LIVING WITH THE SKIN: THE TATTOO AS AN IDENTITY MARK

Abstract

In all times and places in the world, the human being uses the body as a form of language. Decorate it to be beautiful, different, and magical. Traditionally, society has also exercised power over the individual's body, inscribing its marks according to the culture to which it belongs, but today body modifications have become a form of individual expression of body art and are gaining, every day, more fans. This study aims to understand the role of tattooing as an identity marker in Brazilian urban and contemporary middle classes and the perceptions of those tattooed about their bodies, their marks, pain, prejudice and the professionalization of tattooists. It is an excerpt from an ethnographic effort in two tattoo conventions; two tattoo studios and a tattoo artist's house - all in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul; interviews face-to-face, also in the state capital, and via online form with responses from participants from other cities in Brazil.