University students looking to get inked can receive more than enough information on the history, styles and personal meanings behind tattooing Thursday.
The event will supplement the Student Union Art Gallery’s exhibit “Ancient Marks: The Sacred Origins of Tattoos and Body Marking” with a Q&A discussion panel hosting several respected tattoo artists from the New Orleans area.
On Oct. 4, the Atchafalaya Room of the Student Union saw the Smithsonian Institution’s Lars Krutak give a detailed presentation on the art and history of indigenous body modification from his travels to tattoo practicing cultures around the world. Thursday’s panel will include artists familiar with different cultures of tattooing as well, from Eastern to Western body art.
Graduate assistant Alexandria Guillory helped bring this exhibit and its related presentations to the University, which the Student Union has been trying to do for nearly two years. She said the subject will highly interest students, especially since many practices carried out in tribal worlds are modernized and altered to Western standards.
“We thought it would be a good idea to show them where the origins of their tattoos are coming from — what really began the art that they carry on today,” she said. “With this tattoo lecture we’ve got coming Thursday, that will really show them how tattoos from the ancient world are still greatly affecting what people are putting on their bodies today and how those have transformed what one culture sees as beautiful [as opposed to] another.”
Guillory said “Ancient Marks” originally ran at Southeastern Louisiana University. The exhibit was organized there by the university’s art gallery Director Dale Newkirk, who will moderate today’s panel and largely helped to draw in the participating tattoo artists.
“I try to curate shows I think will be of interest to the students of campus and young people,” Newkirk said. “Tattoos have become more and more prevalent in that age group of, I’d say, about 18 to 30. So I just wanted to look into the different aesthetics of what is happening in that field and how people are engaging in it.”
Newkirk bares a tattoo himself from Donn Davis, one of the artists participating in the panel who runs Tattooagogo in New Orleans. While this shop inks multiple styles of tattoos, Davis specializes in Americana and Japanese styles.
“They both use the same techniques of tattooing,” Davis said. “It’s just, the imagery is different. It’s a technique that I really like, just the bold line, beautiful solid color with heavy black shading. It really stands out, it pops on the body and it ages well.”
Davis was introduced to the Japanese style through Don Ed Hardy’s book “Tattootime.” He said seeing photos of Japanese people with full body suit tattoos fascinated him, especially since this style stays consistent on people’s skin. When looking at photos of the Japanese in their 20s, Davis said these tattoos resembled the same images as those people aged into their 60s.
“If I’m going to build these tattoos, I’m going to build them to last,” he said.
Davis opened Tattooagogo three years ago. However, he’s been tattooing for 18 years, over the course of which, he’s tattooed more than 100 dragons.
“Every person I tattoo is very different. Every tattoo I put on them is going to be different,” he said. “Trying to make it fit that person and reflect that person is what it’s all about. So that’s a big part of it — and being a part of something that’s been around for so long.”
The tattoo discussion begins at 12 p.m. in the Atchafalaya Room of the Student Union.
Where: Atchafalaya Room in the Student Union , Room 339
When: 12 p.m.
