TATTOO EVOLUTION IN POST - COMMUNIST ROMANIA. FROM MARGINAL PHENOMENON TO FASHION
TATTOO EVOLUTION IN POST - COMMUNIST ROMANIA. FROM MARGINAL PHENOMENON TO FASHION

Summary/Abstract: In Romania’s contemporary society, the issue of tattoos is more topical than ever, since this phenomenon is truly expanding as ever more young people use this sort of body modification for emotional or ideological reasons or out of their wish to position themselves socially, and that is why I considered it suitable to have a look at this phenomenon, from a social and semiotic angle. Tattoo artists may be seen almost everywhere in Romania’s society, but this sort of body art only started to grow after the fall of communism. Back in the communist days, tattoos were used as fashion statements only in extremely rare situations, and could be seen more on the bodies of persons belonging to marginal social categories, like inmates or sailors. That is why it is interesting and important to look at how tattoos are promoted nowadays, and at the social environments that are mostly prone to adopting this sort of body modification that - according to the specialty literature - is a techno mutation. Today, members of the X and Z generations use tattoos as a form of expression much more frequently than the previous generations. So, is the tattoo trend in Romania just a replica of something from the West that gained so much popularity thanks to social media, or is it rather a statement against the oppressive and levelling regime of the Communist era?

• Details
• Contents