Rebirth|Sublimity uses tattoos as a medium for healing trauma. Using a client’s story and personal tastes, the project creates tattoos to help clients move on from the past and create something more beautiful as a result from the cracks.
After several life decisions and events that forced me into negative situations and required
reevaluation of my life's direction, I decided to get a tattoo that, in a way, represents me
taking back my life. The book Yakuza Moon by Shoko Tendo inspired me and showed me
that I can symbolize my reclamation by using a permanent form of artwork. By getting
something that has a personal connection to permanently become part of me, I can continue
to remember what I have learned from the experiences. The ability to have a symbol of
overcoming the past can be something powerful and help people come to terms with their
identities. As such, my project is meant to develop a way to design tattoos for people that
represent them and their hardships; to allow people to grow from life experiences and come
to terms with the past and themselves.
Using tattoos as a means of portraying the wearer has been the traditional way of choosing
tattoo imagery in the Yakuza, an organization of gangsters that originated in Japan. The
artist assigns the main image, placed on the back, based on the person's characteristics.
Typical images include cultural and religious figures and icons. Inspired by the reasoning for
their imagery, I am portraying the tattoos as the means that will allow people to be able to
come to terms with themselves and allow for something along the lines of self-acceptance.
While the inspiration has clear cultural and religious imagery, I am not restricting myself to
just such imagery and body location. I am drawing the images from what I have experienced
from multiple sources. The chosen image varies, based on the client's background and preferences
and my own knowledge of symbolism and imagery.
The audience includes ages 21 to 30, ages where people have passed puberty and most
likely have had a previous sense of independence. I am using print media for promotion, a
website layout that includes motion graphic, and a book that shows the process that I went
through while designing the imagery.
As a graphic designer, I would enjoy working with tattoo artists to help them however can.
reevaluation of my life's direction, I decided to get a tattoo that, in a way, represents me
taking back my life. The book Yakuza Moon by Shoko Tendo inspired me and showed me
that I can symbolize my reclamation by using a permanent form of artwork. By getting
something that has a personal connection to permanently become part of me, I can continue
to remember what I have learned from the experiences. The ability to have a symbol of
overcoming the past can be something powerful and help people come to terms with their
identities. As such, my project is meant to develop a way to design tattoos for people that
represent them and their hardships; to allow people to grow from life experiences and come
to terms with the past and themselves.
Using tattoos as a means of portraying the wearer has been the traditional way of choosing
tattoo imagery in the Yakuza, an organization of gangsters that originated in Japan. The
artist assigns the main image, placed on the back, based on the person's characteristics.
Typical images include cultural and religious figures and icons. Inspired by the reasoning for
their imagery, I am portraying the tattoos as the means that will allow people to be able to
come to terms with themselves and allow for something along the lines of self-acceptance.
While the inspiration has clear cultural and religious imagery, I am not restricting myself to
just such imagery and body location. I am drawing the images from what I have experienced
from multiple sources. The chosen image varies, based on the client's background and preferences
and my own knowledge of symbolism and imagery.
The audience includes ages 21 to 30, ages where people have passed puberty and most
likely have had a previous sense of independence. I am using print media for promotion, a
website layout that includes motion graphic, and a book that shows the process that I went
through while designing the imagery.
As a graphic designer, I would enjoy working with tattoo artists to help them however can.
