What’s the Point?

Lisa West went to meet a professional body piercer and asked…

Everywhere you look these days, you can see people that have got rings – hanging from ears and pushed through noses, lips and eyebrows. And they are in lots of other places that you can’t see, too!

Mick Shannon, who is a qualified body piercer, took me to his saloon. I was looking at the walls, covered with photos of clients, showing off their rings and jewellery and Mick pointed out his certificate, which was on the wall. ‘Some people give our profession a bad name,’ he said. ‘They don’t clean their equipment, which shows they don’t know what they are doing. I’ve known people who have got disease like hepatitis from cheap ear-piercing guns. I only pierce young people whose parent or guardian is with them. And they have to be over fifteen to have their navel done and over eighteen for their tongue.’

Is it an expensive fashion? ‘That depends. Ears, costing $8, are cheap, eyebrows are about $35, and the tongue over $100. Anything else I have to negotiate!’

I watched Mick pierce a girl’s navel. First he marked the area where he had disinfected the skin, then he pushed a needle through. He finished by giving the girl advice on how to help the skin get better, which was a nice professional touch.

1. What can people have done to their bodies? Match the key words with the parts of the body in the box.

Parts of the body	Key words	Procedure done
arm	dyed
ears	pierced
eyebrows	shaved
hair	tattooed
nails	varnished
navel
nose
tongue

2. Answer the following questions.

1. Why do some people give a profession ‘a bad name’?

2. How can body piercing go wrong? Is there any risk?

3. Is body piercing expensive abroad / in your country?

4. What are the reasons of piercing?

5. What metals for jewellery should piercing use?

3. Read the text and discuss the following.

   • Do the tattooed symbols have any meaning?

   • Are there any restrictions in pictures tattooed on the body?

   • What are the most common parts of the body to make tattoo?

   • Have you ever thought how tattoo will look like in person’s old age?

   • Tattoo removal is an extremely painful process. Do you think it’s worth doing at all?

   • Which of the types of modern art mentioned above (graffiti, piercing, tattoo) do you consider an art form? Prove your reason.

Tattoo is a marking made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment for decorative or other reasons. The term ‘tattoo’ or from Samoa, ‘Tatau’ is first referred to by Joseph Banks, the naturalist aboard Cook's ship the ‘Endeavour’ in 1769 where he mentions it in his journal.

Tattooing has been a Eurasian practice at least since around Neolithic times. Tattoos have served as marks of status and rank, symbols of religious and spiritual devotion, decorations for bravery, pledges of love, punishment, amulets, protection, and as the marks of outcasts, slaves and convicts.

The symbolism and impact of tattoos varies in different places and cultures. Tattoos may show how a person feels about a relative (commonly mother / father or daughter / son) or about an unrelated person. Today, people choose to be tattooed for cosmetic, sentimental / memorial, religious, and magical reasons, and to symbolize their belonging to or identification with particular groups, including criminal gangs but also a particular ethnic group or law-abiding subculture.

F or example, in Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand, the tattoo is used for protection against evil and to increase luck. Most traditional tattooing in the Philippines is related to the bearer's accomplishments in life or rank in the tribe. Among Catholic Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina, tattoos with Christian symbols would be inked on to protect themselves from the Muslim Turks. People have also been forcibly tattooed. A well known example is the identification system for inmates in Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust.

Extensive decorative tattooing is common among members of traditional freak shows and by performance artists who follow in their tradition. When used as a form of cosmetics, tattooing includes permanent makeup and hiding or neutralizing skin discolorations.

During the first decade of the 21st century, the presence of tattoos became evident within pop culture, inspiring television shows, etc. Formal interest in the art of the tattoo has become prominent in the 1990s through the beginning of the 21st century. Contemporary art exhibitions and visual art institutions have featured tattoos as art through such means as displaying tattoo flash, examining the works of tattoo artists, or otherwise incorporating examples of body art into mainstream exhibits.

The growth in tattoo culture has seen an influx of new artists into the industry, many of whom have technical and fine arts training.

BLOCK IV

Topics for discussion and essays.

1. What would life be like without art? Is art important?

2. Do you believe what art critics say?

3. Do you like modern art?

4. Do you think it is proper to call nude (оголена постать у живописі, скульптурі) paintings art? Why do artist like to draw women’s figures?

5. What is your favorite art web site?

6. Do you find Picasso’s work astonishing or weird? Do you have a favorite painting? If so, what is it?

7. Do you ever doodle (to made daubing – ‘каракулі, мазня’)?

8. What movie star would you most like to meet?

9. How would your life change if you could do TV commercials?

10. What do you think of TV shows that are designed to ‘discover new talent?’

11. Why do you think music is important and how does it affect different people?

12. What music do you prefer? Can you play any musical instruments? If not what kind would it be if you could play?

13. What are some special or traditional musical instruments in your country?

14. Do you like to sing karaoke? Do you sing while taking a bath?