Body and a Bottle

Time for another look at art with Ariana! Today's topic is body art. Now before you get uncomfortable thinking of scantily dressed people showing off their covered skin, I want to assure you that I will not be posting any pictures like that. If those kind of images pop up in your brain then that is totally and completely your fault and I take absolutely no blame for it. That said, lets move along.

In this post I'm focusing mostly on body paint, tattooing, and henna tattooing. Body paint is pretty self explanatory, it's just like face painting, only on the entire body. I might not post a picture of body paint seeing as those pictures probably aren't very school appropriate, even though they are really interesting. I might be able to find one of a hand that has been painted though.

Everyone knows what a tattoo is. If you do NOT know what a tattoo is then I hope you are either under the age of twelve or come from a part of the world where there is no tattooing. If neither of those apply to you then you, my friend, are extremely sheltered and I worry for your future social well being. The way I approach the art of tattooing is that it is just another way of expression, just in a permanent manner. Although in my opinion it's extremely irritating when people get tattoos that are completely meaningless and they just get it done for the sake of having a tattoo. If you're going to get ink permanently embedded in your skin, PLEASE think it through first! I don't believe in art for the sake of art. Have a little passion people for pity's sake!

Henna is something that not everybody knows about, so I will do my best to give a short explanation of it. Henna, or Hina, is a flowering plant that is used to dye skin, hair, fingernails, leather, and wool. The name is also used for the art of temporary tattooing based on the dyes. Henna tattooing, from what I've seen is actually quite beautiful and intricate. I'm not quite sure on the cultural background of the uses of Henna, I want to say they use it in India, but don't quote me on saying that. If you're interesting in learning more about Henna you can look for information on Google or Wikipedia or anywhere else that suits your fancy.

I'll put a few pictures up now.