Divine Judge Judy tattoo
Via Jezebel, the "Only Judge Can Judge Me" tattoo--a parody of the popular "Only God Can Judge Me" tattoo featured previously on Miami Ink--and the BofG.
May 27, 2008
May 09, 2008
Alien bald head tattoo
All this and more in No Regrets, featured in Needled.
April 11, 2008
Inked--a sermon series on tattoos
The pastor: preaching about the virtue of tattoos. His wife: a tattooed massage therapist.
If you want to understand why old-school Christian fundamentalists are fading, this article, via Needled, is not a bad place to start.
January 15, 2008
Hindu Super Mario tattoo
A wonderful creative mashup by Jason Lambert of Eye Candy Tattoos. It may seem like an odd combination, but the commonalities between Hinduism and Super Mario have actually been a topic of discussion for some time.
January 11, 2008
"Hello Kitty is My Jesus" Tattoo Hell
Some blogs are a labor of love. Others, not so much:
Sent in by tattoo artist Brian from Youngstown, Ohio who deserves the worst of the worst that Hello Kitty can offer for not only thinking for a second that it was a good idea to send this photo to me, but for also giving notice of what 2008 is going to be like in Hello Kitty Hell…
Via Neatorama
January 09, 2008
Tattoed bones and crosses
Via FFFFound
December 08, 2007
Celtic tattoo bra
Chemorox, the "original bitter cancer blog," provides a compelling alternative to the glib repacking of breast cance as an upbeat journey toward spiritual affirmation. (Quick aside: The entry with the Burger King sign is jaw-dropping.) Below: a Celtic-themed tattoo bra, which she concludes "sure beats the fake areola/nipple thing."
October 04, 2007
Devilish tattoos (NSFW!)
One of my favorite quotes from Marshall McLuhan is "We become what we behold. We shape our tools and then our tools shape us."
So here we go.
Yesterday I wrote about censorship; today, I censor. If you have no inhibitions about pictures that are not safe for work--really NSFW--click here for pictures of tattoos strategically placed over male and female genitalia.
A couple of the images: devils. There's also one of Willie Nelson, who besides being an outlaw is a religious troubadour.
August 26, 2007
LA Ink: Born as Ghosts skull and Circle of Life dragon tattoos
Re-broadcast on Sunday night (and no doubt many times to come), the first episode of the new season of Miami LA Ink features several tattoos with spiritual roots. Here are two.
First, Eric Balfour's skull tattoo drawn from the Mexican folk art:
And below, the Ouroboros tattoo, patterned after the symbol described on the show as the circle-of-life-dragon-eating-its-tail:
August 02, 2007
Blingdom Pepsi tattoo video
The UK division of Pepsi has launched a creative mashup video campaign in which individuals can customize a video. The hook: it's of a girl getting your name tattooed. Always game to see the latest in pop culture (and iconic tattoos) I gave it a go in the name of this site. Click here for the video and be sure to watch through to the very end--turns out the BofG is the punchline of the campaign!
June 19, 2007
Caduveo tattoos
The desire to transcend natural determinism is a basic human impulse. Claude Levi-Strauss, in his classic study Structural Anthropology, describes how the Caduveo of Brazil expressed this fundamental sense of dualism through elaborate tattoos and other cultural practices. For more on Levi-Strauss, Caduvean art and the nature of nature itself, check out this illuminating meditation from yesterday's New York Times.
April 11, 2007
Scripture tattoos
How many times has this happened to you--you're out at a pub with your friends, knocking back a wee bit of whiskey and brew, and the next morning you wake up groggy and confused with Psalm 1 tattooed down your back.
OK, probably never, but this tattoo does call to mind an interesting phenomenon. Almost from the start, Christianity has been a religion of the book. This aspect of its identity has taken numerous forms, not least of which is a recurring tendency within some quarters to value text over image as a means of expressing one's faith.
As we move beyond the Gutenberg era, however, we shouldn't be surprised to see the text itself become an image of belief. Or is this verbal display a not-so-subtle form of resistance, colonizing the tattoo form with words? You be the judge!
More Scripture tattoos here.
April 09, 2007
Tattoo miscue
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, especially when someone is imprinting it on your body with indelible ink. Here's a revealing look at the problems that can result when neither you nor your tattooist know enough about sacred words & symbols. HT: The divine Ms. Emick.
March 20, 2007
Let a Jesuit remove your tattoo
As long-time readers may have noticed, tattoos occupy a rather sizable mansion in the Blingdom of God.
But not all toos are divine. Gang tattoos may connect young people to an identity greater than themselves, but to destructive ends.
