Traditional American Tattoos

In the year since I turned 18, I have accumulated 6 tattoos. It’s an addicting, permanent, beautiful art form that I love to see both in idea books and on bodies. Some people see tattoos as either “trashy” or unprofessional, but they don’t stop to look at how much time, effort, practice, and talent goes into both designing and drawing them up, and transferring them onto a living, breathing human being.
I didn’t transfer these designs onto skin myself- just the design process was difficult enough. Each design was carried out by first conducting careful research on traditions, customs and symbolism. I then chose a medium which reflected the appearance of each tattoo. Traditional Polynesian tattoos are typically completely black, and so this design was produced using black India ink. Traditional American flash tattoos have pronounced black outlines and are filled with washes of black, red and yellow. I completed this
These animals represent beauty, freedom, and the relationship between heaven and earth. The tattoo featured here is a peacock, which represents both beauty and a connection between Heaven and Earth. Mehndi is often applied to a bride before her wedding ceremony (Michalak).
Japanese tattoos date back thousands of years. Evidence of Japanese tattoo art has been found on clay figures and mummified bodies dating back to 3,000 BC. Japanese tattoos likely had religious and magical meaning (“The History of Tattoos”). The tattoo featured here is a “Foo Dog”: a mixture between a dog and a lion which symbolizes protection, strength and courage (Squires).
Traditional American flash tattoos originated in the 1700s, according to Sailor Jerry. Many traditional American tattoos portray creatures such as sharks and eagles- strong animals that symbolize strength and love for one’s country. Many classic sailor tattoos also indicate the distance travelled by its wearer