a state of unconsciousness which was liken to be assimilated to a trance, ecstasy, contact with the spiritual world, such moments being an occasion for a journey into the upper, sacre world. Being done as part of crossing rituals, the pain was the sacrifice that every neophyte had to make in order to access specific powers and atemporal universes. Musafar accesses those shamanic realities, him being closer than anybody else who practices Body Art. As a conclusion we would like to affirm the fact that Body Art is one of the most important art from the point of view of conceptual connection with the primitive cultures. This art calls in different body modification and pain induction techniques that are similar to those used by primitive culturesBibliographySCHIFFMACHER, Henk; RIEMSCHNEIDER, Burkhard, 1000 Tattoos, Kln, Editura Taschen, 1996

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_art 23.05.2013 19:37

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_modification 23.05.2013 19:45

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fakir_Musafar 23.05.2013 19:58

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_primitive 23.05.2013 20:16

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspension_(body_modification)#Chest 23.05.2013 20:25

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orlan 23.05.2013 20:33

the desacralization of the tattoo happened because of the need to permanently mark the slaves in order to be recognized if they would escape

SCHIFFMACHER, Henk; RIEMSCHNEIDER, Burkhard, 1000 Tattoos, Kln, Taschen, 1996

(lat.)remember you die

(lat.)in the memory

Soviet labour camps

(fr.) Death to the cows

groups with a strong territory instinct, organized around a neighbourhood

which penetrates the derma, coming out to the surface

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