Bodies of Inscription: A Cultural History of the Modern Tattoo

Since the 1980s, tattooing has emerged anew in the USA as a widely appealing cultural, artistic and social form. In this text, Margo DeMello explains how elite tattooists, magazine editors and leaders of tattoo organizations have downplayed the working-class roots of tattooing in order to make it more palatable for middle-class consumption. She shows how a completely new set of meanings derived primarily from non-Western cultures has been created to give tattoos an exotic, primitive flavour. The text uses community publications, tattoo conventions, articles in popular magazines, and DeMello's numerous interviews to illustrate the interplay between class, culture and history that have orchestrated a shift from traditional Americana and biker tattoos to new forms using Celtic, tribal and Japanese images. After describing how the tattoo has moved from a mark of patriotism or rebellion to a symbol of exploration and status, the author returns to the predominantly middle-class movement that celebrates its skin art as spiritual, poetic and self-empowering. Recognizing that the term "community" cannot capture the variations and class conflict that continue to thrive within the larger tattoo culture, DeMello finds in the discourse of tattooed people and their artists a new and particular sense of community and explores the unexpected relationship between this discourse and that of other social movements.

Margo DeMello is a nonprofit fundraiser. She has taught at San Francisco State University, Sacramento City College, and the University of California, Davis.