_{Maori Tribesman}

Over the course of about a year I've watched the slow unrolling of a carpet of colorful ink furling down from under the edges of my hairdresser's shirtsleeves.  Blue, gold, red, pink, and many shades of green, as her body art represents the lushness of a garden full of ferns and ladybugs, butterflies and flowers.

It started with an outline of a drawing she did herself, working and reworking it until she felt it was something she wanted to live with... for a long, long time.

The outline has been filled in little by little as she can afford it, and in sessions that last as long as she can stand the pain.

One station over, I see musical notes emanating from a calf keyboard, then floating up underneath a short skirt.  I watch as that young lady bends a little, just to see how far the music plays.  I'm sure that was the intention, so I don't feel I shouldn't be looking.  She has nice legs...well, did have.  Now she has nice legs covered in permanent ink.  Ink that would take a fortune and a considerable amount of anesthesia to remove. Nevermind the scar tissue. 

I've learned that this sort of art costs hundreds of dollars a session and it can take years to reach perfection, which in this case will be a shoulder to mid forearm 'sleeve' completely filled in with the artists specified colors.  Someday.

She tells me bright colors have to be touched up occasionally, and sometimes old designs can be adapted into something new.  The cameo of a beloved pet has disappeared into a jungle of honey bees and vines, and an early design to honor her mother has been re-engineered into a twisting lily and a rose, symbolic of their union as mother and daughter.

But what happens when the canvas is full, when alterations and reinterpretations muddle together, and when aging catches up with the fine skin canvas and sagging sets in?  My 27 year old friend lets on she isn't concerned, it's art and more specifically, it's her art.

Tattoo as an art form has been part of tribal cultures and society's subcultures for centuries. The Maori and tribes in Borneo still use ancient designs as a form of family identification, rank, marital status, & to depict tribal history. Gangs and the military have long used insignia to define membership, and tattoos mark religious rites and deity worship among many cultures, including native american tribes.

More recently, inked body art has been discovered by the fashionista counterculture. Its gotten difficult for tough guys to appear even a little intimidating since tattoos have become "the ubiquitous cliche of the subversive cool, props for people who would like to announce to the world that they are interesting", according to Ben Widdicome of The New York Times.

Celebs with tatts often display them prominently, likely with the intent of being photographed wearing their latest 'accessories'.  

 ^{Angelina Jolie}

No longer relegated to back rooms behind happy-hump-hump bars frequented by sailors on shore leave, tattoo parlors (shops, salons, studios) proliferate on main streets with clever names and signage meant to draw in the monied and the fashion forward (read: easily influenced) who wish to make their own idiosyncratic statement with permanent ink. On their bodies. 

We've also seen the scars from removal efforts via laser treatment, dermabrasion, and tissue excision, so it's probably a wise idea to avoid inking names of lovers onto one's shoulder,

  or falling into the folly of David Beckham who reportedly sports his wife's misspelled name in Hindi on his arm, and Rihanna - said to have typos in a Sanskrit prayer on her right hip.

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That said, if you're committed to your art and the image of a tattooed circus performer or a carney at Venice Beach isn't the look you're going for, it's probably best to have an idea of exactly what you want rather than walking in on a boozy Friday night for the Two-for-One Special.  There's also the danger of coming off like a prisoner in a rec yard if your artist is lacking in technique (or drunk).  Unlike the game of horseshoes, close doesn't count in tattooing.

§

An unscientific, and unauthorized, study I personally conducted with my binoculars revealed an approximate 3:1 ratio of inked to non-inked on the beach this year, not counting the sailors.  Most of the ink walking around, or bending over,

appeared to be on the under-30 crowd; although with every passing year that will shift and eventually leave the viewing (peeking) public with a eye full of aging bodies sporting gravity bound images as testimony to their wilder days or bad fashion sense.  

For those who haven't fallen under the spell of counter-culture influences, or Angelina Jolie, there's henna and air-brushing, allowing you to switch out your art now and then. Vacation art is popular with the younger beach crowd around here. 

"Daddy!  Look what I got!" has probably brought a few strong men to their knees, but what fashionable, rebel daughter can resist drama that good?  

^{My niece's father was furious! It was sooo worth it.}

The nice thing about temporary is, well... it's temporary, and it might make it harder for someone to identify you in a line-up later. 

It could also prevent an arrest for child abuse...

No babies were injured in the making of this post.

_{Photos credits embeded in photo images}

^{See Ben Widdicome's article in the NYT here}

^{References: Angelina Jolie and photos are here}