Randy: Take heart, my tattooed friends; even here in Malaysia, life for the tattooed is getting easier by the day. Let me tell you a little story about my visit here just over three and a half years ago, and you'll understand what I am saying. Tattoos are getting more mainstream, and no longer do tattoos mark you as a thug or social outcast.
My first night here, right off of the plane, we stopped for food at a roadside hawker stand. My wife had told me that I'd better cover up my tattooed arms to avoid problems at the customs counter, and I was wearing a cotton hoody. I was sweating like the proverbial pig in the 27C heat even at three am in July. No one nearby appeared to be tatted, but I was clear of customs, so I removed the hoody, exposing my ink.
It was as if permission had somehow been given to those that sat at the tables around us. First, a young lady at the table just to the right of ours took off her overshirt, and exposed a small tribal phoenix on her back, just below her neck. Then a gent to the left of us pulled off his light jacket and exposed some work he had on his forearm. Before we knew it, about a third of the people nearby were suddenly showing ink that they'd kept hidden until I showed mine.
The following day, we tried to hail a cab, and car after car rolled by us, some slowing as if to stop, then speeding away as the drivers saw my flame-ridden arms. In order to get a cab, we had to have a plan and basically ambush one. I would stand away from my wife while she hailed one, pretending we were not together. After the cab stopped and she's already gotten the ok from the driver for our destination, I would run over and hop in. Twice in the ten days I was here, the driver asked us to exit tha cab after seeing my ink.
Now, just a few years later, cabs stop for us, apparently without any reservations whatsoever. The largest English newspaper here, The Star, writes a Metro Feature Article about our shop, and one of their reporters, Priya Menon, gets her first taste of ink for the article so she can share details about the experience firsthand. And I don't have to be the first at a local restaurant to expose my ink, as typically, when I arrive at one, I am already checking out the tattoos being sported by many of the patrons, which are readily and proudly displayed.
Shows like Miami Ink, LA Ink, Tattoo Highway, and London Ink have helped greatly to alert the rest of the world that there are inked people from every walk of life, as have magazines and other media sources. But there is also another source for spreading the word that we often overlook, and that I believe is the singlemost instrumental; everyday tattooed people showing their ink in public without fear of judgment or rejection.
The time has come when Malaysia has escaped the dark ages and the dark thinking about those wearing ink. Let us celebrate the growth of an entire nation with respect to the art we love so much. Wear sleeveless shirts, spaghetti-strap tops, and those sandals that reveal the beautiful, artistic, flowered bands on delicate ankles. Let the world around you see that tattoos are not only art, but art in such pure form that we celebrate it with permanent marks on our very bodies.
EK:
"Don't tell your family this, but the reason so-and-so always wears a t-shirt is because he has got these huge tattoos, and they really are pretty ugly," someone in my extended family whispered to me in my college days.
It really seemed that having ink was more of a mark of scandalousness, and a public symbol of notoriety. Mind you, that was almost 20 years ago.
Back in those days, it was like a mark of notoriety -- something socially restricted to society save sailors, bikers and whores and people who work in canivals. (Mind you, I've since then met a few of those mentioned above, and they are perfectly decent human beings and in most cases, unworthy of condemnation by a self-righteous 'polite society').
I wouldn't say that things have taken a 180-degree turn and the complete opposite is true today, but they have changed and continue to change in a positive direction, for which I'm sure not just artists but the tattooed at large are so gratified to see.
Ink both good and bad is sported just about everywhere in the United States. In KL, I'm pleasantly surprised at the growth in the amount of people who admit to having ink (part of it hidden under clothing), and indeed, look forward to the day very soon, that not only those within the tattoo industry or those working in more 'permissive' fields like art, film and design and advertising -- but everyone out there -- is able to publicly and visually show off their tattoos without hesitation.
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I truly have found that in the past few years, more and more Malaysians are finding their ways, discovering their means to define themselves as individuals rather than a member of a collective. It's refreshing, and encouraging, and it paves the way to someone being to say, "I got this tattoo because I want to and it's me," instead of "I have to hide this tat because my grandma's going to kill me if she finds out." Well, why not? Having ink doesn't damn you and doesn't make you a worse person, or a source of embarassment. If people are going to judge you for a little bit of self-expression and individuality, then they're probably not the kind of people that you want to keep around you, anyway.
Next post: New pictures, I promise!
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