Despite their name (from the Latin word pictus: painted, decorated), nobody knows for sure whether the Picts truly had tattoos. By the 16th Century, as colonization of “The New World” was underway, artists and writers began cataloguing descriptions and images of “primitive” tribal people, both across the Atlantic and at home (but, it’s worth noting, from many centuries prior). In 1585, Roanoke settler Thomas Harriot released A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia with illustrations by John White depicting Native Americans hunting, fishing, etc. A supposedly sympathetic work, the volume included engravings of the Celtic Picts, nearly nude and bodies covered with designs, to show “that the inhabitants of the Great Bretannie have been in times past as savage as those of Virginia.” [1]

A Young Daughter of the Picts, Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues, c. 1585

Pictish Man and Pictish Woman, John White, 16th Century

True Pict, Theodor de Bry, c.1590

This fantastic blog exhibits exquisite examples from the history of tattooing based on the archival research and/or personal collection of the interdisciplinary scholar Anna Felicity Friedman.

It is also on facebook which is definitely worth liking, on instagram where you can follow it at @tattoohistorian or on twitter which can be found here.

Tattooed Marquesan from Shillibeer, 1817

(from private-collection Biehler flash, c. 1930s)

One of 4 locksmith’s tattoos in the “occupational” section of Riecke’s 1925 study of tattoos in “Today’s Europe”

All images courtesy of www.tattoohistorian.tumblr.com

Sacred Skin is a documentary in the making exploring the different forms of tattooing, piercing and scarification methods used throughout the world. Here in this trailer they start their journey by speaking to Henk ‘Hanky Panky’ Schiffmacher in Amsterdam.

Keep up with the progress of Sacred Skin on their facebook here

Photos I took of some very beautiful folk tattoos on a recent trip to South West India.

All images by Reba Maybury

Olive Oatman was kidnapped from her Mormon family in the Gila River (present-day Arizona) by the Yavapai Indians, while her family were traveling across the South West of America in 1851.
Most of her family were murdered but her and her sister, Mary-Ann were kidnapped by the Yavapai. After receiving harsh treatment by them for a year she was ransomed by a band of Mohaves. Olive went on to be accepted into the Mohave lifestyle and spent four years living with them. This was most famously acknowledged with her blue chin tattoo.
Mohaves considered tattoos to be a form of identification in the afterlife. The tattoo was secured by pricking the skin in small regular rows with a cactus pine until the skin bled freely. The cactus spikes were then dipped in weed juice and blue stone powder which was then applied to the pinpricks on the face. These chin tattoos indicated that the woman was ready to embark in adult tribal life.
Chin designs with the Mohaves were chosen by the tattooists and were based on the shape of the face. Narrow faced people usually wore designs of narrow lines or dots to accentuate the length of the face. Patterns for broad faces tended to have wider lines and cover more of the chin, making the face look even broader.
Olive was ransomed in 1856 by the United States Government at Ft. Yuma. On her discovery she was apparently found in nothing but a skirt made of bark which fueled suspicions of debauchery and sexual exploits.  Considering her puritanical upbringing, Olive’s experience was deemed as outrageous. An ambitious Methodist minister named Royal Byron Stratton wrote a scandalous book about her story which was named Olive and Mary Ann. The book sold 30,000 copies, a huge best-seller for that era. Rumours of her mothering two children by the chief’s son circulated but she denied this thoroughly.

Her story gripped the country so much that in the 1880′s, the “tattooed captive” became a popular circus theme. Their stories turned provocatively, on the notion that people of colour could transform whites into people of colour  ethnically and decoratively, as a means of exploitation and degradation.
Images and stories of Oatman’s tattoo fed the new America’s fear and ignorance’s towards the First World. In many ways Olive’s tattoo has captured a rather colonial view of the First World as terrifying primitives. Rather than a rather uplifting story of acceptance of this new culture and lifestyle bestowed upon her. Olive often proclaimed her love for the Mohaves in interviews and her brother indicated that she would weep night after night after leaving them. It has been said that she was the first white woman in America’s recorded history to have a tattoo.
Much material written about Olive appears to be confused and sensational but a  comprehensive book, The Blue Tattoo has recently been written about Olive’s life. Check it out here.

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It has already been established, I have a soft spot for (good) tribal tattoo. I recently stumbled across Roxx’s work. Pretty stunning.
www.blingblingroxx.com
www.2spirittattoo.com