Decorated Skin: A World Survey of Body Art

The second source that I used for my research was a book called Decorated Skin: A World Survey of Body Art by Karl Groning. This was a book that I grabbed off the shelf at the library in a rush after school. When I opened it, I realized that the book predominantly pictures, with captions and small paragraphs in the margins. So, for this blog post, I'm taking an "interpretive risk" and combining what I got out of both the images and text.

Decorated Skin mostly focused on tribal body art. The countries featured in the book were not ones that were talked about frequently in the news or online and I found it really interesting to see the many different tribes' techniques and unique patterns. Oceania, Nepal, Indonesia and Japan were some of the most interesting countries I read about and saw art from in the book. My favorite part about the book was that it focused on cultures other than our own. It is pretty easy to talk to people in America about why they have tattoos and what their tattoos mean to them, but it is not quite so simple to learn about the origins and purposes of body art in other cultures.

One thing I noticed while looking at pictures of the many tribes and cultures and reading about them was that the body art the do on themselves and each other is not always beautiful, and often serves a purpose in protection or representation/expression. Most people in the U.S who have tattoos now get them because they like the look, not as a rite of passage, etc. In other cultures that practice body art, it is almost an expectation for these people to adorn themselves in the expected, culturally accepted manner.

My favorite page in this book showed pictures of women from the Wodabe tribe in Africa and their "male beauty contest" that they practice. The caption reads "The Wodabe, sometimes known as the Bororo, are nomadic herdsmen living in the Republic of Niger and neighboring regions. For most of the year they traverse the barren regions of the southern Sahara in small groups, mowing from one grazing ground to another with their herds of camels, cattle and donkeys. Once a year - in the rainy season, when there is enough vegetation to feed many animals in one place - the Wodabe gather in large numbers. At this important meeting they get to know each other, consolidate existing relationships, foge new links and hold feasts. For the young people, in particular, this is their main opportunity to find a partner. The one-week geerewol festival with its 'bridegrooms' parade' dance is the centre-point of these large gatherings. On this occasion the Wodabe men make a special effort to enhance their appearance; they spend hours adorning themselves with paint and make-up in front of small hand mirrors to make themselves look as desirable as possible to the women."

I liked this part of the book because it was about men decorating themselves to attract the attention of women rather than the other way around. Overall, this book was a good eye opener to tattooing and body art, and the cultural significance of the practice worldwide. The most important think I learned was that while tattoos may seem like a special, meaningful practice in America, the cultural ties are even stronger in other parts of the world.