East Java Tourism News

The opposite poles of tattoo art

June 23rd, 2008

Tattoos symbolize the positive and negative sides of life. On the one hand, professionals are trying to change the negative image that tattoos come hand in hand with criminality, prostitution and narcotic abuse. On the other, thugs and commercial sex workers maintain their power through these symbolic skin drawings.

The Tattoo Festival took place in Tunjungan Plaza, Surabaya, in early May. Though not the first ever held by the local tattoo community, the event this time drew far greater public interest.

Apart from Big Bodyguard club owner Libhed Ronald Kayado, 33, getting his sturdy physique punctured by 15 tattooists at the same time, organizers also offered tattoo price discounts of up to 50 percent off the normal rates of between Rp 250,000 and Rp 3 million.

“Tattoo aficionados as well as newcomers to the art wish to have their bodies permanently tattooed,” Surabaya’s Tattoo Community Chairman Yoshua Jimmy said.

He said this festival recorded an average of 20 tattoo customers daily, unlike last year, when no more than 10 were served each day.

“Tattoos are increasingly in vogue. Almost 70 percent of our customers are women,” added Yoshua.

“Lia”, 19, an employee of a state telecommunications company, is a long-time tattoo buff.

She was among those in the queue to be tattooed.

“You can take a picture of the tattoo on my chest but please don’t show my face,” she said to The Jakarta Post.

Lia claims that tattoos could enhance her body’s beauty and that she feels sexier with flower motifs on her skin. Lia has been fond of tattoos since she was 16. Besides her chest, she also has flower motifs on her right arm, back and upper thigh.

It was not easy for Lia to secure her family’s acceptance. Her parents voiced their strong objection, but through an intense approach they finally consented to her tattoos so long as she did not go showing them off.

“The image of tattooed women is that they are close to prostitution and drug abuse,” she said.

Some circles in Indonesia indeed hold such a negative view, while in fact this image is not entirely correct because not all commercial sex workers are tattooed particularly in Surabaya. Nonetheless, a number of call girls said that their bodies were covered with tattoos for various reasons.

“For me, tattoos become a means of sexual arousal. Many of my customers like my tattoos,” said Erni, one of the sex workers operating in a star-rated hotel in Surabaya. Erni, a private college student in the city, has two tattoos, one on her breast and another on her upper thigh.

To avoid the biased image, a lot of women and parents choose to shun tattooing. Antok, 44, a senior journalist of a Jakarta daily, himself bearing a tattoo on the right arm since his youth, forbids his daughter from having the same.

“Unlike Europe or America, Indonesia still follows traditional values and norms. I don’t want my child to get isolated from society,” he said.

Compared to women, men have greater freedom to expose their tattoos because they are less restricted than women as some women cover up their bodies for religious reasons.

Arief Julianto, 38, a security guard at Sahid Hotel Surabaya, is one of the security men in the city with revealing tattoos while on duty. Two motifs on the leg and back are covered by his suit but the others on his arms have nowhere to hide.

“My tattoos are not meant to show macho pride or the fierce appearance of a security officer, but rather they are only fashion accessories, like a piece of jewelry,” said Arief, sticking out his tongue to expose a piercing.

Arief, who had his back tattooed as a high school student around 1990 in Surabaya and his left leg a tattooed in Bali in 2005, said the hotel management did not mind that he that exposes tattoo exposure while working.

“Once my superior asked why I had these tattoos, but I convinced him that it’s the brain that determines one’s quality.”

He said that in the 1980s, thousands of ex-convicts were mysteriously shot dead in various cities in Indonesia, with most of their bodies bearing tattoos.

Former president Suharto in his autobiography (published in 1989) said the shooting was purposely done as a treatment, a strict action against criminals disturbing public peace.

“I must admit that up to the present a lot of criminals have tattoos on their bodies. But I’m not one of them. I just want people to be aware that tattoos do not always belong to the world of vices,” Arief said.

Several ex-prisoners said most recidivists were tattooed because the skin drawings became symbols of their groups. A group can be formed in prison and as a sign of the group’s initiation.

Police sources also said tattoos could serve as a means to identify criminal suspects or murder victims. The police have lists of criminal groups with specific tattoo designs.

A new three-man musical band, Blingsatan, in its second album gives prominence to different forms of tattoo art. They openly promote tattooing as part of the band members’ lifestyle. The band members love peace and stay away from criminality.

Similarly, the rocker and vocalist of Boomerang musical group, Roy Jeconiah, always displays his tattoos at his concerts to indicate that this art is also shared by rock music fans who are complete strangers to drug abuse.

Source: The Jakarta Post

Entry Filed under: East Java News