A Natural History of the Senses - Touch Chapter Analysis - Work 2

Work 2: Tattoos and Interview

Pages 99-100 - Tattoos

  For the second part of this project, I decided to deviate from a traditional medium of work that I would normally partake in. I have always been interested in tattoos, and absolutely love looking at them and getting them myself. The 'Tattoos' section of A Natural History of the Senses, while short, provided a lot more information on the history of tattoos than I ever knew before. I wanted to take on a more personal experience with this excerpt, and learn more about the craft from an actual artist.

  I scheduled an appointed at 'Electric Chair Tattoo' and planned to get two tattoos of completely different styles. The first tattoo was of a ghost pin on my backpack, which I planned to get filled in completely black. The second was of a crescent moon, where I asked for the 'stippling' method, which involves small dots or specks of ink into the skin. I wanted to take on this challenge to experience the darker side of touch in various forms.

  The excerpt makes mention of beauty through methods of pain, which creates a strange contrast in our standard sense of imagery. Tattoos are beautiful in their own artistic way, however the process is anything but. The darker side of touch, to me, is simply the feeling of pain, and how our bodies react to it. We are so fragile, and can hurt ourselves so easily. Cutting your finger while chopping tomatoes, stubbing your toe on a table or even getting the tiniest paper cut are all on the negative spectrum of the idea 

  The ghost tattoo was the most painful, because it filled such a wide area on my arm. This pain was more long and drawn out, and tested my resolve for how long I could stand the touch of the needle. The crescent moon was actually quite painless in an odd sense, where it felt like small little pricks on my wrist. It was painful in a different way, and went much more smoothly. 

  During this process, I asked my tattoo artist what he thought about the concept of how our sense of touch could be both a good and bad thing. He thought that tattoos were an interesting way to represent this sense, because there are various feelings even after the initial process. The healing stage provides a new sense of touch on your skin, where the tattoo is raised and scabbing. Even after it is all healed, that portion of your skin will forever be slightly raised and bumpy. 

A Change in Direction

Tattoo Audio 1

Tattoo Audio 2

  I decided to completely change my direction of this project in terms of the visual aspect. At first, as I was putting this together, I felt that seeing the progress and finished product of my experience would add to the immersive intentions I tried to portray. However, I think the point of touch itself is the exact opposite really, as in this whole idea of seeing and being able to fully visualize what is in front of you. Part of what makes touch and feel so incredible is that we are able to mentally imagine what that thing of substance is. It creates memories that you don't even have to see at all. When you remember the feeling, that is all the visual aid you need. 

  Through this rethinking, I decided to completely remove the image from the videos I had planned on uploading. I converted them to plain audio files, to which you can now only hear the sounds of the tattoo being done, as well as the surrounding environment. I think this works so much better because I cannot share with you the feeling I described in the beginning of this blog, but I can help you immerse yourself in what kind of world I was in at the time. I think removing the image of the video rids it of a distraction that defeats the purpose of the whole project. I want you to be able to try and imagine as hard as possible how it felt, and put yourself in that audio. The harsh buzz of the tattoo gun, fluctuating from a low and sluggish hum, to a quick and rapid drone across your skin. The echo of the room mixed in with distant voices of other costumers and artists. Even the trendy music adds to the immersion in my opinion, as it all puts you there to add to the feeling of touch itself. 

  Getting the tattoo and feeling the pain was one thing, but all of these sounds together complete the experience. I think an image to see and look at would spoil it in a sense, and downplay the entire process.