Through the use of mixed media, I explore imagery that reveals the trauma of returning combat veterans, of which I am one, as we try to reintegrate into a society that does not understand the war that still lingers within us. In my work, I depict emotional disturbances that are related to my personal encounters with war. My working process starts by referencing mainstream media imagery, which I juxtapose against harsh images inspired by veterans' drug and alcohol use, trauma and death. My black-and-white pixelated paintings feature the fragmented memories of a hostile combat environment, and although "Out of My Mind" depicts the chaotic emotions associated with PTSD, my whimsical style of illustration suggests a detachment from reality. Whether we call it shell shock, battle fatigue or PTSD, the war-related disorder is real. I want society to be aware of the hidden scars that our veterans carry with them. I do not anticipate my subject matter changing any time soon.

The relationship between identity and tattooing regarding female members of the punk community has not been fully explored by the academic community. Through the exploration of the anthropological history of tattoos as markers of identity, the pro-social aspects of this form of body modification can be illustrated. Placing emphasis on punk women, tattoos are shown to positively affect individual identity and reinforce social bonds. The pioneering nature of punk music and the outright rejection of cultural norms creates an atmosphere in which women can more adequately express their identity through the use of body modification. In this open environment where societal norms regarding body modification are rebuked, tattoos are also used to reinforce social bonds amongst those willing to permanently display their dedication to a non-mainstream aesthetic.

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The current culture of commodity fetishism that surrounds both modern art and tattoos are disproportionately a part of the perpetuation of an artificial sense of society and community. It promotes the notion that by simply by inking the deeper layers of their skin or by spending millions on a painting that somehow one becomes elevated and enters an elite space, or club, of people like them.

OBJECTIF. L'objectif général de cette recherche est ainsi de comprendre l'expérience qu’ont les justiciables avec leurs tatouages réalisés en milieu carcéral. Trois objectifs spécifiques en résultent. Le premier vise à mettre en lumière et comprendre la pratique des tatouages en milieu carcéral. Le second tend à exposer ce que représentent les tatouages carcéraux pour les personnes qui y ont eu recours. Le troisième objectif est d’analyser les enjeux liés aux tatouages en prison. METHODOLOGIE. Les données de l’étude ont été collectées par le biais d’entrevues qualitatives non-directives menées auprès de neuf hommes libérés de prison, ayant réalisé au moins un tatouage au cours de leur peine. Les données ont fait l’objet d’une analyse verticale, pour relever les thèmes abordés par chaque personne rencontrée. Ces thèmes ont ensuite été conceptualisés, avant de faire l’objet d’une analyse commune. RESULTATS. L’analyse des données a permis de mettre en lumière la façon dont les détenus se représentent les tatouages carcéraux. L’étude permet également de relever les dangers que les justiciables associent à cette pratique, et le rapport qu'ils ont avec leurs tatouages. Ces données permettent de mettre en lumière que le tatouage s’inscrit comme un outil qui permet de lutter contre les effets délétères de la prison, ainsi qu’un moyen de définir son identité auprès des autres. / OBJECTIVE. The general objective of this research is to understand the experience that litigants have with their tattoos made in a carceral environment. Three specific objectives result. The first aims to highlight and understand the practice of tattoos in prisons. The second tends to expose what prison tattoos represent for the people who have used them. The third objective is to analyze the issues related to tattoos in prison. METHODOLOGY. The data for the study were collected through non-structured qualitative interviews conducted with nine men released from prison, who had at least one tattoo during their sentence. The data was subjected to a vertical analysis, to identify the themes discussed by each person met. These themes were then conceptualized, before being the subject of a joint analysis. RESULTS. Data analysis shed light on how inmates represent prison tattoos. The study also highlights the dangers that litigants associate with this practice, and the relationship they have with their tattoos. This data highlights that tattooing is a tool to combat the harmful effects of prison, as well as a means of defining one's identity to others.

