Matt Lodder Unpacks The History Of Tattoos In His New Book
In his own words he explains why he wrote the book; and sheds light on how this ancient artform has impacted the socio-cultural world over the past 300 years- like in Black culture and for soldiers
Tattoos date back to around 3,300 BCE, and have been a way for humans to express themselves. Matt Lodder, a senior lecturer in art history and theory and director of American studies at the University of Essex, just published a book Tattoos: The Untold History of a Modern Art, and I must say it’s fascinating, even for someone like myself that has shied away from the art. Quite simply it unpacks and paints a picture for those ignorant or judgy of tattoos, or those just down-right in love with tattoos. Lodder use of lots of images, helps give visual references when he breaks down the history of tattoos.
“There hasn't been a straightforward history of the modern, commercialised tattoo trade written since maybe the 1950s, and arguably even since the 1930s,” Lodder tells Seele. “Despite huge interest in the topic, there's long been a mismatch between the stories kept and shared within the tattoo industry itself, and interest by professional historians who understood where those stories were to be found.”
Tattoos author, Matt Lodder | Photo Credit: Amit Lennon
In the US, around 32% of American adults have at least one tattoo, which is one-third of the population, according to a Pew Research Center survey. And according to the European Chemicals Agency at least 12% of Europeans have tattoos. Europeans in the 18-35 age rage are likely to have twice as many tattoos.
Lodder has long been mesmerized with tattoos and has been getting them for 25 years- “(though not completely) covered, including the top of my head,” he says. “My grandparents tried to caution me away from being tattooed when I first became intrigued by them, through watching WWF wrestlers and pouring over heavy metal album sleeves. But those cautionary tales had precisely the opposite effect, I suppose! My grandfather had narrowly avoided having a fly tattooed on the end of his nose during WW2, whilst stationed in Jakarta, and my grandmother's mother Ethelwynne had been unwillingly tattooed by her brother in the early 20th century, assuring her it would soon rub off.”
Why the need for another book on tattoos?
While he admits that the best books on tattoos have been written by tattooers, he feels that the audience they cater to is a bit narrow. “Books by professional historians simply do not take into account the material held beyond the usual domains of historical research, like libraries and museums. So, my career to date has basically been working across these divides- bringing the intimate knowledge of the tattoo community into discussions with wider historical scholarship. I'm very fortunate that I have been able to build relationships with artists and collectors over the time I've been getting tattooed, which has allowed me to understand the histories of modern tattooing that simply cannot be found in traditional sources.”
Even though the book delves into newer research on tattoos, Lodder is clear to point out that it’s about commercial tattooing. “It's not about the intimate tattooing done between sailors, soldiers or criminals (at least not directly). It's also not about indigenous tattooing, except where traditional practices impacted upon (or, counter to common perception, didn't impact upon) commercial tattoos in Europe and Euro-America. I treat tattooing as a medium, not a phenomenon, and want to differentiate these things. It's also not a book about tattooed people, motivations to get tattooed, or an attempt to "explain" why a particular tattoo, or tattooing in general, is performed.”
He goes on to say: “Instead, I focus primarily on the artists, and the socio-cultural, historical, economic and artistic currents which have propelled the trade over 300 years.” This approach reveals that tattooing is not a recently-fashionable practice, but one that is deeply intertwined with broader histories -- and as such, I hope, the book is as much a history of popular visual culture in general as it is a limited history of tattooing.”
One thing that makes the book engaging is the heavy use of imagery, of tattooers, “in their own terms,” Lodder says. “I was able to cite letters, intra-community magazines, unseen photos, and oral histories, for example, that haven't been written about before. This allows a sense of a trans-generational network of artists to emerge, allowing those who were speaking with each other and to the wider world about their love for tattooing, and who were advocating for their profession as professionals.”
Soldiers and tattoos
Another engaging aspect that Lodder dives into in the book is how tattoos found an alluring appeal to soldiers as early as WWI and WWII. I ask him: why do you think tattoos have been alluring to soldiers, rap artists, creatives, and criminals? What does this sort of expression give them? “I think this is a really strange (if common) question. Tattoos are a medium, not a phenomenon. They're capable, like painting, sculpture, photography, music and film, of communicating the whole gamut of human emotions. It makes no sense to ask *why* people paint, in general. Similarly, I think the same is true of tattooing. It makes no sense to ask *why* people tattoo, in general. The answer will always be contingent and indexical, like every other creative act. Indexical, because every image is a product of its moment and circumstances of creation.”
“Now, of course, like any art, the phenomenal facts of the medium of tattooing are relevant in what any specific tattoo means, but we simply can't generalize,” he continues. “In fact, this book (and my last one) really tries to work against the idea that answering such questions in straightforward ways is possible at all.”
Tattoos and Black culture
Lodder sheds light on how African Americans have been engaged in tattoos for over a century, but it was the 1990s where their culture began to really take to it. On why it took so long for Blacks in the US and UK to start wearing tattoos, he notes: “this is a really complex question that would require some specialist expertise on African-American sociology and history to really interrogate. My sense is that cultural atomization is of course part of it- for so long, African American and White cultures were much more distinct than today, with Black culture being appropriated by mainstream white culture without proper attribution or care, and with Black communities actively ghettoised and segregated in many places in the US. What was popular in white subcultures wasn't necessarily popular in Black ones, perhaps. There were very, very few tattooers of colour in the US or the UK until the 1990s, which meant little representation to encourage Black kids into the profession.”
“Jaqui Gresham, who started tattooing in Louisiana in the 1970s, once said she never met another Black tattooer until the 1990s! The tattoo industry, as the rest of culture, was actively racist in many ways, and myths grew up around how Black skin would respond badly to being tattooed- myths which persist to this day in some stubborn corners, despite the amazing advocacy of new generations of Black artists. Where Black and White subcultural communities did mix, such as in the Navy, we find plenty of tattooed people of colour though.”
Lodder has been working on the book for decades, so while he has grown in the subject matter over time, it’s hard for him to narrow down what he has learned specifically after completing the book, but one area that surprised him is gay men and art. “The most revelatory piece of this particular project was realising just how crucial the organisational networks of gay men had been to what modern tattooing looks like today. Tracing key moments which brought tattooers and styles together revealed that, basically by accident, the ways in which tattooed gay men had to organise in the 1960s led to connections occurring far beyond the immediate limits of gay subculture. Not many of the key artists were themselves gay, but many of the key artists were brought together in seminal, productive conversations by the networks which gay men created.”
And while tattoos are far more normalized and accepted in today’s culture, there are those who have negative feelings about the art. “It's not my job or within my ability or desires, to convince people to like tattoos. But, what I do want is for people's instinctive reactions to be set aside in favour of basing opinions on the true, rich depth of the culture of tattooing. Many people imagine - and have long imagined - that tattoos are "just for sailors and criminals". Two kings of England have been tattooed! And of course, most tattoos, particularly on wealthier people, have always been hidden under clothing. Most of what people imagine about the history of tattooing takes no account of the tattooing they haven't seen, or which hasn't been easily recorded for history.”
The book is engaging and worth buying, especially if the topic of tattoos fascinates you. Lodder also educates, unpacking the history of this artform in the West, in an engaging way with images, fascinating topics, and trustworthy sources.