Tattoos: Power disguised in a needle

Lebanese people, and aren’t we fashion addicts…

Fashion has become one of our main concerns as Lebanese, from clothes, to accesories to makeup and tattoos, it is just clear when you take a stroll down the streets of Beirut city that we are all fashion addicts. But many have a mistaken concept behind it.

Tattoos are much more than fashion, they have many hidden roles that they play, but sadly hidden underneath the drawing displayed. A landscape, or a mix of colors, tattoos are always abstract, for they hold the meaning from within. And what gives us an advantage as Lebanese concerning tattoos is that we have one grand person who is able to display abstract ideas and feelings in a concrete way.

Miami ink? Oh no my friend you do not have to go all the way to Miami to get the best of tattoos when you have “la crème de la crème” of tattooists right here in Beirut city.

Tattoos are marks, marks of one’s life engraved on their body, the mirror of the soul. Long time ago they were used to signify memberships and certain positions in tribes. As the tribes have diminished the art of tattoos have remained. And still it is used to signify, signify one’s identity, one’s self.

Tattoos represent honesty, one paints his inner soul on his outer body, and there is nothing more honest than wearing your heart on your sleeve.

Few get tattoos to go with the trend, and this is why you hear some people stating that you are going to regret having this tattoo. Well if you are doing it just to go with the trend, then surely you will because the trend may change, and so you will need to change that tattoo. Thus regret. They might give you a certain style but that doesn’t mean you have style unless it is your own.

Tattoos give much more than permanent colors, they give permanent power. Power to distinguish ourselves from others. We are all empty frames until we put a unique picture into this frame. Our own picture that is, a picture that never grows old with time, a picture that fire cannot burn, and brutal hands cannot rip.

Tattoos, are much more than fashion, but an everlasting picture of our own true selves.

By Noor Harb