Ce mémoire porte sur une étude du corps dans sa dimension socioculturelle. À partir d’entrevues sous le mode du récit de vie, je cherche à comprendre les manières dont les différences qui passent par le corps participent à définir les individus, en fonction des connotations culturelles qui y sont rattachées. Ces différences sont définies comme des composantes du corps qui sont perçues comme une déviation de la norme sachant que celle-ci est établie par une culture dominante. Trois corps différents ont fait l’objet de cette étude : un corps de petite taille, un corps de race noire et un corps tatoué. Cette démarche est essentiellement ancrée dans un cadre théorique faisant écho aux études culturelles telles que définies par Stuart Hall (1997) et aux études de genres selon Judith Butler (2001). Elle émerge du principe d’après lequel le corps est un réservoir de signes dont les connaissances produites à l’intérieur du système social contribuent à créer des sujets. Ce travail s’organise autour de questions qui touchent aux pratiques culturelles qui participent à la construction du corps, à la production des différences, à l’inscription des différences dans le corps et au processus de subjectivation des individus. De plus, il est suggéré que les connotations négatives associées aux différences créent des systèmes de classification hiérarchisés marqués par des formes de discrimination des groupes dominés. Ce travail aboutit à une mise en évidence des différences comme des éléments organisant les relations sociales à travers des rapports de pouvoir dont l’exercice rappelle la structure de la société disciplinaire telle qu’étudiée par Michel Foucault (1975). / This thesis deals with issues related to the body considered as a socio-cultural construct. Based on interviews inspired by the life-story method, I try to understand the ways in which body differences contribute to individual identification, in relation to the cultural connotations attached to them. These differences are defined as components of the body, perceived as a deviation from the norm established by the dominant culture. Three different bodies have been the subject of this study: one short, one black, and one tattooed. This approach is essentially rooted in a theoretical framework of Cultural Studies, as defined by Stuart Hall (1997), and in one of Gender Studies, as per Judith Butler (2001). It derives from the idea that the body is a reservoir of signs, producing meaning within a social system which contributes in transforming individuals into subjects. This work is organized around issues affecting cultural practices involved in the construction of the body, in the production of differences, in the writing of those differences in the body, and in the process of subjectification of individuals. Moreover, it argues that the negative connotations associated with differences create hierarchical classification systems marked by forms of discrimination of dominated groups. This work focuses on differences as organizing elements of social relations through power struggles whose presence is reminiscent of Michel Foucault's study of the structure of the disciplinary society (1975).

Ce mémoire porte sur une étude du corps dans sa dimension socioculturelle. À partir d’entrevues sous le mode du récit de vie, je cherche à comprendre les manières dont les différences qui passent par le corps participent à définir les individus, en fonction des connotations culturelles qui y sont rattachées. Ces différences sont définies comme des composantes du corps qui sont perçues comme une déviation de la norme sachant que celle-ci est établie par une culture dominante. Trois corps différents ont fait l’objet de cette étude : un corps de petite taille, un corps de race noire et un corps tatoué. Cette démarche est essentiellement ancrée dans un cadre théorique faisant écho aux études culturelles telles que définies par Stuart Hall (1997) et aux études de genres selon Judith Butler (2001). Elle émerge du principe d’après lequel le corps est un réservoir de signes dont les connaissances produites à l’intérieur du système social contribuent à créer des sujets. Ce travail s’organise autour de questions qui touchent aux pratiques culturelles qui participent à la construction du corps, à la production des différences, à l’inscription des différences dans le corps et au processus de subjectivation des individus. De plus, il est suggéré que les connotations négatives associées aux différences créent des systèmes de classification hiérarchisés marqués par des formes de discrimination des groupes dominés. Ce travail aboutit à une mise en évidence des différences comme des éléments organisant les relations sociales à travers des rapports de pouvoir dont l’exercice rappelle la structure de la société disciplinaire telle qu’étudiée par Michel Foucault (1975). / This thesis deals with issues related to the body considered as a socio-cultural construct. Based on interviews inspired by the life-story method, I try to understand the ways in which body differences contribute to individual identification, in relation to the cultural connotations attached to them. These differences are defined as components of the body, perceived as a deviation from the norm established by the dominant culture. Three different bodies have been the subject of this study: one short, one black, and one tattooed. This approach is essentially rooted in a theoretical framework of Cultural Studies, as defined by Stuart Hall (1997), and in one of Gender Studies, as per Judith Butler (2001). It derives from the idea that the body is a reservoir of signs, producing meaning within a social system which contributes in transforming individuals into subjects. This work is organized around issues affecting cultural practices involved in the construction of the body, in the production of differences, in the writing of those differences in the body, and in the process of subjectification of individuals. Moreover, it argues that the negative connotations associated with differences create hierarchical classification systems marked by forms of discrimination of dominated groups. This work focuses on differences as organizing elements of social relations through power struggles whose presence is reminiscent of Michel Foucault's study of the structure of the disciplinary society (1975).

