Contact:  Rick Peterson, Manager of News Services, 920/832-6590
For Immediate Release                                   
January 21, 2000

Art of Healing: Lawrence University Researcher Says Tattoos Help Deal
with Physical, Emotional Trauma


     APPLETON, WIS. -- The tattoo, long the artistic expression of
choice for societal "outsiders" -- psychotics, criminals, lesbians, punk
rockers, gang bangers -- serves an important role as a medium for
emotional healing and survival according to a Lawrence University
researcher.
     Judith Sarnecki, associate professor of French at Lawrence, says a
correlation exists between the increased mainstream use of tattoos in
today's culture and a psychological need to deal with traumatic or
life-threatening experiences. 
     "The process of getting a tattoo is a traumatic and certainly
painful event in and of itself, although the pain and trauma are, to a
considerable extent, controlled and mediated by another human being,"
says Sarnecki, whose research interests also include gender issues.  
     She became interested in the subject of tattoos three years ago 
after being captivated by a young man in a Stanley Kowalski-style
undershirt standing in line in front of her at a local Dairy Queen.  The
man displayed a delicate fine-line tattoo that graced his upper back and
shoulders.  
     "Some people who have incurred bodily trauma mark their bodies on
the very site of that trauma as if to repeat it in some new, creative
setting that will allow for a different, life-affirming demarcation of
the event while still bearing witness to it."
     Among the most common examples linking trauma and tattoo Sarnecki
has found are in women who use the body art to cover their mastectomy
scars as a kind of memento mori.
     "Getting a tattoo is a way for these women to facilitate their
recovery from the loss of a breast to cancer," explains Sarnecki, whose
research has centered on visiting tattoo parlors in Seattle and San
Francisco as well as interviewing dozens of people who sport them.  "The
repetition of pain and trauma is evident, but the painful return is also
different in that it marks the place where the trauma occurred with a
life-affirming design of the woman's own choosing.
     "Having a part of your body tattooed serves as a conduit to
understanding and incorporating both a physical and psychological loss
while also regaining some sense of control and a new sense of individual
empowerment."
     As society becomes increasingly technologically-driven and people
feel more anonymous, dehumanized and homogenized, Sarnecki maintains
that tattoos, in addition to empowering, provide a perceived sense of
permanence in an unstable and ever-shifting world. 
     "Tattoos allow a person to shout, 'Hey, I'm here! I exist, look at
me!  I, too, have a story to tell, a life to relate that is remarkable.'
Perhaps those who feel most silenced in our society speak loudest via
their tattoos."   
     Among the silenced minority most frequently using tattoos as
communication vehicles are prison inmates.  In prison, tattoo images
speak more eloquently and succinctly than words.  
     Of all the people Sarnecki has met and interviewed the past three
years, none have left the impact of "Sky," a fifth generation cowboy who
spent three years in an Arizona prison for his role in a gang-style
killing. 
     At the end of a lengthy interview, Sky removed his shirt and
displayed his own tattoo collection for Sarnecki.  His back features a
cowboy on a bucking bronco, tribute to his days as a champion bareback
rider on the teen rodeo circuit.  "Fear no man" is emblazoned across his
chest.  Two sparrows -- in memory of his best friend, killed in a gang
war -- adorn his pectoral muscles.  A dragon on his left arm is the
demon of alcoholism he battles daily and the flames surrounding the
dragon are for "the hell" he has already endured in his young life. 
     "Like many who are in prisons, Sky's body is his only possession.
His tattoos are the one thing that cannot be taken from him," Sarnecki
explains.  "His tattoos help him articulate his life story.  They help
him remember those moments he chooses never to forget. And they capture
and memorialize some of the pain he has both endured and inflicted
during his brief lifetime."
     The stories that perhaps are impossible to tell or those that
society prefers not to hear often wind up displayed in the flesh.  For
the bearer, tattoos become self-contained stories, symbols that become
the very thing they symbolize.  
     "Tattoos call out to be read and understood on their own terms,"
says Sarnecki.  "As a society, I suggest we have a lot of reading to
do."
     Presently tattooless but contemplating, Sarnecki presented invited
papers on her tattoo research at the International Narrative Conference
at Dartmouth University and at two Midwest Modern Language Association
meetings.  A member of the Lawrence French department since 1990, she
earned her Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin.