Tattoos - Art? Or something to be afraid of?

When I was growing up, my parents often told me to stay away from those people who had tattoos. During that period, people with tattoos were portrayed as gang members/leaders, or bad company by many television drama series. At that time, I tend to avoid any contact with people who had multiple tattoos. However, even in Hong Kong movies today, gang leaders/members are still portrayed as having a body full of tattoos, or at least have a big dragon tattoo to symbolize power.

In the modern world however, tattoos are being portrayed as something cool and as an art form. Is it because of the western cultural influence? I would say so. Programs like Miami Ink are one of those that try to promote tattoos as a form of body art. They let the viewers into the lives of these people when they are at work to see what they do and what kind of people they are, as well as to see who their clients are and their requests. From the show, we can see that these tattoo artists, although have so many tattoos on themselves, do not fall into the old stereotype as being “bad people”. One of the guys (Yoji) even got married and they showed the beach wedding in one of their episodes. These tattoo artists treat their jobs very seriously and really want to promote tattoos as a form of art. Not to mention that they are very talented too.

Cast of Miami Ink

I feel that they successfully showed the various reasons for wanting a tattoo in the show. It is mainly for remembrance. It can be a very personal reason - like a loved one passed away, a pet died, or symbols to represent a friendship or relationship with a particular someone, or just something to remind yourself of what happened in the past. These were the general reasons why people got tattoos (and most of them custom made). Some stories were very touching too.

I would think Miami ink has been successful and thus London has decided to do a London Ink as well. Maybe a chain of these “Ink” programs will surface after awhile, further promoting the image of tattoos in other parts of the world.

Because Singaporeans have been influenced by many different cultures especially the western one, youngsters find tattoos cool and trendy.
So have times changed?
Are tattoos more widely accepted? Or are there still certain stereotypes that will always stay around?
Is this a global change or a cultural perspective?

Let’s hear YOUR views! =P