Back in the late 60's, I let the "Witch of Positano", Vali, do a couple of tattoos on my hands. She used three needles bound together and blue organic ink. This method was labourious, i.e. jabbing the needles into the skin repeatedly for an hour in order to accomplish what a professional could do in a few minutes. I wore these little marks on my hands proudly for many years. They eventually became sentimental souvenirs of my exotic Aussie friend. Last year, I decided they just weren't very significant and I should either remove them or make more of a statement. Those of you who know me well can easily guess what I decided.
Helene is a lovely lady who works out at the same gym I use and she has made her body a work of art with tattoos, piercings, earlobe inserts, and metal implants. She seemed the right person to ask about a good tattoo artist to do a make over on my hands. Sure enough, she told me to wait for a really talented Basque artist, named Raul, who was soon moving to Cork. Raul looked the part, i.e. he has large amber inserts in his ear lobes, piercings, and tattoos all over his body including the neck and face. His eyes are intense mitigated by a genuine smile. I took a deep breath and let him first make over the hand with the raccoon Vali did (Vali tattooed a hardly recognisable stylised version as she had never set eyes on a raccoon in her life). While Raul worked away we discussed politics. Raul leans a little left (big Che Guevara supporter) and he knows I lean a little right and when he's jabbing that gun into me I ask myself "Will, how can you be so reckless as to get into these heated discussions?" Well, the work still comes out beautiful despite our political polemics as you will see in the slide show at the end of the article. I enjoy listening to most of his music (just purchased "Out of Nowhere" by Hepcat), as well as his stories about how the Basques actually discovered America and how prisoners use guitar string and pen ink to tattoo themselves, and how Basques have little in common with Spaniards and should be independent ...
DOES IT HURT?
It must depend upon the individual. I see loads of young people in Cork who have tattoos; the ladies tend to go for the lower back just above the stylishly exposed area above the beltline. And these kids don't mind piecing their tongues, etc. I always experience about a minute of moderate pain which I believe my mind translates into something else for the remainder. The mind can do amazing things to protect us from discomfort.
WHAT'S THE POINT (no pun intended)?
As you will see in the slides, I have chosen raccoons as my motif. I admire the animal for its intelligence, dexterity, and ferocity when attacked as well as its ability to take on many attackers at once. There needn't be a reason other than decoration for a tattoo; but, next time you watch the hit television series, "Lost", have a good look at Jack (Doc) Shepard's left arm. It's a tattoo which contains 4 Chinese characters taken from Mao's poem and a Lebanese Phalangist symbol. The first character means "Eagle". The second character means "Strike" as a verb. The third one means "Long" and the final one means "Void". I find my tattoos empowering which could be a subliminal attempt to compensate for my waning strength as I age. Whatever you decide, remember no removal technique is perfect.
SLIDES