Chris Garnier, photographer for National Geographic said about the practice of tattooing that “many cultures around the globe consider the body a canvas waiting to tell a story”. From tribes in New Guinea to members of neighborhood gangs in Los Angeles, tattoos tell personal stories about coming of age, fidelity and loyalty, authority and intimidation, or religious beliefs.
Archaeological findings indicate that this practice was present in Japan since the Paleolithic and in Egypt since antiquity. The name comes from the term “tatau” which is spelled and pronounced the same in Tahiti and Samoa because the Pacific islands are where European sailors first encountered this form of body painting.
While other discoveries specific to the period managed to influence European culture after a long time, tattoos were almost immediately taken over by sailors and then by the European population. Given that the first to adopt this form of expression were sailors, criminals and generally people from the lower class of society, for a very long time tattoos had a negative meaning.
