Copycats, Fanboys and Identity Theft: part 1

I’m not sure where to start this post as most of what I have to say, has been said before… and the truth of the words seem to lose their power with repetition. In the New World Order most people won’t even bother to read an entire post and prefer to merely “like” and scroll on. So I will try to keep your attention with a few “kitten calendar quotes” mixed with some pretty pictures as a narrative hook so we can all get safely through this to the end.

I on my own part have never posted photos of my own tattoos but am confronted with copies of them on the internet on many occasions… the price of fame I guess

I actually was reading an article online about people copying other peoples tattoos where the author stated that, "... it was the peoples own fault for posting photos of work if they didn't want it copied". I thought that this was the equivilent of blaming rape victums for dressing provocatively. The funny thing was that at the end of the article I was pointed toward "other articles which might interest me" which poetically showed a photo of my own tattoos with the caption:

Artist Takes Pictures of his Tattooed Hands to Encourage Creativity

My forearms have been a testing ground for various hand tattooing techniques, tools and substances over the last 20 years. I have Polynesian Tatau with boars tooth combs, Inuit sewing with bone needle and sinew, Handpoking with various tools... hawthorn, rosethorn, flintstone as well as inks made from soot, coal and even ochre. The runes are a personal text chosen from the Older Edda and transcribed into Icelandic with Icelandic runes.

A couple bands inspired from my forearms

An entire forearm copy with Inuit designs on top instead of wrist... I assume the runetext is one of her own.

Someone posting selfies of his new ink on Facebook

When I merely commented that it looked familiar ;-) (not knowing the source)

He got abusive... called me names... said that he found it, liked it and that I couldn't decide what he put on his body!

WTF!!! right Loki?

I started Sewing myself back in 1998 after having studied Inuit tattooing and art for many years. I was fortunate enough to work as a Clinical Illustrator at the same hospital which autopsied the Qilakitsoq mummies and used my research to eventually attempt to revive the traditions which had died out the century before. Initially I just wanted to recreate the technique for myself... my main interest was more in the patterns which had come into disuse. Whether they are tattooed with machine, hand or sewing is of lesser importance than the survival of the designs. However just in the last year or two there have been several tattooists trying out the sewing technique.   

These photos were taken by French photographer Claire Artemyz and have been show in various articles and books over the years and has probably been used as inspiration on many occasions.

Often within cultural tattooing such as the Polynesian you have a series of symbols which have specific meanings and form a visual language of sorts. While the symbols are repeated, how they are put together is individual and used to tell a more personal story of who you are.

However, you also find some cultures where the tattooing designs are copied and repeated more exactly within the members of the tribe to show a fellow kinship rather than individual achievments.

For our own part you see the same thing with European tattooing where Flash designs covered all the walls with designs which were repeated regularly. Even if a person met another with the same design  they would often have a common reference... having served in the military, being from the same country or merely having visited the same tattooist. A tribal bond of sorts.

Nowadays people are seeking more individual expressions than tribal affiliations but chances are even if you never meet someone with the same tattoo you may find it on the internet at some point.

Recently fellow artist Dion Kaszas did a tribute painting of this photo which he said inspire him in his search to revive the tattooing practices of his own culture including sewing. While this is a copy of Claire Artemyz's photo imagery it is neither a copy of the actual photo or tattoos, as it is a personal interpretation in a different medium. Being a one off painting it is also not being mass produced for profit and Dion has been kind enough to give credit to Claire and myself.
Kids... always quote your sources!

Artist Takes Pictures Of His Tattooed Arms To Encourage Creativity???

This was the recent heading on an article posted on the Tattoodo blog
feel free to post comments on the link:

Tattoo Do Do

Unfortunately Claire's photo has also been used inspiration for other tattoos. While I've seen copies of Nanna's and my tattoos before, but could always comfort myself with the knowledge that I made them first and that Nanna and I are so visable on the tattoo scene that any copies would remain mere copies. However Ponypork has 55K followers and now Tattoodo has also done an article on the photos he has taken of #whatmyhandsdoing , giving credence to these tattoos as originals within the tattoo community... 

so now it starts to look like he has the original while I am a fanboy with a copy. 

It is sort of cool when people start thinking that my work is traditional.. but it is also personal. When people start posting it as their own or promoting themselves with it that things get messy. The problem is that many people just use google and search "Viking or Polynesian Tattoos" instead of searching "Viking or Polynesian Art" to find the original sources. So their inspiration is already from another contemporary artists work rather than historical sources

The problem in some cases is that the Asian tradition of teaching comes from the repetition of copying ones master until one can recreate it perfectly and then take the masters work farther by creating your own pieces. However nowadays people don't take the time to be taught, they would rather "Do" than "Learn"... one continues to copy the masters, but it is often not ones own master. In the Western world this is also often seen... not because of tradition, but usually just laziness.

But what can you do?
PonyPork aka Romo Jack is doing photos as art... the photos themself are not a copy of my work, while the significant imagery repeated in all his photos is a copy of my tattoos. Asking him to remove the photos is a bit redundant now... asking him to refrain from doing more photos would be censorship and asking him to remove the tattoos would be against the  Genevia Conventions.
Romo Jack is not a tattooist... he has copied my tattoos but is not copying my work. However by promoting this image as his own it could constitute a type of identity theft couldn't it?
And despite the artistic value of the photos... would they have been near as interesting if not for the tattoos?

Well at least "The King" has more than 55K followers :-)

While I don't think Romo Jack's intentions were malicious they are unfortunate. He is from Indonesia and has a Mentawai tattoo adorning his other forearm, where the tradition of members of the tribe having the same tattoos is still alive. I myself share tattoos with members of the Mentawai, Iban and other tribes as well. It would also be a shame if he couldn't continue creating this type of art. I'm secure enough in myself not to let this bother me, so consider this more as a social commentary of tattoos and tradition versus social media.

You can check more of Romo Jack's photos of  #whatmyhandsdoing on Instagram@ponypork