Culture is a part of life for everyone; its identity is made up of many different forms, including tradition, beliefs and appearance. Identity includes the makeup of your whole body, on the inside your morals, beliefs and personality, and on the outside, which can be inscribed with a series of markings to tell your story.
In my essay on vestimentary body art I will examine the ways in which the human body consists of adornment. I will include cultural beliefs, testing of the body’s physical boundaries and what influence traditional body decoration has had on today’s Western society.

Human beings are the only creatures that are able to consciously recognise themselves and, in the process, their bodies. The skin is a significant part of the body as it can be seen as the final layer that separates you from the outside world. For thousands of years the skin has been seen as a blank canvas and has tempted people to paint, pierce, tattoo, scar, stain, shave, stretch, sew, perfume, oil and colour right back to the time when we separated ourselves from the apes. Whether it be to identify with or isolate themselves from a particular society, to recognise authority, acknowledge individuals age, sex and social status, every culture ever known, - has adorned themselves in some kind of body decoration at some time.

Body art in forms of scarring or tattooing was once a widespread phenomenon as Charles Darwin stated in the mid 1800’s.

Not one great country can be named, from the polar regions in the north to New Zealand in the south, in which the aborigines do not tattoo themselves. This practise was followed by the Jews of old, and by ancient Britons. In Africa some of the natives tattoo themselves, but it is a much more common practise to raise protuberances by rubbing salt into incisions made in various parts of the body; and these are considered by the inhabitants of Kordofan and Darfur to be great personal attractions. In the Arab countries no beauty can be perfect until the cheeks ‘or temples have been gashed. [1]

Tribal customs of permanent body decoration are slowly disappearing, however there are still a few remote regions where body art is practised in the same way it has been for hundreds of years. Some parts of India, the Amazon, Indonesia, Asia, china, the Middle East and Africa still carry on the tradition. [2]

East African tribes vary in the amount they travel but mostly all have a minimum of material possessions to allow for their constant travels, therefore the body becomes the base on which they present their artwork.
No single piece of evidence can tell you more about a person or group than the information you gain in the first glance. Every tribe has different body art that marks them apart from one another, and can be seen as a sign language through symbols and markings, displayed on the body. Different decoration can tell you about the wearer’s age, sex and social status. For example the Mursi and the Bumi came from the Omo valley of southwest Ethopia. The Omo valley groups are famous for the diversity of the decorative scars, arranged in aesthetic patterns, with which they ornament their faces and bodies. These prestigious marks are often closely linked to meaningful and complex rituals in which hunting and killing play an important part.[3] The scars on the arms and bodies of the Mursi are often a record of personal achievements – mainly signifying, feats of bravery in battle or outstanding skill at hunting. The desirable marks enhance the social prestige of their wearer.[4] Importance is also placed on the person, who decorates who, how and why they do it, and also whether the process is voluntary or forced as a part of their beliefs within their society.

Bibliography:

Australian Museum’s Body Art. 2000, “Contemporary branding and cutting,” http://www.australianmuseum.net.au/bodyart/scarring/contemporary.htm. (accessed May 2nd 2008)

Bakker, Gijs, Jewelry, Europe: Arnoldsche Art publishers, 2005

Bhandari, Vandama, Costume, Textiles and Jewellery of India, Traditions in Rajasthan, London: Mercury Books, 2005

Brown, Deidre and Ellis, Ngarino. Te Puna, Maori art from Te Tai Tokerau Northland. New Zealand: Reed Books, 2007

Clajot, Jean-Michel “Group and scarification,” Abounkou Boni, http://www.drr.net/jmclajot/Production/PhotogroupView.aspx?pbid=4&msa=1&pgid=7758107, (accessed May 2nd 2008).

Fisher, Angela, Africa Adorned, London: The Harvill Press, 1996

Groning, Karl, Decorated Skin, A World Survey of Body Art, London: Thames and Hudson, 1997

Maarten Hesselt, van Dinter, The World of Tattoo, An illustrated History, Amsterdam: KIT Publishers, 2005

McNab, Nan, Body Bizarre Body Beautiful, Australia: Allen & Unwin pty ltd, 1999

Nicolas Thomas, Anna Cole and Bronwen Douglas, Tattoo, Bodies, Art and exchange in the Pacific and the west, London: Reaktion Books ltd, 2005

Skubic, Peter, Between Schmuck / Jewellery, Europe: Arnoldsche Art publishers, 2001

[1] Maarten Hesselt van Dinter, The World of Tattoo, An illustrated History, (Amsterdam: KIT Publishers, 2005), 9.
[2] Maarten Hesselt van Dinter, The World of Tattoo, An illustrated History, (Amsterdam: KIT Publishers, 2005), 9.

[3] Groning, Karl, Decorated Skin, A World Survey of Body Art, (London: Thames and Hudson, 1997), 128.
[4] Ibid
[5] Fisher, Angela, Africa Adorned, (London: The Harvill Press, 1996), 15
[6] Groning, Karl, Decorated Skin, A World Survey of Body Art, (London: Thames and Hudson, 1997), 227.
[7] Peter Skubic, Between Schmuck / Jewellery, (Europe: Arnoldsche Art publishers, 2001), 132 – 133.
[8] Australian Museum’s Body Art. 2000, “Contemporary branding and cutting,” http://www.australianmuseum.net.au/bodyart/scarring/contemporary.htm.
[9] Ibid
[10] Ibid
[11] Groning, Karl, Decorated Skin, A World Survey of Body Art, (London: Thames and Hudson, 1997), 227.
[12] Jean-Michel Clajot, “Group and scarification,” Abounkou Boni, http://www.drr.net/jmclajot/Production/PhotogroupView.aspx?pbid=4&msa=1&pgid=7758107,