History to Tattoos & Body Pointed in Oaxaca, Mexico, Through the Eye of a Lawyer
Lawyer Kaireddyn (Kai) Orta began fabricating his own, rudimentary tools for making tattoos in 1996, while still in high school here in Oaxaca, Mexico. One day a neighbor saw him carrying a shoe box, and asked him that which was in it. Kai showed him the particular adapted motor, needles, ink and other paraphernalia. The neighbor was the recipient of Kai’s first tattoo. Kai then began doing tattoos for their schoolmates.
Kai had been interested in tattoos (tatuajes) and body piercing (perforación) since boyhood. It was natural with regard to him, since his father was a history teacher, constantly recounting stories of rituals of Mexico’s indigenous populations. There was no shortage of publications around the house with images of pre-Hispanic peoples who were accustomed to self-adornment. Kai ate it up.
But throughout Kai’s youth, seeing tattoos in the skin was a rarity. Aside from in publications and occasionally coming across an inked person on TV, he would only have an opportunity to actually see real live individuals with tattoos and body piercings when he would catch a glimpse associated with mainly North American and European travelers walking the streets of the downtown area Oaxaca, a Mecca for worldwide tourism.
The modern tradition of tattoos and body piercings had been founded in countries such as Canada, the US, Spain and Britain, long before it arrived in Mexico. Like so many representations of emerging subcultures, it takes up to a decade for them to catch on in Mexico, especially in the more isolated and conservative regions of the country, like Oaxaca.
The state of Oaxaca was more often than not physically isolated from the northern half the country, and indeed the broader planet, until the arrival of the pan American highway in the late 1940s. As the odd adventurer would make their way down to Oaxaca between after that and the early 1960s, it was the hippie movement later that 10 years and into the early 1970s which opened up southern Mexico to the concept of North American and European counter-cultures, which includes tattoos, and then body piercing. Nevertheless the prevailing sentiment of the Mexican center classes was that their children should be insulated from foreign youth, and all that will its subculture stood for.
Step forward to the 1990s. Change would start to emerge in Oaxaca. Tattoos, entire body piercings and other non-traditional forms of self-expression had begun to be perceived as mainstream throughout the Western World. The silver screen and magazines promoting its pierced plus tattooed stars had become commonplace. Oaxaca had to take notice. And that integrated its older generation, which was then required to recognize if not accept that the ritualized behavior of their grandchildren (and to a much lesser extent their children) could no longer be equated with something devious, dirty and wrong, simply as a consequence of changing their physical appearance via piercing and painting their bodies, completely. Many in the Oaxacan youth culture were becoming critical thinkers by means of higher education, therefore better able to make informed decisions, stand up for them, and celebrate them.
Kai is thirty years old. Practicing law wasn’t with regard to him. By the time he had graduated and had a taste of the working planet of attorneys (less than a year), he had already become an established tattoo and body piercing artist, with his own studio, albeit quite smaller than his current digs. Plus besides, most lawyers in Oaxaca do not earn the level of income that provides for a middle class lifestyle, at least by Western standards.
Kai’s present studio, Dermographics, in the heart of downtown Oaxaca, consists of:
᾿ The reception area with long table and computer, tropical fish filled aquariums, display cases with mainly jewelry relating to body piercings, wooden African floor sculptures and masks (as well as a few Mexican masks), a bookcase filled with albums that contains drawings and photographs of mainly tattoo designs, and two comfortable sofas where customers can browse through the “catalogues” at their leisure
᾿ A similarly adorned middle room along with supply cases by now of course filled up with modern, commercial equipment and supplies, and a small adjoining workroom
᾿ The back room, with chairs and “operating” table, for attending to tattoo designs and body piercings
“Here within Oaxaca we don’t refer to ourself as ‘artistas, ‘ Kai points out. “In the United States there’s much better acceptance of the art form and those that are dedicated to the skill, so in america and other countries such as Canada really acceptable to use the term ‘tattoo designer. ‘ But in Oaxaca we simply refer to ourselves as tatuadores. inch
Kai & Colleagues Participate in 12th Annual Tattoo Fest in Oaxaca, Summer, 2010
During the course of a few ½ hour interview at Kai’s studio, his friends and many other tatuadores from Mexico City, Daniel (Tuna) Larios and his girlfriend Angélica (Angy) de la Mora, were in the shop working and otherwise serving customers, while for section of the time Kai was out running errands.
