Originally published in 1989, this ground-breaking ethnographic exploration of tattooing - and the art world surrounding it - covers the history, anthropology, and sociology of body modification practices; the occupational experience of the tattooist; the process and social consequences of becoming a tattooed person; and the prospects of "serious" tattooing becoming an accepted art form. Curiously, despite the greater prevalence of tattoos and body modification in today's society, there is still a stigma of deviance associated with people who get or ink tattoos.Retaining the core of the...

Analyses tattoos as art, work, decoration and defiance. This title covers the history, anthropology, and sociology of body modification practices; the occupational experience of the tattooist; the process and social consequences of becoming a tattooed person; and, the prospects of "serious" tattooing becoming an accepted art form.