Tattoo Art - A Traditional Mysteries
Field Visits, Decoding Traditional tattoos, Studying tattoo art
The project was a two weeks module based on the theme of Heritage. The elective in which I participated was working on the topic of Heritage of Tattoo art. Tattoo art is a good example of human love for art and uniqueness. Every person wants look unique and different from other and marking our body is one of the way for it.
Indian Tattoo:
India has a great variety of culture and Geography. As the region changes custom, beliefs and vegetation changes, this variety has a greater impact on human lifestyle. In ancient India tattooing was popular in indigenous people but now they are considered as the sign of toughness. To study the Indian heritage of tattooing we visited few communities based in Ahmedabad. Tattoo art is also known as 'Gudna' in Indian local languages.
Analysis :
Most of the communities who has tattoo culture used to live in forest or remote villages and travel around the country as per seasons demand. Some of these communities leave their families behind and travel for business. For these communities tattoos are the kind of Jewellery which no one can steal.
Most of the tattoos on the persons body includes the name of their spouse, surname also the community symbol, figuring of the local flora-fauna basically these tattoos were their identity cards or the address book. Some tattoos also represents the important life events or achievements.
After studying different tattoo art forms i decided to work on Kolam art.
Kolam:
The Kolam is a form of drawing that is drawn on the floor, using rice flour, chalk, chalk powder or rock powder and coloured powders. This art form is popular in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Goa and Maharashtra. It is also popular in Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Malaysia.
It is drawn to welcome Lakshmi, the Goddess of Prosperity, into the home and to drive away the evil spirits. Its secondary purpose is to add aesthetic value to the home. This practice also helps to protect house from ants and bugs.
Kolam is drawn by dots to lay the frame work of design and later joining it using lines and curves.
Taking inspiration from the Kolam Art form I further developed the new type font.
