Sunday, February 15, 2009

Ink my thoughts down

There are many ways in which people view tattoos. It has been a very long time that tattoos are looked upon as a form of rebellion. Why so? Is it because of how the Yakuza's were clad from top to toe huge coloured and non-coloured ink marks? Or is it because the singaporean gangsters have them as a form of identity? It is true that a tattoo is significant and it gives you a form of identity. It seperates you from others. People from the same group would probably have the same tattoo to signify brotherhood, just like the Yakuzas. Have you ever felt that it may be a shout out for attention? Or perhaps, just a form of Art?
Tattoos are deemed as a social mis-fit and are so because of the minority in numbers. But if we were to be brought up in a society where tattoos are a norm, or if our parents had them, would our mindsets be the same? Cultural and social information moulds our thoughts and it is a very strong form of persuasion. Our mind tends to feel comforted when we succumb to the norm. But when we realise that the unusual may not be as weird as it seems, our psycological thoughts get the better of us and we change our perspectives.









If we knew that this tattoo actually meant the search for happiness for a person because she was being abused from young, would it have been looked at in a different manner? What if we knew that it is also an ambigram, which means that when looked upside down, it spells the same thing? Would it be more artistic? There are mostly deep dark or memorable stories behind each tattoo. If we take an effort to actually not perceive or let the social and cultural information get the better of us, our psychological thoughts may make it easier for us to accept issues. We should remember to not let out surroundings mould us, but instead, we make our own thoughts, be expressive and not be confined to society's well.

4 comments:

  1. Nice topic! But tattoos in Asia generally do not have a good background. The Mafias and gangsters are all clad in coloured and grey tones. This just causes us to be moulded in a way to view them as omens! Can't really blame the soceity there....

    -Vivien

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  2. You ain't wrong Viv. What I'm saying is that there's judgement going on and stereotyping. This should not be the case. Skepticism is fine, but degrading and segregation is wrong.

    -mlene

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  3. Ya! some people's attitude change upon knowing about one having tattoos or piercings. Art is undefined, so who are we to judge?
    Even if we do judge, is it truly our own perspective, or someone else's persuasive feelings that got us overwhelmed?

    -hsin

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  4. exactly hsin. we need to note that whatever is on a canvas sheet (our body) is just paintings. but beneath it all, or as a whole, it is a story that is waiting to be unfold. it is hard to accept but that doesn't condone us to stereotype or degrade just because we find it hard to associate.

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