In The social semiotics of tattoos, Martin adopts an ethnographic approach to explore and develop new understandings of the meaning of tattooing. He draws on a range of interviews with both enthusiasts and artists, as well as field notes collected over the course of a year spent working and researching in a Canadian tattoo parlour. As a result, he posits the idea of tattoos as semiotic resources that individuals draw upon in complex and pluralistic identity constructions.
Chapter 1 sets up the theoretical and methodological framework used to make sense of tattooing, employing social semiotics, symbolic interactionism, and dramaturgy. Tattoo enthusiasts and artists are constantly balancing the permanence of tattoos with a time of increasing societal fluidity and uncertainty, here termed liquid modernity. In chapter 2, this dilemma extends into an account of the daily lives of tattoo artists through autobiographical confessional tales. Here the tattoo artists are analyzed as performers engaging with symbolic and strategic interactions while managing artistic and professional ‘face’. Martin takes this further in chapter 3, where tattoo artists are shown to be invested in improving the cultural capital of their profession. This is achieved by pushing for higher standards for apprentices and advancing the aesthetic principles of sophisticated work, as well as strategically managing clients’ expectations. Martin argues that contemporary tattoo artists and enthusiasts draw upon the formal aesthetic properties of the larger art world to imbue tattoo design in a process labelled ‘artification’. In this way, tattoos become meaningful semiotic resources of status and identity.
The second half of the book departs from the tattoo artists’ experiences and delves into enthusiasts reasonings for using tattoos to convey meaning and identity. This discussion spans a wide range of topics centered around self-identity (chapter 4), cultural change and gendered bodies (chapter 5), as well as fueling artistic and emotional expression (chapter 6). Martin's interviews cover diverse concepts from biopower to esoteric religions, using enthusiasts’ rationales as a way of referencing and mapping the social skin. This analysis travels across spatial and historical dimensions, always foregrounding the polysemic relationship between tattoos and their use as semiotic resources. Of particular interest is Martin's demonstration of the power tattoos have to express intimacy, control, and personhood, reflecting cross-cultural change and gendered resistance. The art of tattooing continues to hold influence and popularity across class divides. The author argues that this is because, unlike elitist art worlds, tattoos can embody personal emotional meaning. Ultimately, tattoos are shown to be culturally embedded semiotic resources that can be employed in the construction of self.
The author's deep ethnographic approach provides valuable insight into the nuances of insider research and role ‘engulfment’ within the field. He demonstrates reflexive engagement with his researcher positionality and consequently reveals areas of interest that can benefit from further investigation, including the function of emotional labour in the practice of tattooing. Overall, this book offers rich findings for conceptualising tattoos as dynamic semiotic resources for individuals to utilize in order to ground identity presentations within an ever-changing world.
