Showing posts with label graffiti. Show all posts
Showing posts with label graffiti. Show all posts

Tuesday, 24 March 2015

Kilroy was here!

Every aberration on our skin has a story to tell...

That scar on your forehead may have been Voldemort's doing, or it could have been just the punch that your baby brother landed on your face while you were playing or rather fighting over a football! The ugly keloid on your knee could be due to that fall you had while scrambling away from the neighbourhood dog, which explains your morbid fear of the canine species. The long surgical scar reminds you of the prolonged labour that you endured in the monsoon floods while you did your tour of duty in Julau, Sarawak.

Talking about Sarawak, having a tattoo is a sort of coming of age for a young adult. It is a ritual that they have to go through to achieve adulthood. The same goes for many ancient tribes and those who want to preserve the old age practice.

In modern times, a tattoo may unfold different phases of one's life. Perhaps, a butt ornament to reminisce that dizzying post varsity carefree days, the regrettable name of the first lover that he desperately tries to surgically erase, and the list goes on.

Then there is a group of people who proudly display their skin graffiti to others to see as a fashion statement, that they dare to be different and want to assert their ideology to the world. Despite the bad publicity associated with inking, they do this, the link to triads, the association with chronic transmittable disease, with the working class and notoriety.

Then, the small group of people who ape people he thinks set the standards for living. Without raising an eyebrow, he would don a sleeve tattoo without wondering the significance or having anything to boast about it. When asked why he got himself an elaborate tattoo, he would simply reply, "Simply!" So much for making a statement.

Welcome to Jamaica, have a nice day!

“Be afraid. Be very afraid.”*