Hidden Art

As part of a module for my journalism course, I decided to investigate into how popular tattoo art has become in the last ten years around Ireland. Once seen as the hobby of sailors, bikers and wrongdoers in society, they now appear to have seen a revival of interest in the youth of today. Perhaps it was the lowering of social 'barricades' which had existed for so long in Ireland, following the ruling of the catholic church. 

These days, you are just as likely to see a young woman sporting a tattoo on her upper arm as a beer-swilling, hairy metal music fan at a festival.

Of course, chances are that the tattoos will be very different pieces of art, but the basic procedure is the same. So this has interested me, how come our mindset has changed so dramatically. And what are people getting done and why?

Surely it must be deeper than just walking into a tattoo shop, pointing at a design and saying, Little Britain style, 'Want that one'.

So tattooed people of Dublin and surrounding Ireland, I want YOUR pictures, YOUR thoughts and YOUR tattoos on this page! If you have a passion for paint, a taste for tattoos, an affinity for art then get in touch and tell me why you got your art and what it means.

First off, I think I will share my most recent acquisition with everyone, the start of my lower leg tattoo. It does symbolise a couple of ideas for me. For a start, it is a female warrior, not the more common male. This is to show females are not weak, we are stronger than we look and we can fight our own battles. Yet this I contrasted with the roses at the front, the symbol of femininity.  And why?

Well my attitude is- Why not? My tattooist, Rob, has a degree in Art. So technically speaking this makes him an artist. And artists create pieces of art. So my unfinished legwork is a piece of art in the making. If a canvas can be made of stretched hide over a wooden backing, why not just skip the entire skinning and drying process and use fresh skin?