By: ETHEL LARKO PARTEY,GIJ

BACS231184

Many Ghanaians are embracing wearing tattoos, perhaps as a fashion statement, some see tattoos as beauty enhancements. Even more exhilarating is the art of it, the pictures, the colour, and the intricacies of capturing an emotion, a force with needle, ink and on the natural canvas of skin.

Butterflies, flowers, hearts, the Holy Cross, pictures of notable personalities  are a few of the millions of tattoos that grace the arms, legs, necks, and lower backs of many people. In the past, tattooing by certain warriors was done for purposes of frightening. Now, it’s for various reasons.

People associate it with prostitution. I personally don’t mind because it can be done in a tasteful manner. Some tattoos are cool. I think it’s about how the person wears the tattoos. A small tattoo placed right is pleasant but not littering your body with ink”, Alberta says

You often find such tattoos on the lower back on girls to complement low-waisted jeans, or on the fore arm on guys to show off their biceps in a complementary tank top. It can also be placed on the inner wrist, or on ankles, often complemented with a bracelet or an anklet.

However, far more than being a “fashion of the times”, tattooing is yet another flow of the universal force of art to capture the symbolic.

The art of tattooing dates back Neolithic times, in the period of 1766 and 1779, was mostly a practice indulged by people of the aristocracy.

It was conjectured that many of the Anglo-Saxon Kings were tattooed. However, many centuries later, in the 21st century, there has been a reversal. Tattooing is a popular social practice more for ordinary people and less so for the aristocracy

Usually you find that people have a story, personal or not, a symbolic reason for wanting a particular image or merger of images embossed on whatever part of their bodies. It usually takes a really good tattoo artist, who can listen to you and understand you to get what you want right.

Frank Agu of 1411 studio in Dzorwulu,a tattoo artist says that to be a good artist, you need to understand art. Tattoo business is a lucrative business here. We have people coming frim different places outside Accra to the studio to get a tattoo.

And yes, I could remember the challenges I faced during the COVID 19 times. Tattoos are painful too. In some minutes, you are ok. After 6 to 8 hours, you might feel uncomfortable.

Tattooing is a raging art form in this century, a powerful and fascinating medium of self-expression.

There is something quite exhilarating in painting or decorating, quite permanently, your body with symbols that mean something to you and, in a manner, document important landmarks in your life, remind you of periods in your lives and emotions you went through.