INKEDblog takes you beneath the skin of today's tattoo culture. Our mission is to celebrate tattooing as a modern art form which incorporates art, fashion, style, and pop culture. While paying homage and respect to the past, we look to present a contemporary take on the present and future of skin art.

getinked@inkedblog.com

Categories

 

Home / Email this post

Email this post to:
Your email address:
 

Tuesday  Feb 14, 2006

Skull Tattoos - An Explanation

redsku1.jpg

Skull Tattoos

Do skull tattoos mean danger, darkness and death? Not always!
Skull tattoos have developed a reputation as the insignia for secret societies, gangs, or SS tattoos, but that is often not the case, reports tattoolovers.com. Images of skulls, and skull tattoos specifically, represent a wild variety of meanings in different cultures.

For example, a skull is the symbol for several famous Saints including St. Francis. In addition, the Mexican Day of the Dead is represented with skulls and skeletons, often engaged in very life-like (and sometimes humorous) pursuits. The Day of the Dead is a holiday in which the living celebrate the lives of those who have died, occupying themselves by doing the things their loved ones used to like to do during life.

Though skull tattoos remind us that death is our constant companion, they are also a powerful reaffirmation of life.

Comments

the picture of the skull, what style would you call this? i've seen this in various places and would like to know more about it, its my favorite style, but i don't even know how to tell people what i mean =)

Posted by: milcke at February 15, 2006 6:21 AM

To me the skull is a symbol of rebirth into a better , higher or more enlightened state of being. The skull then representing the old material life, which is now of the past. It's about purification, higher being and spiritual life. This is what it symbolises in Freemasonry also as far as i have just read in my dictionary of symbols. Here it also says that the skull in some myths symbolizes the vault of heaven.

Posted by: trolle at February 15, 2006 1:28 PM

i like to think of the skull as framework or architecture - it's our foundation, and what we all look like under our skin.

Posted by: girlhattan at February 15, 2006 1:37 PM

Milcke: I believe this style of skull is based on Mexican Art that is used on the Mexican Day of the Dead.

Posted by: Marc at February 15, 2006 2:30 PM

Post a comment

Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)


Remember me?






 © Electric Artists Inc. All rights reserved. Mike Giant Electirc Artists