Tales from the needle: Volume IX
Tales from the Needle is a weekly series which will highlight people and their tattoos. Some people have a favorite tat, their most memorable ink. Some people put more emphasis on the needle from a tattoo gun penetrated their skin while others have one they wish they never put any ink on their body.
Every Friday, the blog will have a first-person story of a person and their tats of choice, using only images of their tats keeps the theme of this being a faceless site. The images seen here will merely aid in bringing nuance to the numerous layers that compose the person.
Words courtesy of spartaken:
A couple of my favorite pieces, one in particular, is the word “Veritas” on my right forearm. It means “truth and justice” in Latin. Latin is a language that people don’t speak anymore which is why I chose that word and that language. Finding the truth can be very difficult these days; there’s so much propaganda and the truth has somehow become relative to who’s telling the story. That’s not the real truth; that’s a version, an opinion. There’s only one truth, so that’s why I chose Veritas, that word in that language.
Two more of my favorite pieces, with one on my right forearm as well, would be a dreamcatcher with peacock feathers. I use the dreamcatcher as a tribute to my own Native American heritage. On my father’s side, his mother was 100% Native American. I had the chance to meet her when I was a baby, and it’s really a tribute to that along with the story behind it has to do with the tale of the spider-woman. The story goes that she wove a web which caught all the bad dreams, and the feathers took all the goodness out. The feathers are supposed to be hung over your bed which symbolizes all the good things trickling down from the feathers while you’re sleeping. I have it hanging over Atlas who was the titan. The titans in Greek mythology were said to be greater than the Gods, the only being greater than the Gods, and Atlas was the one who was tricked into holding the weight of the world.
I have Atlas holding the weight of the world, and the dreamcatcher directly over him. It’s my way to symbolize wanting peace for the world; having the dreamcatcher above Atlas to catch any negativity and have the goodness drip down the feathers onto the world while still having Atlas carry the weight, because somebody has to. I chose peacock feathers instead of regular feathers because the peacock symbolizes royalty. The colors of a peacock, rich colors, symbolize royalty, and peacock feathers were usually used by kings. That’s pretty much why I put those pieces together. Directly above that, I have the Basquiat crown by Basquiat, one of the artists of the Harlem Renaissance who died at 27. He was ahead of his time, a visionary in the world of art. Getting the crown was another way of expression, another way to symbolize royalty.