Since the 1970s, tattoos have become a mainstream part of global and Western fashion, common among both sexes, to all economic classes, and to age groups from the later teen years to middle age. (source of text Wikipedia).
Different people, different tattoos and different reasons for being inked, each of these tattoos has a significance to the individual which goes beyond being a fashion statement and becomes a way to honour family, keep in touch with a childhood memory, celebrate a passion, remind us of youthful adventure and a mark of respect for loved ones lost.
Each of the contributors provide their words, their stories, we take the image.
Never Too
it was a drunken night,was late,5:30/6:00a.m.
me and 1 friend o’ mine,
she told me some word..
these words “it’s never too late to do something”
i was like impressed for that,
‘couse remember..
it’s never too late
it’s never too far
..never too young
in other words “never too..”
The Mermaid
It’s by a guy called Harry Clarke – he did loads of illustrations back in the 30s (I think) for stories – Edgar Allen Poe, Hans Christian Anderson, etc. This is from his illustrations of The Little Mermaid. I found it in a book when I was about 8, and it’s stuck in my head ever since, but I only found out a couple of years ago who it was actually by!
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Ally
I had that done back in March 2006. My fiancé committed suicide and I had that done 4 days afterwards. As life has moved on (and I have started seeing someone else) I have contemplated having it removed but I can’t actually bear to do it. Not due to the physical, mental or emotional pain but just that it has now become a part of me like a scar or a mole. I actually don’t see it or notice it that much but probably would if I had it removed.
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Symbols
Had this back in 2002 just after the christening of my Goddaughter Lydia. It stands for her name and the “02” part that of the year she was born in. I have made a conscious decision not to have kids and she would be and is the closest I expect to having a kid in my life. Needless to say we are incredibly close.
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Ladies Shoe
I was 18, with a friend and we both decided to do our own tattoos, using sewing pins strung together and dipped in indian ink (yes, very painful, but alcoholic beverages & other substances numbed the pain). A few weeks earlier, I had made a litho print – I was at art school then – which featured a woman sitting in a chair between two Greek columns (Greek columns were very popular icons in the 80s!). My then printmaking teacher run a circle around the woman’s shoe in the picture and said : “This is really interesting – you should do something with these shoes”. So I did, this tattoo, which includes the circle my teacher made on the print. It was just some marking on paper, made by her without much consideration or thinking and now I have it branded on my chest for the rest of my life. I have had to explain this tattoo loads of times and have considered having something else done to cover it – once as recently as 2 months ago during a trip to Brighton – but always change my mind at the last minute.
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Dragon Formula
This is my theory of relativity, the E is my first initial, the M is my daughter’s and the C is my son’s. The number 7 is a significant number for my family as it crops up an uncanny amount of times for example my son is exactly 7 years, 7 months and 7 days younger than my daughter. The dragon symbolises a love for martial arts sparked when I first saw Enter the Dragon and continuing to this day, the dragon specifically is a reference to the ancient Shaolin tradition of burning the mark of the dragon and tiger into the forearms, I should really have got the tiger but as I am not a Shaolin monk I decided to go with the formula instead.
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Tribal
This tattoo is actually 2 separate tattoos. The lion that I have in the middle is a picture that I drew, and then thought that it would make a nice tattoo. After a couple of years I decided that I have a big enough back to be able to frame the lion. Also in tribal, again all of the design work is my own, so that makes it all very personal to me.
I’ll be going back soon to have some more ink added to it.
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Me and My Guitar
I have this tattoo because the Gibson Les Paul guitar is an iconic symbol of rock and roll. I love to play guitar, so when the time came that I could afford to buy myself a Gibson guitar, I decided to get the tattoo to commemorate this. The numbers that are there are the serial number from my pride and joy.
Although the guitar in the picture is not the guitar that I have it is a picture of one of the rarer models.