Art for Arts Sake
By Charlotte Rogers
Monday 19th October 2009
Monday 19th October 2009
In today’s modern and diverse world, it is interesting to see how many different practices can be categorised as art, and how many of these practices date back centuries, coming from beginnings of perhaps cultural or functional significance into being art forms in their own right. We could categorise many forms of art in this way, not least body art. The popularity of both piercing and tattoos is still rising in Western culture, and it is becoming more and more common for people to display purely aesthetic markings, rather than just using body art to denote status or lifestyle. For example, tattoos and piercings have beginnings of cultural and/or functional significance; it is said that some of the first tattoos were practiced by prehistoric humans, and were essential to their theories of the soul and its protection. Tattoos are also known to have significance in certain tribes, to mark social status in terms of ranking, or even to mark significant stages in a person’s life, such as the graduation from adolescence into adulthood. However, today, tattoos can also have spiritual meaning, such as the display of religious tattoos or the name or picture of a loved one, but it is also now an art in its own right- with people often designing and even performing their own tattoos. It is possibly the advancements in technology that have made tattoos so popular in society, as now it is less of a laborious process, in that most tattooists no longer use primitive tools such as bamboo, but have more modern variations which not only can be meticulously sterilized, but make the whole process a lot faster and less painstaking than traditional methods. This ease of access makes it easier for cultures such as ours to adopt tattoos purely as art forms, perhaps without them having such a large significance outside of the artistry.
Another form of body art that has become increasingly popular in the West is that of body piercing. Again, this process has beginnings of cultural significance, and different piercings in different cultures were used to denote status. For instance in India the most beautiful women would have nose piercings, and in certain African cultures, men would wear lip plugs, the larger plugs symbolizing higher status within the community. Today, piercings often have meanings within different sub-sections of our culture, such as the piercing of the top of the right ear sometimes being used to display sexual preference. However, similarly to tattoos, piercings can also be used as purely decorative statements, and certain piercings have been adopted my mainstream fashions, such as the navel and nose piercings.
So, from their tribal beginnings to their now well-established place in pop culture, tattoos and piercings have always been a way for people to express themselves using their own bodies. Whether it is loyalty to a certain tribe or way of life, or just something that you think looks pretty cool, a piercing or tattoo can be an excellent way to turn your own self into a canvas for creative display.
Another form of body art that has become increasingly popular in the West is that of body piercing. Again, this process has beginnings of cultural significance, and different piercings in different cultures were used to denote status. For instance in India the most beautiful women would have nose piercings, and in certain African cultures, men would wear lip plugs, the larger plugs symbolizing higher status within the community. Today, piercings often have meanings within different sub-sections of our culture, such as the piercing of the top of the right ear sometimes being used to display sexual preference. However, similarly to tattoos, piercings can also be used as purely decorative statements, and certain piercings have been adopted my mainstream fashions, such as the navel and nose piercings.
So, from their tribal beginnings to their now well-established place in pop culture, tattoos and piercings have always been a way for people to express themselves using their own bodies. Whether it is loyalty to a certain tribe or way of life, or just something that you think looks pretty cool, a piercing or tattoo can be an excellent way to turn your own self into a canvas for creative display.