Tattoos

Body Art is one thing the fascinates many people. In fact, according to Statistic Brains, 14 percent of the U.S. population have at least one tattoo on their body. Their survey says that the total percentage of people in the United States who says they're "addicted to ink" is 32 percent. What makes these people say this? Well from my prespective, these designs and art on the human skin expresses one's creativity and artsy side with the others. Kind of like graffiti, tattoos are a way share the meanings of the body art with the public; only difference is that tattoos are permanent.

Researching the body art, I came across an article, What Are Tattoos and Where Did They Originate. The article says that the word tattoo derived from the Tahitian word tattau, which means "to mark". The article also give a brief description of how the process of getting a tattoo is done. Tattoos are made by penetrating your skin with a needle and injecting ink into the area, usually creating some sort of design. What makes tattoos so long-lasting is that they're so deep, the ink is not injected into the top layer of pone's skin. Instead, the ink is injected into the second layer of the skin which make the tattoo practically permanent.

Today, tattoos are done by a modern tattoo machine. Be aware that in some countries in the world, tattoos are still done manually, and I know this by living in another country (Liberia). In Tracy V. Wilson's article "How Tattoos Work", she provides the component's of a morden tattoo machine, which are:

• A sterilized needle
• A tube system, which draws the ink through the machine
• An electric motor
• A foot pedal,which controls the vertical movement of the needle.

In contrast to the previous article, Wilson goes into great depth about creating a to tattoo and many facts one should know about the art.

Tattoos can have over a million different designs; from tribal, to abstract, to a portrait, to words. The ink shows a variety of colors and will forever stay put.

Tribal Tattoo

Glow-in-the-dark Tattoo

Quote Tattoo

From my personal experiences, I have taken a friend of mine to get his tattoo done. It took about 4 hours to get an image of the Greek God Poseidon tatted on his arm. The tattoo artist, Archelle, started off by tracing the picture onto a piece of paper, then afterwards she traced the stencil drawing onto his arm with a marker. After the outline was completed, she went right to work with the needle. The outlining of the tattoo was the longest part; the shading took about 30 minutes.

My friend, Marcus, getting his tattoo.

From my own knowledge of tattoos, high-paying jobs in the United States classifies tattoos as some sort of "bad image" to an individual. You don't see too many doctors or lawyer with a whole sleeve tatted on them, but if you do, it is covered up or in a place where one would have to search for it. I think it's like this because many people who have tattoos are affiliated with gangs or some sort of violence. Tattoos seem "unprofessional", but if those people can only open their eyes to see the true meaning of the art, tattoos should not be a problem.

My opinion on tattoos is that they are a work of art, especially when they have meaning to it. Im getting a couple tattoos myself on my 18th birthday in August. One is going to be The Seed of Life with the quote "Everything is connected. We are all God's children.", which will be located on my side where my rib cage is. The second tattoo is going to run down my spine stating, " My mother is my backbone" in Arabic. To me, the body is a canvass.