In
my last blog entry I referred to a social life after death; that is the lasting
influence and meaning – the social continuation – of an individual in the lives
of others after their death.
In
Memories and Memorials (1) and (2) I wrote about some of the ways and
forms, from the funeral/memorial ceremony onwards, that the living commemorate the
memory of the dead. That grief in an embodied experience – something that we
experience physically as well as emotionally – is well recognised and
understood. Furthermore, it is possible to commemorate a loved one through body
modification via a memorial tattoo. A tattoo of this type is yet another form
of ‘autobiographical occasion’, demonstrating through image, words, colour and
ink (it is even possible to mix some of the deceased's ashes with the tattoo ink)
the relationship between the self and the other, telling at least part of the story of the
bearer’s relationship and interconnections with the person who has died.
Tattooing is one of the most persistent and universal forms of body
modification. In many societies tattoos, alongside scarification and body
painting, are recognized as markers of rites of passage. Historically in Western
society tattoos were often associated with deviance although the incidence and social acceptance
of tattooing has increased with varying sources suggesting that between 25% and
38% of us (slightly more men than women) now have at least one tattoo with
almost 20% of people having two or more.
I am honoured to be part of a project initiated and maintained by
Deborah Davidson (York University, Ontario). Deborah is coordinating a public-professional-academic
collaboration, built around the curation and study of commemorative tattoos –
tattoos which are understood by their contributors as being in recognition of a
living or deceased person, animal, place, relationship, or important life event
or transition. The user-generated digital library of commemorative tattoos and
accompanying narratives is available to view and contribute to at:
The
Tattoo Project
We are our
stories and our tattoos are how we remember never to forget (Isaac Fitzgerald
in Pen and Ink, 2014: x).
Not
only does the site provide a repository for commemorative tattoos it serve as a
cultural heritage site, acknowledging and sharing important memories of
contemporary lived experience and will be of use to researchers and in the
development of ongoing relationships among
academics, professionals (e.g. artists, counsellors, social workers, and
celebrants) and people in general.
No comments:
Post a Comment