September 16, 2009

On Being Educated About Tattoos By My Students


During student orientation last week I picked student tattoos as a theme to photograph. The images were projected in the auditorium before the next day's session began.

I asked the proudly inked humans: "What does your tattoo represent to you?"



"The bright colors represent me, a colorful me." - Ben, age 23.



"It represents love and compassion, kinda making all religions hold hands. The Indian Sanskrit is a prayer that means Mahabharata... the third eye. The Mandarin character means 'Love'. Any tattoo is spiritual to me." - MacKenzie, age 21.



"I just got the stars because I like them. Everyone kept asking me, 'What do they mean?' They mean finding your path in life. Sailors put them on their chests so they could find their way home if they got lost." - Alyssa, age 18.



"Koi (the fish) traditionally mean strength and determination. You are built from the ground up - your strength, your roots." - Eric, age 33.



"It represents femininity, independence and strength." - Sally, age 18. She designed the tattoo herself.

2 comments :

Anonymous said...

They're great, up to and including the last one. Not abstract but still sort of abstract.

Taylor Greenwood said...

Great blog entry John! Boy you could've gotten some great ones from our class! Hope your well.