Article in Sunday's Tribune Magazine

Reku

Only just got around to having a browse just a few minutes ago and noticed there was an article on body mods:
link

MORE THAN SKIN DEEP
WHAT do Otzi the Iceman, Amy Winehouse and Winston Churchill's mum have in common? They all partook in dermal pigmentation, commonly known as tattooing.

Since prehistoric times, it's been used as a way of visually marking who we are, whether that's the tribe to which you belong, or as the subvert with a skull fixation. It's recently become so prevalent marketers are even getting on the bandwagon . . .

Dunlop offer free tyres to anyone who tattoos themselves with their logo (98 people have taken them up on the offer).

The world's most famous footballer, David Beckham, and his wife Victoria are laden with words and drawings. In his new home of LA, other notables with tatts include Angelina Jolie, Christina Ricci, Pamela Anderson, Johnny Depp, and the otherwise straight-laced David Duchovny.

"It's more common than people think, " agrees Cork studio owner Brian Allman. "I'm a tattoo artist of 18 years and the only profession I haven't worked on are nuns."

Yet while the mainstream are increasingly embracing tattoos, those who may have signed up in the past are now turning to other forms of body modification.

"Across the world, body modification fanatics are looking back to its origins . . . as markings of indigenous people . . . to get new ideas. Scarification, which is when you create a cut and keep the wound open for as long as possible to leave a patterned mark, is becoming a new trend. Branding is popular internationally but hasn't taken off here yet. It stemmed from African-American students, who have turned the idea of being branded as slaves on its head . . . it's their choice now."

Yet for the most part, tattoos and piercings remain the most common form of body art. It's estimated in the States one in four adults are tattooed which indicates a similar figure for Ireland, if not more because there are no minimum-age laws "Tattoo parlours rely on common sense. Like the large majority of places, we don't accept people under 16, even for piercings.

"When they're young, I feel more inclined to intervene if they're getting something done they might regret. A 16-year-old boy came in with his dad and wanted a pictured of a balaclavaed gunman, but I turned him away. At that age, his political views weren't developed enough to have them marked out on his skin for the rest of his life."

Of the many factors involved, one's age is less important than the studio of choice, warns Brian. "It's easy to fix a poorly-done tattoo, but it's not easy to fix a disease if you get one from a place that practises bad hygiene."

For the most part, the tattooed and the pierced walk out happy. Their parents, on the other hand, may not be so thrilled!



TATTOO'S COMPANY
MAEVE KINSELLA, 24, WITH BOYFRIEND DANNY KINSELLA, 31

MYSELF and Danny became attracted to each other not because of the tattoos per se, but because it implies we have common interests and a similar way of thinking. There's a whole tattoo community, and they tend to be creative and able to express themselves well. They're comfortable in their own skin, they know who they are and they're not worried about fitting in.

There's no real jealousy in terms of who's got the best tattoo, either between us or any of our friends. If you get something done, people are genuinely interested in it and if it's really well done, they'll ask you where you got it from, but there's no sense of oneupmanship.

Both of us used to have more piercings but most of them have come out. We used to have the top of our gum pierced so a ring would sit on top of our front teeth, but it was damaging the teeth so we decided to take them out.

Our tattoos are incredibly unique but we felt we wanted to share something, so I drew a skull and we got different versions of that.

Mine's smaller and more colourful and his is larger and one colour, which is what he prefers.

I also brought in all the different flowers that Danny had bought me because I wanted them in a collage, but the tattooist thought they were too different to make into a coherent design so I went for a Japanese-style flower. Danny paid for it so it's still a reminder of him.

We do spur each other on a little, but we're also good at supporting each other when we get tattoos. We'll always make sure the other has had enough to eat before we get one done, and afterwards Danny will egg me on to do all the things you're supposed to with new tattoos, like wrap it in cling film before going to bed. Sometimes it's the last thing I want to do but he insists on it, bless him.



GEISHA GIRL
FIONA REILLY, 21

I got my first tattoo just after I finished school. I wanted to do something big to celebrate the end of it, so I decided on that.

I'd been toying with the idea of getting a black rose for ages anyway because I think they're pretty and feminine. I got it on my lower back . . . the typical place for girls! I was nervous because I had no idea what to expect. Now I've had a few done, I know that it hurts a differing amount depending on where you get them done and how close it is to the bone.

Piercings are sore for a few days after but tattoos hurt when you get them, and after that they're just a little tender.

My parents weren't too mad when I told them I wanted a tattoo. They're getting more concerned as the tattoos are getting bigger though. My mum likes the look of them but thinks I'm a lunatic . . . she doesn't understand why I can't just draw it on a piece of paper and hang it on a wall. My dad just looks at them and shakes his head.

My biggest tattoo is on my back, of a geisha figure. The design is from a video game, of all places, but when I saw it I thought it looked elegant. Because it's so huge I had to think about it before I got it, but I instinctively knew I would. I wanted a unique design, not something that was from a poster.

Everyone always asks how I'm going to feel about my tattoos when I'm 80 but I say the say the same thing: every person that age is wrinkly, it's just my wrinkles will have a different pattern. I'm going to be a colourful granny.



A CUT ABOVE
RONALD LACHOWICZ, 22

I come from a small town in the north of Poland called Kwidzyn. It's a conservative place where they don't easily accept people that are slightly alternative.

I'm the most modified of anyone I've met.

I haven't counted how many piercings I've had, but I've also got a split tongue, implants in my skin and scarification lines under my chest.

I remember being fascinated by a calendar of The Prodigy I owned. I saw their piercings and I couldn't wait until I was 18 so that I could get my lower lip done. I'm not going to lie . . . it really hurt but as soon as I looked in the mirror when I got home I not only realised that it was worth it, but that I was definitely going to get even more of them done.

