I've always had a fascination with tattoos and body adornments. When I was much younger the faded blue images on the forearms of some of my father's friends and work mates seemed to convey the sense of something mysterious, exotic even, that was going on in the bearer's life to my young mind. I never really asked much about them, but I always took note. Later, working in the music biz and traveling with musician's brought me much closer to the world of tattoo parlors and ink, and an increasing fascination with this ancient art form to the point where I eventually got one of my own.

A few years ago I decided to use my interest in tattoos and body-modification to liven up an otherwise boring Research and Methods class in my Master's studies. I did some field study and research at a number of tattoo parlors with the intention of gleaning some clues about the burgeoning cultural interest in tattooing, and to a lesser degree, body-modification. In my lifetime tattoo culture has broadened immensely shifting from something that was almost exclusively the domain of sailors, bikers and other shady criminal types to a rite of passage for people from all walks of life, from soccer mums to lawyers. These days you seldom see the cheesy tattoos of yesteryear; hearts, ships and naked girls. Tattoos today are highly evolved, drawn from styles, patterns and practices from all over the globe as well as self-designed. Rappers and Hip-hop artists seem to favor drawings developed out of gang and prison culture-which highlight the 'thug life'.

These tattoos are single coloured (almost exclusively black) and are primal, angry and symbolic of lives which encounter much of the cultural underbelly; drugs, gangs,death. But its is not just rappers and rock stars who sports tattoos andpiercings these days (we won't bother to discuss Janet Jackson's piercings and the Super bowl 'breast' issue!). Lots of other celebrities, movie stars in particular, sport them, and have helped to ease tattoo culture into the mainstream. In a celebrity driven culture and one obsessed with what is hip and cool, if a movie star appears in public with a tattoo then it must be hip, it must be cool, and it must be o.k.! One of the recent trends in tattooing and one that seems to be gaining in popularity is the use of words and texts. Robbie Williams has a line from a Beatles song complete with musical notations at the small of his back. "All you need is love" rises from his belt line.

David Beckham has enshrined his former team number at Manchester United down his arm, in a latin text which translates, 'Seven in perfect." - a phrase that has any number of interpretations from the sporting to the religious. Perhaps one of the more well known (and if not well known then 'most-discussed' given the sheer amount of chat about it on the internet!), is actress Angelina Jolie. Her numerous tattoos (twelve at the last count apparently) are the subject of much tabloid speculation and in particular another latin phrase, "quod me nutruit me destruit" (what nourishes me, destroys me), which rises like a phoenix out of her lower belly has created much conversation. The phrase comes from a portrait of Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlow. But it is not so much the phrase as the use of words and text which interests me. When I was doing my research nearly all of my interviewees had incorporated words and texts into their tattoos. Most of them were self-designed and were intended to mark certain significant events in the person's life. Lover's initials, school logos, family mottos all featured quite heavily in the tattoo survey. This desire to mark certain events, to create if you will, rites of passage and initiation events, in one's own flesh is gaining momentum in our culture. In our society it seems that the lack of official rites of passage is being met with our own self-created rituals. In an image dominated culture like ours, the use of words and texts seems to have gained a new ability to provoke and capture our attention. Think of the lead character Leonard in the movie Memento, a man who has a memory problem which makes him forget everything after 15 minutes. He marks his body, tattooing names, clues, and intentions all over his body, using his own flesh as a site for marking and remembering. Tattoos have always functioned as graphic expressions of individuality and identity-to mark our own skin is about the most intense visual statement one can make. A minister friend of mine had himself tattooed in his pulpit (much to the chagrin of some of the older members), in order to highlight his talk about desire and commitment to God.

The proliferation of tattoos and other forms of body marking; piercings etc. seem to point towards a cultural need to make the body a place of remembering and identity. "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus...henceforth let no man accuse me." So said the Apostle Paul many centuries ago whilst addressing his accusers and detractors. He demanded that they "read the text" of his life, read the hardship and suffering enshrined in his body as the result of his commitment to his life's work. I think tattoos today can be read in much the same way. They carry the hopes, fears and dreams of the emerging global soul. And the use of certain fonts and type faces, in particular, gothic and more eastern-looking letterings, suggest that the postmodern soul is attempting to find some sense of history and continuity, some coherence. The body is becoming an embattled arena in our time. Sexuality, gender, fertility, cloning etc. are all topics of urgency and importance to many people today. But the body is also becoming the new ground of identity and individuality--ethics and morals adorn the flesh, not just the soul, and the markings provide clues to where the person might be on their life's journey.

Next time you see a tattoo give it a good read.