History of tattoos, past to present

A new parisian exhibition explores the tradition of skin marking, or tattooing, from its origins, around 5,000 years ago among indigenous tribes to the mainstream current it is today.

The exhibition focuses on the diversity in traditions regarding tattoos, aesthetics and rituals. But, on the whole, it highlights that tattoos are an universal language.

'Throughout history, tattoos have been performed for medicinal purposes or to prevent disease. There are tattoos that are supposed to have a magical function, to capture bad spirits. There are tattoos which we want to take with us in the afterlife. There are tattoos which are meant to celebrate an initiation, either as an individual or as part of a group, and there are also tattoos that are made for personal, aesthetic reasons,' explained anthropologist Sébastien Galliot, scientific advisor to the exhibition.

In the last 20 years, tattoos went from being a subculture to being a mainstream artistics movement. Stars from the fashion industry, athletes, music artists chose to express themselves through tattoos.

An estimated one quarter of the American youth has at least one tattoo.

French tattoo artist, Loic Abraxas, explains why people chose to mark themselves with tattoos: 'People want to reclaim their bodies. People want to stand out in a modern society, where machines control everything, where people all dress the same, and tattoos allow people to further express their individuality, to bring out what’s inside.'