Tattooed Ladies

Emma de Burgh was one of the travelling tattooed ladies with freak shows that were popular in the 1880’s. Her stage story was one of an elaborate nature: her and her father had been kidnapped by a native American Indian tribe and she was tied to a tree whilst her father was forced to tattoo her everyday for a year. The story continues to include such characters as sitting bull. In reality it was her father that did most of the tattoos on Emma but they were not forced. In actual fact her father was a practicing tattooist who used his willing daughter as a canvas who openly showcased his work on the small sideshow stage.

The tattoo’s themselves were artistically crude by today’s standards. But through the eye’s of a modern tattooist, or Fan of the art form, you can see that these amateur tattoo’s are the start of a rebellious taboo movement - one may even compare the work of these early tattooist’s to cave prehistoric cave paintings, they are beautiful in their own right but compared with the work of today the progression is phenomenal.
On A Personal Level
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My Gran |
I find the connection between women and tattoo’s a close topic mainly because of my Gran’s (Margret Shipley) influence, thus I am going to take this opportunity to explore her story further. On the front of her left fore arm she has a simple love hart with the word “MAM” wrote inside, of which she has now had for 57 years. To my Gran this hold’s much significance as it is a permanent reminder of her Mother who died of ill health when she was just 16. You may now assume that she had the tattoo as an epitaph/ memorial to her mum after her death but she actually got it years before. My Gran was about 11-12 when her older brother Alic started to tattoo, and after purchasing a tattoo gun he needed willing flesh to practice on: this was my Gran. She recalls him first drawing the design on her arm in ink and then showing her mum; who’s reaction was “you do know its just pen I won’t ever wash off”. even at such a young age my Gran understood this and let her brother mark her for life. In consequence for this, through her early years she faced many questions and remark, particularly from teachers. She vividly remembers being called “silly” and “stupid girl” along with being questioned as to if the tattoo was real. Despite the prejudice of what would have the 50’s (an era famous for rock and roll and not so much its patriarchal hierarchy with similar attitudes to tattooed lady‘s as the previous decade) my Gran has never been ashamed of her tattoo and has never felt the need to cover it - in fact in previous conversations I recall her saying “no I don’t regret getting it done. I’m proud of it, because I was proud of my Mam”. Nowadays the tattoo has aged with grace. The ink has turned a shade of deep blue and the letters have bled and blurred along with the outlined heart, this gives the tattoo the same rustic aesthetic as the ones earlier in the decade. Further more at the tender age of 68 my Gran will be extending her tattoo by getting a scroll below the hart with my Granddad’s (Mick) name in it as he sadly passed away last year. Another permanent mark that I am sure she will never regret.