mona lisa, mona lisa... as seen by (me!) sandra, tvgp
if i had the creative tools at hand; and if it were quick and convenient, then the photo that would accompany this blog post would be of the famous mona lisa, -but with a courage tattoo on her face; like mine.
***
i have had two encounters and conversations with men over the past 6 months, where the given man wanted to share with me..
his opinion, and analogy for why tattoos are... wrong, or bad or unattractive
the first man was a dad of a young adult woman, early 20's, who was going to be getting a full sleeve tattoo..
he used the analogy that he thought tattoos were like graffiti on otherwise beautiful buildings... why would you deface, or mark-up something so beautiful... and, in his opinion, -ruin it.
i explained that i understood his position, and, but, as an artist, i see our skin as an empty canvas for creative expression
and after he left, i thought about his analogy.. and i remembered my cousin.. also an artist and photographer, asking me to pull over in san francisco, so he could admire the graffiti on the side of a given building.. he knew the artists name... and in general surprised me with both his admiration and knowledge of this rather underground artist community..
i thought about how much i love pleasanton's hotline you can call to report graffiti, and they will try and have it removed within 24 hours, and i have in fact called it.. and they have followed through..
and i thought about how for me, growing up in the area i did, graffiti was associated with gangs, and drugs and violence and territory wars...
and then i thought again about my cousin, and how in some places, I found the graffiti impressive and intriguing, colorful and important.. and.. if not here.. where would someone with this creative gifting showcase and share his craft and talent?
and i thought about how limited and exclusive and capitalistic and cliquish and monopolized and saturated the art and crafts world is...
and i thought about choices vs. dictates... and cultural rules and standards.. and stereotypes.. and projections..
and where i ultimately landed is... write back where i started: the skin as an empty canvas for creative expression. and we each are the sole owner of our bodies, and in adulthood, we each have the write to do with our own bodies and skin, what we want to do, by exercising the free will granted to us by our creator. -and i thought to myself.. this dad is going to be much better off loving his daughter unconditionally and respecting the fact that her skin; is HER skin.. and her body; is HER body..
and my guess, -and it is only a guess.. is that if you asked him today, or in 5 years... he would circle write back to where he began also... tattoo as graffiti on an otherwise beautiful building.
the weakest part of that analogy for me, is that his daughter is not inking up someone else's skin without their permission...and an underground tag artist is not sneaking out in the dark of night and unknowingly, illegally tattooing her skin with his street name..
it is her skin, her body, and she is selecting the tattoo artist and paying to have this done.. nothing in common with graffiti there for (me!)
***
more recently.. /but remind here, two different men and several months apart..
a man compared tattoos to graffiti again, but his analogy was, 'when something is beautiful... already a masterpiece... well, you wouldn't paint a mustache on the mona lisa would you?"
-no i would not...
...go intentionally damage or even alter someone else's property illegally...
and i comforted him by sharing the other dad's opinion, and reassured him that he is not alone..
and returned again to my own opinion, -the skin as an empty canvas for creative self-expression
so, my analogy would be..
well, what did leonardo da vinci paint the mona lisa on?
he started with an empty canvas. -of his own...
in Jesus masterpiece of a holy name... -amen!
posted by SHE @ 12:03 PM
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