Body Art

Normative Body Art Techniques

Transcript

• Increasing numbers of women in Hong Kong’s traditionally conservative culture are keen to become the bearers of an art form long considered taboo.
• Tattoos – even for 10 years ago tattoos were more like underground. You don’t see a lot of tattoos on the streets.
• But considering the art of tattooings extensive history, the humble needle has been relatively slow to get under the skin of the city’s well-heeled, modern-day women.
• I’ve flicked through magazines, internet, and then I just got attracted by it immediately.
• Some women have gone one step further and become tattoo artists themselves.
• Usually my female customers, they want smaller tattoos, more for beauty; more feminine design. For the first two years most of the female customers, they wanted lower back tattoos. Very popular.
• Tattooist Kenny Chan[?] explains the diminishing stigma behind getting inked.
• In Hong Kong some men do not accept their girlfriends to have tattoos. They think girls are less pretty with tattoos or they are afraid of other people’s perception or discrimination. This is a major reason.
• A number of Hong Kong tattooists are reporting a 40% increase in female clients, a trend that looks set to continue.
• It has evolved a lot more now. There are portraits, there are color works, Japanese work, all kind of styles; and I’m so amazed by the work that you can actually put on people’s skin now.
• A sentiment shared by many, as the ancient art form becomes an increasingly modern form of self-expression.

The most used body painting method is makeup. The primary purpose of makeup is to make women feel that they look attractive by accentuating and shaping the lips, eyes, and cheekbones. However, when used by transvestites, gay men, male punks, New Romantics, and Goths, makeup no longer expresses social conformity but rather constructs a nonnormative sexual identity or an expression of rebellion. Body painting also can be used to paint pictures or whole paintings on the body. In this case, the skin is a surface for projecting fantasy. When applied to women's bodies, the paintings eroticize certain body parts. If the work covers the whole body, the painting becomes a second skin. Lasting longer than regular body painting, mehndi design consists of a variety of symbols. Traditionally practiced in north Africa, southeast Asia and the Middle East, mehndi has been practiced in Western countries mostly for decorative purposes. Mehndi consists of symbolical designs and inscribes the body with meaning and offers the opportunity to embed the body with spirituality.

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