African Tattoos!

[sketchin]

So my nan is from Ghana so i have a lot of African relatives and 1/4 African.

I am very proud of my African heritage and would love sometimes African, i have had a good look on pintrest (if you don't know pintrest its a great app go download it, completely free and great) and a few google searches but i couldn't think of a better place to post this.

Pretty much all i found was scarification which im sure a lot on here are into but personally not me, never say never but no, lol. However i really want something African done, now this won't be for a while, hell i've only just had my first proper tattoo. Saying that i've always loved them and always known i would be getting some ink, planned my first when i was about 14 (more about that in my introduction thread)

I'm basically here to ask if anyway knows of any African styles. I did think about getting the African continent on me, somewhere lol, again this wont be for a while i still have 10 hours left on my 'first' and i even have plans to expand on that later in the year when i have the funds.

But yeah is there any African specific style i could look at and get some ideas from?

Anything would help right now i haven't found much myself.

(i have thought of an African animal but im unsure as the thread)

[Ks706]

Check out falco4758 if you havent already, he is a member here and has some amazing animal themed tattoos. Not sure if its quite African, but I just think of the safari when I see his work. Im a scottish-mutt-yank, so i have no idea what tattoos are traditional to Africa. I am sure there is, considering its the birthplace of mankind... Ill be interested to see what you get.

[sketchin]

I am sure there is, considering its the birthplace of mankind...

It's why i was a little surprised to find nothing, maybe i wasn't looking in the right places.

[Ks706]

Yeah, I'm sure there is considering how tribal Africa was for so long. I know scarification and other forms of body modification/art Africa is known for but I don't think of tattoos.

[HettyKet]

Have you asked your nan? She may well know something or know someone to ask.

[sketchin]

Nah she hates tattoos i could tell she was disappointed when she saw my first. The Red hot chilli pepper logo on my ankle. Also she got a scar when she was very young It has meaning behind it but she hates that also, wasn't her choice to get it done nor her ears pierced and she hates them.

Hasn't noticed the solid neo-traditional dragon on my calf yet. Not finished but all the line-work is done and a lot of the dragon is coloured, she is getting older now though heh.

[pidjones]

#1 - stop looking at Pinterest (saying this when I plan to look at it later this morning).

Try finding travel photos from Ghana. Internet research is much easier these days. Maybe a tattoo representation of scarification. A good artist can probably even make it look real. A copy of nana's scar? A Google for Ghana tattoo symbols yield a bunch of designs.

[Tornado6]

Adinkra symbols are from West Africa, and would lend themselves to tattoos.

Perhaps darker skin tones led to scarification and stretching instead of tattooing? Facial scarification comes to mind immediately, but facial tattoos have a very different connotation in the West.

[Graeme]

Lars Krutak has written a fair bit about tattooing in Africa. I believe he has written books about this, but here are some things available online:

Tattooing in North Africa, The Middle East and Balkans by Lars Krutak

Tattoos of Sub-Saharan Africa by Lars Krutak

TRIBAL TATTOOS of MOZAMBIQUE'S MAKONDE - by LARS KRUTAK

I once worked with a woman from Senegal who was casually interested in tattoos are she talked a little bit about traditional tattooing in Senegal, nothing really in depth, but there is a tradition of tattooing there.

In general, if you want good information, I'd spend less time on the Internet and more time talking with people. I would guess that Lars Krutak, who wrote the above articles, has an email address and probably does speaking engagements or lectures. You said that your nan doesn't like tattoos, but what about your other relatives? They may know things, and even if you don't get anything useful about tattoos in Ghana, maybe you'll get some good stories regardless. You're in the UK, right? I'd also suggest talking to guys like Curly, Alex Binnie, or Tomas Tomas because I can only assume those guys have a tremendous amount of knowledge and information about pre-technological tattooing, and I'm sure they'd be super happy to do a tattoo like this. Finally, you have access to some of the world's greatest libraries and universities, use those.

[sketchin]

cheers for the reply gave me some stuff to think about etc.

[gougetheeyes]

Good links @Graeme those look like awesome references.

[blackdots]

Very cool thread. Be sure to show us what you end up getting!

[Ks706]

Id avoid the face scarification.... although it does look so bad ass

[SlickSquid]

Check out work from Miya Bailey and Gino Belizaire as well as the Instagram Page "Darkskinbodyart" bruh. You're across the pond so Im not familiar with any artists over there in the UK who do that type of work

[sketchin]

I'm not black btw, some may have assumed this which. I obviously have it in me, i have some of the features as you'd expect.

Maybe i will just get some dreads, always wanted dreads anyway.

[teeo]

just get a djembe.