I got my first tattoo about four years ago after years of drawing on myself. Joel would also draw on me as I found it eased my anxiety. Especially when I had those repetitive questions but was too anxious to remember the answers it was helpful to have them spelled out and tactile. I even recently found this shop on Etsy where the woman creates self care tattoos with kind words on them. I have even used this technique with Sophie at times. One day it occurred to me that if I liked drawing on myself so much then tattoos were probably a good idea.
My first five tattoos form my medicine wheel. I will blog about those later, but today I wanted to share my recent tattoo. It is inspired by a piece of cave art from Chauvet from about 33,000 BCE. Into the cracks of the walls I have Joel's words from one of my anxious days U R OK. I wanted to keep these, I like the play on words of "you are ok", "You rock" and "Ur rock". I like that I will forever have his words on me.
Shaded image of a cave bear, with an incomplete outline of a second bear below. Chauvet, 30,000-33,000 BCE
I really love having myself covered in portable art. I love how it interplays with my skin tones. How I carry my stories with me in a visible form. This is my second bear. Bear speaks to me with his times of quiet and times of action. I feel like this is me. I feel the move from rock to flesh is also a reminder to me of my work to better understand rocks.
The process of getting this tattoo was surreal for me as I worked with the tattoo artist using a picture from 35,000 years ago on rock given life on my arm. How would that person who drew the picture so long ago feel to see the world I am in? How would they feel to see someone work with the needles? To see his/her art online - still remembered all these years later? Who will I affect through my life and what will I leave behind? What about you?
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