Body-art as new self-expression

PARIS – If the lines of people waiting to be tattooed, pierced or painted at Paris’s recent Body Show are anything to go by, body decoration is almost as much a tribal ritual today as it was a few hundred years ago.

“I wanted something that made me look different”, “It’s something personal between my girlfriend and I”, “All my friends have one” were typical responses among the thousands of visitors who attended the three-day show late June. From Africa to Asia and from the Americas to Oceania, ancient societies have decorated and altered their bodies in (sometimes gruesome) initiation rites, as preparation for war, for family rituals, and as social and cultural identification.Despite a difference in context, the core reasons are not so different today – identification with a group or highlighting individuality, cementing relationships, rebellion and provocation, or simply being fashionable.”Body decoration and transformation have become a phenomenon of modern Western societies whose popularity is spreading across social boundaries,” said Christiane Falgayrettes-Leveau, curator of an exhibition on the subject that will open in Paris in September.”Today these signs of recognition among and within different groups are even referred to as ‘tribal’”, she added.The exhibition at Paris’s Musee Dapper, entitled “Signes du Corp”, or Body Signs, will include 100 pieces depicting ritualistic tattoos, scarring, body piercings, implants and ornaments from Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania.It will highlight the transference of these rituals from traditional societies to modern times, a transference Falgayrettes-Leaveau sees as a lasting evolution.”Very large tattoos and the more painful or extreme forms of body transformation may not become common usage, but body decoration as a means of self-expression has become a permanent aspect of our society, much as did pierced ears on women in Western societies long ago”, she said.Falgayrettes-Leveau hopes the exhibition will show body transformation and decoration in a new light, tempering the disapproval shown by much of the general public towards ostentatious markings and body piercings.”Many people have a negative attitude towards tattoos and piercings, except perhaps pierced navels on young girls because they are sensual”, she said.- Nampa-AFPFrom Africa to Asia and from the Americas to Oceania, ancient societies have decorated and altered their bodies in (sometimes gruesome) initiation rites, as preparation for war, for family rituals, and as social and cultural identification.Despite a difference in context, the core reasons are not so different today – identification with a group or highlighting individuality, cementing relationships, rebellion and provocation, or simply being fashionable.”Body decoration and transformation have become a phenomenon of modern Western societies whose popularity is spreading across social boundaries,” said Christiane Falgayrettes-Leveau, curator of an exhibition on the subject that will open in Paris in September.”Today these signs of recognition among and within different groups are even referred to as ‘tribal’”, she added.The exhibition at Paris’s Musee Dapper, entitled “Signes du Corp”, or Body Signs, will include 100 pieces depicting ritualistic tattoos, scarring, body piercings, implants and ornaments from Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania.It will highlight the transference of these rituals from traditional societies to modern times, a transference Falgayrettes-Leaveau sees as a lasting evolution.”Very large tattoos and the more painful or extreme forms of body transformation may not become common usage, but body decoration as a means of self-expression has become a permanent aspect of our society, much as did pierced ears on women in Western societies long ago”, she said.Falgayrettes-Leveau hopes the exhibition will show body transformation and decoration in a new light, tempering the disapproval shown by much of the general public towards ostentatious markings and body piercings.”Many people have a negative attitude towards tattoos and piercings, except perhaps pierced navels on young girls because they are sensual”, she said.- Nampa-AFP