Ya 'Stuvo tattoo removal is a service offered by Homeboy Industries, an urban social enterprise founded by Father Greg Boyd, S.J. Its aim: to help youth transition from gang life and transition into mainstream jobs.
February 20, 2007
Phil Hansen's body paint and Bible art
Phil Hansen is an artist who explores the interplay of technology and personal identity. Below is a video of his influences--painted on his torso in a series of overlays, which he then peeled off and offered for sale as a single piece. Also be sure to click here for one of his series of Bible portraits: an image of Rosa Parks composed of photocopied Bible pages. The image is visible only when backlit by lights placed within the frame.
January 22, 2007
Our Lord on thigh
January 13, 2007
Rubaiyat tattoo
This tattoo is taken from the st. 119 of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. The woman who posted this describes it as "My Creed." Her translation is below; click here for more.
"Don't remember the last day,
Don't cry for the future,
In the past and in the future don't believe,
Live today and don't lose in the wind your life."
December 10, 2006
Not quite perpetual virgin
Above: a Virgin Mary temporary tattoo from Stickergiant.com. For those Catholics who are tentatively hardcore.
My favorite part about this item, however, is the image right below it on its original Sticker Giant page:
And what else is there to say about the next sticker? Ummmmmmmmm . . . .
December 07, 2006
Cognitive dissonance
A religion professor with tattoos? How can that be?
That, anyway, is what Dalhousie University apparently expects you to think when you see this photo from its latest ad campaign. Professor Chris Helland not only has tattoos, but he writes on a number of topics of interest to the B of G.
Whether the rest of the university lives up to the hype is of course an open question--most universities say they love innovation until someone actually innovates.
For a place where you can expect the unexpected on a more regular basis, check out the site where I originally found this image: Marisa DiMattia's needled.com. For an intriguing look at the tattoo community and the pursuit of higher meaning in life, Marisa's Suicide Girls interview with her artistic husband is a good place to start.
December 05, 2006
Endangered species
"Yemeni brides have long commemorated their life changes by ornamenting their skin with patterns of dye, an art called nagsh."
That's the opening to this newspaper article from Yemen, but it's not just human interest filler. It's a lengthy and informative report on how new fashions are threatening the future of this traditional art form. Check it out for much, much more.
December 03, 2006
Synchronicity
The story behind this Flickr photo is wonderful:
"When I met Vern, I was taking a break from cycling through Blanchard Park. We were both enjoying the afternoon outdoors. I was reading Marshal Mcluhan's 'The Medium is the Massage' and he asked me about what the book was trying to say. While giving him a quick synopsis I noticed his tattoo, one strikingly similar to a centerspread image in Mcluhan's prophetic book."
November 30, 2006
Tat like an Egyptian
The dubiously Egyptian symbol for Only God Can Judge Me continues to be elusive is indeed not Egyptian at all. For the full story, look down about five lines for the update. For how other languages say "Only God Can Judge Me," click here for a lively discussion of Cantonese, Hebrew, Latin and other translations. For an instructive guide to key Egyptian religious symbols that could easily be adapted to tattoos, check out this page on Jennifer Emick's Alt-Religion site. And for the connection between this tattoo and Tupac Shakur, read my first story on the tattoo.
Update: SOLVED!
Just got an email from the divine Ms. E on the symbol in question. As I suspected, "long story short, it's not Egyptian." It's actually
Ashanti, from adinkra designs for funeral cloth. It's "Gya nyame," and it means "god alone" or "the presence of God."
You can find the symbol on her site here (third one down), and a stencil (useful for tattoos?) here.
Gotta run--more later--but if you haven't already be sure to check out Jennifer Emick's site. It's an invaluable resource!
November 28, 2006
Only God Can Judge Me
UPDATE: Mystery solved. For an explanation of the symbol (and a stencil for copying), click here.
Miami Ink is a popular tv show about tattoos, and it has not been shy about displaying religious imagery. The video below is of a Texas pastor--Pastor Cleetus--getting a Jesus tattoo. Another popular tattoo has been what is purported to be an Egyptian symbol for "Only God Can Judge Me."
Don't know about the Egyptian symbol part--unlike the "G" in B of G I'm not omniscient (yet!) and I don't have the time to go beyond the research I've already done. However, I do know why "Only God Can Judge Me" has emerged as a particularly popular tattoo trope. The contemporary source of this meme was Tupac Shakur, who had "Only God Can Judge Me" tattooed next to a cross on his chest & performed a signature rap by the same title. This stanza is particularly haunting when you consider how he ultimately died:
I hear the doctor standing over me
screaming I can make it
Got a body full of bullet holes
Laying here naked
Still I can't breathe
something evil's in my I-V
Cuz everytime I breathe
I think they're killing me
I'm having nightmares
Homicidal fantansies
I wake up stranglin'
Danglin'
from my bed sheets
I call the nurse
cuz it hurts
To reminisce
How could it come to this ?
