By Jonathan Piercing.
At A Glance Author jonathanpiercing Contact [email protected] IAM jonathanpiercing When N/A Translated by IAM JuanKi.
Recently I found in my bibliographic material, an article posted in www.ucalp.edu.ar, dated the 8th of July of 2003, written by a woman whose name I'd rather not mention, said article refers to what the author called: "New Violence Phenomenon", saying that the Body Art movement in Argentina only pursued the goal of mutilation so people could feel good, hurting themselves, as manner of protest and to get attention.
It is inconcebible that in the present time there still are this kinds of so partisan opinions, and much more in countries that thought they are Latin-Americans, show a high level on this topic, like Brazil and Argentina.
However, if we stop and think, how hard can it be to make society understand that the art of tattooing is something very antique? And it is not something new, what is new is the techniques involved in it. Body modifications or Body Art have suffered changes, to now find so many variations, that with a certain aim is obtained, many times in subjective manners.
And after all, what is beauty? There isn't anyone to judge people by their appearances, and there isn't anyone to define a clear concept of beauty, because beauty is simple a paradigm, a part of post modernity, because surgeries to lift women's breasts and make them thinner are body modifications, then why isn't a facial tattoo accepted as a beauty concept in most of society?
It would be then, moment to start the work to change the paradigm of beauty generally accepted by the postmodern society and to take step into a new era, that it has arisen thanks to people like Doug Malloy, Jim Ward, The Lizardman, the Fakir Musafar and even Shannon Larrat, that to mention only a few of the many people that have taken the effort of spreading so many knowledge to all generations.
Part of the subdevelopment that society in some countries contains is what it has somehow prevented to separate the ignorance that the society has of these procedures, there have been cases in which for the sanitary authorities it is more important to take out some money from street venders to let them work no matter how, without minimum hygienic conditions, that to investigate on the suitable operation of establishments of tattoo and corporal perforations.
Recently I had the opportunity of meeting the sanitary authorities of my city, to create a project of Association of Tattooists and professional Piercers in Venezuela, Project that was approved by the college where I finished my studies, it turned out that the functionary of the sanitary organism refuted my theory, saying that it was necessary that in Venezuela there couldn't be any kinas of organizations like that because there weren't any certified persons of any educational institutes of that type, to that I answered that in Venezuela there weren't those types of schools and that my project didn't seek to teach the art but to accept the basic measures of hygiene and asepsis required for the elaboration of tattoos and corporal perforations without epidemiologist risks that affect people's health.
Finally I couldn't get their support, incredibly they never considered necessary the use of the autoclave, or basic knowledge about disinfestations, or of cross contamination and even less about bacteriology, topics so basic for realizing this activities, to name a few.
Finally they considered necessary finding out the origin and composition of the pigments used to tattoo, the origin of the forceps used for corporal perforations, and of course, everything what would include payment by the proprietors and employees of the tattoo studios, because after all, that is how as the organisms of the Venezuelan "State" work.
Once I remember talking with a friend from Mexico, Danny Yerna, whom I consider a professional on the matter, he told me that he had been commenting the same in his country, and incredibly after had taken a law Project for regulation of tattoo and piercing studios to their congress, it was shelved because his country was in delicate political situations and there were "more important" things to resolve... so, will what I think about the influence of sub development on this topic be true? I don't know much about the situation of other countries, but this is the information that I have known.
But the absurd thing of all this is that several relatives of a high civil employee of another sanitary organism of the locality were my clients a few times, and even this Doctor had the opportunity to review my project, which considered "magnificent and important", but I couldn't even appraise it because I didn't have any title from any institution of my country that would sustain my knowledge about tattoos and piercings, then she apologized and told me that she knew that it was right, but she couldn't do anything, though she was aware that the procedures of our studio were appropriate.
Let's note even talk about medical institution with a reputation, it is very difficult to find an odontologist that uses an autoclave and it would be bad that a tattoo studio opens its doors, but it wouldn't be wrong that an operating room of a millionare clinic is contaminated with pseudomona aeruginosa, and that their patients suffer with those consequences and have to spend over the expect budget, having to be recluded longer than necessary for post operation recovery.
I once knew someone that worked in a gynecologist's studio, their consultations were quite expensive, in comparison to customaries, that person had no knowledge about the matter and the doctor would only tell him to was the speculums in a bucket full with a liquid that he would provide, then let them air dry and put them on a piece of fabric on a table.
All this process would be done over and over all day long, with the same pair of gloves used for cleaning the office and the rest of the facilities, so what kind of professionals are them?
Finally I decided to take my Project and direct it without the consent of any sanitary authority, that would give some benefits to the associates, the moment that there is any flaw related with the practice of tattoos and/or piercings in the city, since the association would count with rigid mechanisms of supervision to watch everything that the associates would perform.
In addition, it would be a source of knowledge for society, so people get aid to know in which way they must be taken care of, to know their rights and duties as customers at the time of acquiring a tattoo or a piercing, as well as to orient people who integrate themselves to the market so that they make the work in a correct way.