Tattoo culture

Traditionally, tattoos have always been seen as a kind of subculture, and have held many stereotypical connotations. Many people still believe tattoos are a clear symbol of involvement with the criminal underworld, but over the years tattoos have become more acceptable and slowly gained acceptance with greater numbers of the general public and the art community. This tattoo trend has slowly gained momentum, removing restrictions and transforming ‘tattoo culture’ into a thing of beauty.

With five years of tattooing experience, Youli recalls how he formerly trained to be a football player and played a part in the Taiwanese movie ‘My Football Summer’. He originally thought he would go on to become a professional footballer but after graduation the members of his football team all parted ways. It was then that he gave up his dream of becoming a footballer and threw himself into the world of tattooing. Youli became acquainted with the world of tattooing after meeting tattoo shop owner A-min while attending the National Hualien Vocational High School of Agriculture. In the beginning he was completely clueless about tattooing, but slowly gained experience and today has a fair number of tattoo clients.

From survive the period from his novice start until today with five years of tattooing experience under his belt, he had had to undergo many challenges and put in a huge amount of hard work. When interviewed by the citizen journalist, tattoo clients Gu Jia-yu and Wan Wei-fan wanted to remind any young people who feel bound and restricted that tattoos are not bad, simply a way of commemorating an event in one’s life, or a piece of living body art to express oneself.
 

PeoPo 公民新聞

Tattoo culture

URL:

http://www.peopo.org/portal.php?op=viewPost&articleId=100842

(以下是中文對照)

刺文化 ( 慈大傳播站 )

照片

刺青在傳統觀念上是一種「次文化」，社會大眾對它的有許多刻板印象，認為他是黑社會的象徵，但是隨著刺青走向大眾化及藝術化，轉變成另一種潮流，成為「刺文化」，刺青不再被限制，是一種回憶，一種美。佑彥，刺青資歷五年，以前是足球員，曾是紀錄片「奇蹟的夏天」其中一員，年少的他，原本以為會繼續往足球這條路走下去，卻在畢業後足球隊的成員各奔東西，佑彥也在畢業後放下足球夢，投入刺青。佑彥在花蓮農校上課時和老闆阿旻認識，並因此接觸刺青，從剛開始什麼都不懂到現在接到很多CASE，佑彥經歷了許多挫折及努力。公民記者也訪問了顧客古佳俣和萬瑋帆，藉此去平衡刺青對其他人的意義，藉由他們讓大家知道，刺青並不是壞事，也是一個留在身上的紀念跟藝術，給想創新卻又被傳統束縛的年輕人們知道，刺青是一個夢想、一個希望也是一個紀念。

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