The problem was that no studio in Poland offered what I wanted to get done, so I had to do most of it myself. It's the best way of getting to know your body.

If I'm going to go a procedure, I always make sure I've read plenty about it and have the proper, sterlised equipment. The split tongue was one of the most painful things in my life. It wasn't after the event that hurt, it was the actual cutting . . . when you're picking up the scalpel and slicing. It bled solidly for a good hour and a half, it was so stressful.

I don't have any regrets about my modification though; I just regret the way that society treats me.

I can't get a job in Poland so I've come to Ireland but I'm having no success here either so I have to go back. I applied to plenty of stores, but no luck.

One department store wouldn't even talk to me the first time and the second time they flatly said they don't accept people who looked like me.

Everything's proven that I'm effectively shut out of the 'normal' world.

But I never wanted to be different, I just wanted to be me.



SHIP SHAPE
MARK MOONEY, 22

I wanted a tattoo since I was 16 but my parents were against it until I turned 18.

When I finally got to go, I was turned away because I didn't have any ID. I think that's an acceptable age to get a tattoo.

You're allowed to drink and smoke . . . you can do whatever the hell you want at that age. I'm spending the money on something that doesn't hurt anyone else and it's not detrimental to my health . . . I'd rather be inked than stuck in a gutter injecting myself with heroin!

The tattoos don't affect my work either. I'm an apprentice carpenter, and tattoos are acceptable in that trade. It's all about context . . . I can understand why you couldn't work in a bank with neck tattoos, but I can walk into an old lady's house and they wouldn't say a word.

I'm not worried about whether I'll like my tattoos in years to come. I work with someone who's 60 and he's got a terrible tattoo of a skull with a dagger and a snake going through it. He regrets it because he didn't think it through . . . and that's the key.

You have to be absolutely sure about what you're getting. My tatts aren't completely different to any trend, which means they won't look old-fashioned in decades to come.

They're timeless, not like a Celtic or tribal design. I wouldn't get a skull either, also because it's too aggressive. Well, I have skull on the ship on my chest but it's not an aggressive tattoo . . . if anything it's reminiscent of Peter Pan.

I've got a few tattoos done almost as dares, like the ship. A friend and I made a pact to get a mad tattoo, so I got this and he still doesn't have his done. I also have a tattoo on my ass of Calvin of Calvin & Hobbes, holding a balloon with my girlfriend's name . . . if the worst comes to the worst I can always fill in the balloon!

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CELEBRITY TATTOOS

AMY WINEHOUSE
Retro and far from subtle, Amy's tats are really, really cool. Sure, an anchor with 'Hello Sailor' on your stomach isn't going to look so great when you're 50 but somehow, we suspect that such worries are the last thing on her mind. Less cool however is one on her bosom, with an arrow pointing down, declaring it to be the property of her jailbird husband, Blake.

CHERYL COLE
A swirly butterfly on her lower back and some kind of tribal yoke on her upper thigh had placed the Girls Aloud singer firmly on the pedestrian side of tattooing. Since getting 'Mrs Cole' inscribed on the back of her neck in homage to husband Ashley, she's upped the ink ante quite a bit and we're curious to see what she does next.

CHRISTINA AGUILERA
Keeps an international flavour to hers with a Hebrew message on her back, a Spanish one on her arm and an Irish one (allegedly) on her thigh. And you couldn't miss the massive 'Xtina' plastered across the back of her neck.

JOHNNY DEPP
Proudly sports 13 different ones including one for his mum, Betty Sue, his daughter Lily-Rose and his son Jack. His most infamous tat is the one he got on his right bicep to celebrate his engagement to Winona Ryder, which read 'Winona Forever'. When they split he had it amended to 'Wino Forever', which must be something of a relief to current paramour Vanessa Paradis.

BRITNEY SPEARS
If 13-year-old girls were allowed by law to get tattoos, they'd probably get ones just like Britney's . . . a fairy, dice, a star, a butterfly. She also has the Chinese symbol of mystery on her lower stomach and a message in Hebrew on the back of her neck? Not that she has the slightest notion as to what they mean. She'll probably get the Starbucks logo done next.

Would be better if they included the pics that they have in the hardcopy version, particularly for Ronald Lachowicz story, he has around 20 facial piercings so it is a bit hard to miss, can't tell for certain due to the angle the picture was taken from but either he has pretty severely stretched lobes or wears braclet sized earnings (at a guess about 1cm wide, 1 cm thick and with an inner diameter of 1.5 - 2 inches).

Gauge

The third guy is xRonix I'm pretty sure... he's posted here once or twice.

Will

gauge that was the woman who interviewed myself and yourself, she told me they just went with the couple. havent botherd reading it, will now

Gauge

I figured as such

Edit: Didn't get interviewed by her though.

Double Edit: Oh my God, Brian Allman? Brian f*cking ALLMAN? That man has no right to refer to himself an artist, or even a professional and I'm just glad she didn't name his studio because the last thing he needs is publicity.

Will

ooh ok, guess i wasnt interesting enough for her then, oh well!

boss^is^dead

Gauge wrote: »

Double Edit: Oh my God, Brian Allman? Brian f*cking ALLMAN? That man has no right to refer to himself an artist, or even a professional and I'm just glad she didn't name his studio because the last thing he needs is publicity.

as a matter of interest who is that guy? Raven?Tattoo Zoo?? Their the only 2 I remember from when I used to live there!

porn_star

why'd he say it's easy to fix a badly done tattoo when for the most part, his are the ones needing to be fixed.