Tuna has been a tatuador with regard to 12 years while Angy started doing tattoos only a year back, when she began living with Tuna. Together they opened up a shop, known as Toltecan, in the nation’s capital. Before then Tuna had been doing tattoo designs for customers at other studios. This individual was introduced to the trade from having had his body tattooed. Angy learned the skill from Tuna.
But for Angy learning to be a tatuadora was a natural extension. She currently held a degree in fine artistry from an university in Chihuahua, and had participated in several collective traditional art exhibits. “But it’s easier to earn a living doing tattoos than as an designer, ” Angy concedes. As unique from Angy and Kai, most tatuadores in Mexico do not have superior training for other career paths options.
Tunand Angy had arrived at Oaxaca to participate in the 12th annual Tattoo Fest, held upon August 21 & 22, the year 2010, a couple of days earlier. Kai is one associated with three festival organizers, and had been on the ground floor of the concept once the first fest was held back in 1998. “Until this year the event was called Expo Tatuaje, ” Kai clarifies. “We decided to change the name with a view to attracting more foreign people. But back in the early years we held the exposition so that we could meet up with to exchange ideas, improve access to contemporary equipment and supplies, and enhance the level of consciousness of the Oaxacan neighborhood, so that hopefully there would be a greater acceptance of what we were doing. Today the purposes and functions of the event are much broader, since we have been well on our way to achieving our own earlier goals. “
The success of Oaxaca’s Tattoo Fest 2010 was apparent from the crowds (hundreds by just about all estimates) and sales. Tuna plus Angy between them did 11 tattoos over the two-day period. “I’ve already been coming to the fair for the past 4 or 5 years, ” Tuna explains, “but this is the first year I can really say that it was worth my while, profit-wise, to come to Oaxaca. You understand I had to close my store in Mexico City to come right here. I think this show has lastly turned a corner. “
This year there was approximately thirty booths, about a dozen of which were dedicated to doing tattoos. In the course of an one-hour visit within the Sunday, during that entire time every single tatuador was kept busy operating – and in many cases there were onlookers within queue awaiting their turn.
Numerous vendors had come from other parts associated with Mexico to participate. They converged on Oaxaca to not only do tattoos and piercings, but to also sell a broad diversity of related materials including:
᾿ Tattooing and body piercing equipment, items and other paraphernalia
᾿ CDs, DVDs and posters all with alternative themes (both Bob Marley plus Alice Cooper live on in Oaxaca)
᾿ Body piercing and other personal adornments, wrestling masks, and clothes, custom-painted while-u-wait.
The event was a lot more than a sales opportunity for retailers, nevertheless. It provided a chance for those in the business to promote their industry, source state of the art and otherwise imported equipment plus supplies (since many tatuadores do not get to Mexico City very often, and many imported machinery, needles and paints arrive initially in Mexico City), and entertain tattoo and spear like collectors, aficionados, and the curious, all of under one roof, the Salón Señorial located across from Oaxaca’s renowned Abastos Market.
As Kai contends, there appears to be three classes of people in Oaxaca, and most probably in other countries, who get tattoos:
᾿ The colecionista who usually winds up filling most parts of his or her body, attempting to adorn with as wide a diversity of designs as it can be, or with a particular class of design or artistry (i. electronic. demons, pre-Hispanic figures, animals, popular faces), often seeking to get the function done by several different top tatuadores from various states and countries if possible
᾿ The aficionado who wants a few tattoos strategically placed on select body parts
᾿ The casual person that desires one or two tattoos for self-expression or to make some kind of statement, having seen a tattoo he or she likes, whether on a celebrity, friend or stranger on the street, or electing to do a specific design; a tattoo of the logo of one’s favorite sports team exemplifies this type work
It’s not unlike various other hobbies and interests. Human nature remains exactly the same. The first category represents an obsession with collecting, just as in a class of antique, salt and spice up shakers, folk art, weigh scales, and so on. The second is an enthusiast that imposes boundaries, either by style or subconsciously based on personality feature. The third does only selective considering it, whatever the product, holding some interest, often fleeting but long enough to result in a purchase or two.