INKED

A little guest post from Josh.    

There is no doubting a rise in the acceptance and popularity of tattoos since the turn of Generation Y, one does not have to look far to see them glorified in TV Shows and many modeling shoots. But has the meaning been lost from a once rebellious act? Maybe all the script writing and birds on wrists & ribs have saturated a once strong statement of personal identification. The best example of this I can think of is the now meaningless anchor symbol, once a representation of service in the navy is now a ‘trendy’ poser’s wet dream.

There’s no doubt a serious degree of artistry to some of the pieces I see here and there, but some tattoos just seem like a destruction of employment opportunities to me. In fact one of my worst nightmares of this year was when I got a shitty lion tattooed to my right hand and couldn’t get a job anywhere because of it.

So how does one analyse the credibility of a tattoo? More to the point; when does one distinguish between a meaningful marker in one’s life inked eternally, or just a hipster who likes having an infinity sign printed into them. Not to offend, but sometimes I see tattoos and think, ‘really?’

While personally I don’t think I’d ever get one, I can always look from afar and admire some of the better artwork because I know I certainly couldn't even dream of getting some of those final results. I guess it’s just a live and let live situation. Here’s the only two tattoos i've come across recently that really caught my admiration, unfortunately these days a lot just fall into the status quo.