I wish they dind't miss
somebody help me
Tell me where to go from here ?
August 29, 2006
Tattoos of Intention
More from the Frederick News-Post article noted earlier today, of interest to folks examining such issues as social entrepreneurship or memory, identity and our moral sense:
A proponent of gentrifying tattooing's historically unsavory image beyond the biker, gang member and service person stereotype, Mr. Street agrees that he has a "moral and ethical obligation to talk to people about the effects of the (desired) tattoo on their life," and quickly ticks off a list of reasons people get tattoos.
He notes that in many cases -- as in one where a recovered rape victim requested a genital tattoo -- the tattoo represents emotional or spiritual healing. Such "tattoos of intention," he says, are his favorites, but Mr. Street admits the enduring appeal of "in memory of" tattoos, and those commemorating military units, religious affiliation, milestones and gang membership.
"Sometimes you're just committed to an idea," he explains, "and you want to manifest that idea on your body." Mr. Street, who also will not do "hate" tattoos and deplores any sexual harassment in the industry, says the "old school" designs from the "Sailor Jerry" flash collection, however, are still in demand, but that people are becoming more individual in their tastes.
Extending the Skin
In last Sunday's New York Times, David Brooks cast a friendly yet critical eye at the burgeoning trend toward tattoos. His central themes were the impermanence of permant expressions . . .
They don’t always work out — on the reality show “Miami Ink” a woman tried to have her “I will succeed thru Him” tattoo altered after she grew sick of religion — but the longing for permanence is admirable.
and the superficial nature of tattooed nonconformity:
And that’s the most delightful thing about the whole tattoo fad. A cadre of fashion-forward types thought they were doing something to separate themselves from the vanilla middle classes but are now discovering that the signs etched into their skins are absolutely mainstream. They are at the beach looking across the acres of similar markings and learning there is nothing more conformist than displays of individuality, nothing more risk-free than rebellion, nothing more conservative than youth culture.
It's a fun essay with obvious targets, but like so many in this genre it confuses the part for the whole. For a more extensive look at the psychology of tattoos and artistic enterprise, check out this extensive article from the Frederick News Post, replete with observations not usually found in local suburban papers:
The mother-son answers make intuitive sense and even seem complementary in that each represents a distinct side of the sex-as-power theory of male-female relations. But, as it turns out, the centuries-old appeal of trans-cutaneous body adornment is many-sided -- and perhaps that's one reason Ms. Dearstine's venture is doing so well.
FLASHBACK EXTRA:
Longtime readers of the BofG will, of course, remember this:
Just we have long worn clothing has as "an extension of the skin" both to warm our bodies and to define ourselves, many now freely using their skin as an extension of their soul. This should not come as no surprise. Back in 1964 Marshall McLuhan observed that
After centuries of being fully clad and of being contained in uniform visual space, the electric age ushers us into a world in which we live and breathe and listen with the entire epidermis.
June 10, 2006
Tattoo U.S.
Tattoo Nation--the U.S. is getting inked. Below: an excerpt, including a discussion of new tattoo technology that promises to make a tattoo as easy to remove as a piece of jewelry.
So why has body art become so popular?
Laumann and others believe it allows people to broadcast to the world what they are all about. Others call it sign of rebellion or a rite of passage. The survey found nearly three-fourths of the pierced and nearly two-thirds of the tattooed made the leap before 24.
"It's a very easy way to express something that you think represents part of your identity -- that you don't have to tell someone but you can just have seen," said Chelsea Farrell, 21, an American University senior from Albany, New York Farrell has a tattooed fish on each hip and a Celtic knot on the small of her back.
. . .
Freedom-2 LLC, a Philadelphia company co-founded by Anderson, hopes to launch the first of two lines of not-so-permanent tattoo inks next year, though without FDA approval. . . .
A second ink, to be available in 2008, would rely on the same technology, except the capsules would dissolve on their own. Depending on the version, the tattoos would naturally vanish after six months, 12 months or 24 months.
"It will be like wearing a tattoo like it's jewelry, where you will be able to take it off. It will just fade on its own," Schmieg said.
June 08, 2006
Killer tats
"Allah's Apostle said, 'The evil eye is a fact,' and he forbade tattooing." At least that's what it says in the Hadith, or sayings of the Prophet Muhammed, which also contain several other anecdotes suggesting that tattoos are forbidden in Islam.
