Tattooed Ladies

Tattooed Ladies

Since the turn of the millennium tattooing has become a mainstream fashion statement. Due to the contemporary need for celebrity inspiration and a reliance on the media, the modern individuals of today are prone to mimicking the styles of anyone in the spot light: this includes their tattoos. David Beckham’s iconic angel of the north tattoo- tattooed by the British tattooist Louis Molloy- has become a staple of every tattoo parlous design board. Similarly Pamela Anderson’s barbed wire tattoo became a fad among her teenage aspiring fans. However, this accepting attitude towards the art form has not always been so: in the 1800’s tattooing slowly made and entrance into the public eye through travelers and sailors in particular. These early tattoo’s were commonly inspired by foreign cultures, but as the body art caught onto the Western population the designs soon turned into patron imagery. At such a time, tattoo’s were taboo among most men as they were misunderstood and assumed to be the cause of cancers or worn by criminals. What I find even more fascinating is the story of the tattooed woman in this early era of tattooing.

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.

These travelling Freak shows were created to satisfy the public curiosity of the upper and middle classes. The individuals who worked on such freak acts varied from those who were “cursed” with generic disfigurements as extra or less limbs to contortionist’s, tall men and bearded women. As tattoos were such a taboo in the 19th and early 20th century brave woman could make a relatively easy living being tattooed and show casing their bodies in front of curious audiences. It is important to understand exactly how daring and brave the women who chose this career path were: These were times when ill patients would be isolated in hospitals for having a tattoo, due to fear of infections and the “disease” (tattoo) spreading to other patients. Tattoos were also assumed to be criminal marking, so a tattooed woman must be a prostitute. At this time there was a strong patriarchal hierarchy, woman had little rights - as the classic Victorian phrase confirms seen not heard- so a tattooed lady was, to be frank, breaking the mold. The tattooed ladies became a popular act particularly among men, hardily surprising when you consider that at that time a woman may be persecuted for indecent expositor for showing as much as there knee at the beach! Thus tattooed beauties displaying their art in little more than their corsetry and bloomers was sure to bring in a male crowd.

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

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.