This thesis examines the symbiotic relationship between the meanings of tattoos and social norms through a comparative analysis of three distinct periods in twentieth-century American history. I use extensive archival material and an interdisciplinary approach to explain how the meanings of body ink shifted and to identify factors that influenced the public’s perceptions of tattoos as deviant or acceptable. In the 1920s and 1930s, tattooing practices among favored social groups, specifically military personnel, middle- and upper-class white men and women, and circus performers, generally received more positive reactions than those among lower-class and criminal subcultures. In the 1950s and 1960s, body ink became practiced primarily by marginalized individuals, such as criminals, bikers, and sex workers, and the general public’s understandings of tattoos as indicators of deviance and dangerous immorality strengthened. The new clientele and practitioners of the 1970s and 1980s mainly came from a high socio-economic status and reframed their tattooing practices as artistic expressions of individuality. I argue that, although body ink aesthetic by and large supported American values of patriotism, heteronormativity, and racial advantage, tattooing practices among ‘respectable’ groups were more accepted than those by ‘deviant’ subcultures. My research shows that the fluctuations between public rejection and appreciation of tattoos in these periods rested principally on the appearance and function of the inked design and on the position of the tattooed body in the social hierarchy. This thesis demonstrates that tattooing practices created and perpetuated but also destabilized and influenced gender-, race-, and class-based American ideals, and my research exposes the nuanced connections of body ink with deviance and normativity, the malleability of social conventions, and a complex web of power relations constantly in flux. / Graduate / 2018-08-23

As permanent tattoos are becoming more popular and common, an increased number of allergic reactions to tattoos is reported. The purpose of this project was to analyze tattoo inks for hazardous substances, and whether they comply to current Swedish and European legislative requirements. The tattoo inks were qualitatively analyzed for pigments, and quantitatively analyzed for metals. A total of 73 tattoo inks were collected from various sources such as a tattoo ink supplier, online retailers, and provided directly from tattoo artists. The labels of each tattoo ink bottle were inspected to investigate their compliance with the Council of Europe and the Swedish Medical Products Agency. Matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-ToF-MS) was used to qualitatively analyze 20 selected tattoo inks for different pigments. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used to quantitatively analyze trace metals in 70 of the samples. A large majority (90%) of the tested samples violated the requirements and criteria in the European resolution ResAP 2008(1), such as information on name and address of the manufacturer, minimum date of durability, sterility, batch number, and storage. Patch and allergy testing were incorrectly recommended for many samples in a way that is not accepted by dermatologists. In a worst-case scenario, this testing could be a sensitizing step. Also, it can not prevent future allergic reactions from occurring or provide any juridical insurance. Only one brand, World Famous, fulfilled the requirements for labeling for six of the seven samples (one sample failed due to a faulty declared pigment). The brands Tang Dragon and Dynamic did not fulfill any of the requirements listed in ResAP 2008(1). The list of ingredients was incorrect for all samples from Tang Dragon (bought prior to 2019 online). Also, six of the other 50 samples from different brands (World Famous, Intenze, Fusion Tattoo Ink, Eternal Ink, Solid Ink) declared at least one pigment incorrectly in their ingredients list. 25% of the declared and theoretically detectable pigments were detected by means of MALDI-ToF-MS, whereas the other pigments were either absent or below the limit of detection. Future analyses should include an MS/MS analysis. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) was identified qualatively in 15 of the 20 samples analyzed with MALDI-ToF-MS but was not listed in any of the ingredients lists. ICP-QQQ-MS is a very sensitive technique and could both detect and verify the presence of all metal-containing pigments, as well as the level of impurities. Copper was clearly more present in green and blue colors, regardless of the brand. The metal content was evidently dependent on the brand for arsenic, aluminum, bismuth, chromium, nickel, zinc, and strontium. Elevated levels of barium and strontium (partially very high levels: up to 727 mg/kg barium and up to 8.06 g/kg strontium) were found in several samples. High amounts of aluminum (4 to 11,0 g/kg) and titanium (as judged from white precipitates and ingredients lists) were present in most samples. Nickel (0.1 to 41 mg/kg) and chromium (0.1 to 139 mg/kg) were also present in the samples. Some other impurities were also present (arsenic – 3.8 mg/kg, mercury – 1.6 mg/kg, and lead – 5.4 mg/kg for one sample, respectively). Known sensitizing pigments were declared and partially confirmed by MALDI-ToF-MS in 17 of 53 samples of the brands Radiant Colour, Eternal Ink, Fusion Tattoo Ink, and Kuro Sumi. Four samples (from Intenze, Eternal Ink, and Kuro Sumi) also declared pigments listed as non-suitable substance according to the European Commission regulation on cosmetic products from 2009.