Were you to ask Usama bin Laden, this might help explain why Allah allowed Iraqi insurgent Abu al-Zarqawi to be killed. As noted in this month's Atlantic (HT: AS) when bin Laden and al-Zarqawi met, UBL did not look too kindly upon al-Zarqawi's indulgence in tinted flesh:
According to several different accounts of the meeting, bin Laden distrusted and disliked al-Zarqawi immediately. . . . [He] disliked al-Zarqawi's swagger and the green tattoos on his left hand, which he reportedly considered un-Islamic.
Why the apparent stricture on tattoos? One reason is evident from the verse quoted above: the association of tattoos with paganism. Another lies more generally in Muhammed's prohibition of any mutilation or maiming of the human body--a precept that al-Zarqawi seemed to interpret rather liberally, at least when it came to beheading infidels.
Perhaps, then, it is only appropriate that "tattoos and scars helped U.S. troops identify al-Zarqawi's body."
April 29, 2006
Oklahomart
Oklahoma is the last state of the union to prohibit tattoos. But not for long. Both houses of the Oklahoma legislature have passed a bill to legalize & regulate tattooing.
The development sparked a two-part series on tattoos & piercings in Oklahoma's Tahlequah Daily Press. What is particularly revealing about these articles is their emphasis on the legitimacy of tattoos from a Christian perspective. Part I, on tattoos, contains this lengthy apologia:
Chris Craig, “CC” as he’s known to his friends, has several tattoos, all speak to his spirituality.
“People get the wrong impression about people who have tattoos,” said Craig. “Mine are very religious. People might know more about Christianity if they actually read their Bibles.”
According to Craig, the popular Bible passage relating to not injuring oneself relates more to pagan ritual.
“The Bible says you’re not supposed to ‘let blood for the dead,’” said Craig. “Which means you’re not supposed to participate in ritualistic destruction of your body to raise the dead, things like that.”
Craig is a friend of the Smiths, and Karen is quick to talk about his devotion to God.
“If you’ll notice, he has flames tattooed up and down both arms,” said Karen. “He was in a really bad motorcycle accident and died three or four times before they completely revived him. His tattoos are a reflection of God saving his life. One says ‘Only God can judge me.’”
According to Karen, Craig lived one way before the accident, and lives a completely different way now.
“Chris is in church every Wednesday and Sunday,” she said. “He’s also a member of the Christian Motorcycle Association.”
Safari has a number of customers who are preachers part-time, according to Karen.
“People need to lose the idea that tattoos are bad or wrong,” she said.
And Part II, on piercings, is accompanied by a man wearing a cross pendant & an Aslan shirt as he gets another pierce:
Skin is a Language Revisited
A while back as part of our exploration of spiritual tattoos we noted the exhibit at the Whitney on Skin is a Language. Click here for a longer look at this exhibit and "the complex connections between skin and society."
April 13, 2006
Just don't call them "guns"
Suzanne Sataline, who wrote the fun article on the atheist who sold his soul on eBay to a Christian, has a new article in today's Wall Street Journal on a Pennsylvania church that communicates its message through drama and tattoos.
February 24, 2006
Skin is a Language
Folks interested in spiritual tattoos might want to check out a few of the following resources.
- "Skin is a Language," an exhibit now running at the Whitney Museum in New York.
- "Skin Deep," an exhibit currently touring the UK
- Spiritual Tattoo by John Rush (plus a number of other interesting books that show up on the linked Amazon page) and of course,
- The Christian Tattoo Association (which I'm reeeeeaaaallllyyyy glad I didn't know about back when I was 16!)
February 23, 2006
Tattoo You
A charity auction isn't the only measure the Pope could take to counter criticism that his lavish fashion sense is too materialistic. He could also replace his expensive bling with a far cheaper tattoo.
As this newspaper article observes, religious tattoos are on the rise in the U.S., from the Bible verses on Duke's J.J. Redick and to the Hindu lotus flower.
Just we have long worn clothing has as "an extension of the skin" both to warm our bodies and to define ourselves, many now freely using their skin as an extension of their soul. This should not come as no surprise. Back in 1964 Marshall McLuhan observed that
After centuries of being fully clad and of being contained in uniform visual space, the electric age ushers us into a world in which we live and breathe and listen with the entire epidermis.
The Bahai tattoo above represents the fundamental unity of all religions, but it could also symbolize what McLuhan referred to as the "all-at-onceness" created by electronic technology. People, places, objects, time--everything now flows together, smashing the divisions and taboos of the literate West. Which also brings with the supreme irony of our technological age--
by immersing us in a world in which every surface is a communications medium, computers and the Web have actually helped revive our tribal spirit.