Tattoo Traditions of Asia: Ancient and Contemporary Expressions of Identity

For millennia, tattoos have documented the history of humanity one painful mark at a time. They form a visual language on the skin, expressing an individual's desires and fears as well as cultural values, family ties, and spiritual beliefs on the surfaces of the body. The Indigenous peoples of Asia have created some of the world's oldest and most distinctive tattoos, but their many contributions to body art and practice have been largely overlooked. Tattoo Traditions of Asia is the first single volume dedicated to the anthropological study of an ancient cultural practice and artform that spans many countries and societies, ancestral lands, and contemporary communities across the continent and its islands.

This richly illustrated survey combines the author's twenty years of fieldwork, interviewing hundreds of Indigenous tattoo bearers and contemporary tattoo practitioners, with painstaking research conducted in obscure archives throughout the region and elsewhere to break new ground on one of the least-understood mediums of Indigenous Asian expressive culture--a vital tradition to be celebrated, an inspirational story told in skin and ink.

Author: Lars Krutak
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Published: 10/31/2024
Pages: 520
Weight: 3.7lbs
Size: 9.80h x 8.20w x 1.40d
ISBN: 9780824895709