Stampa

Video Duration: 3 Min.
Concept & Direction: Gigi Scaria
single channel video with sound
2002

The methods of Tattooing ( a short note on video stampa )

The reasons and definitions of a tattoo need to be looked more seriously. Over the last few decades tattooing has become a major trend or fashion among the young / radicals and revolutionaries. The basic idea / concept of a tattoo have been connected to a deep belief and emotion of the one who does it on his /her body. The physical act of letting oneself goes through the sharp pain of delicate needle reinvents the religious rituals in modern era. The hierarchic structure of the religious idealism and political ideologies are very much linked together with the same common thread “belief “. When we look at a tattoo, the body comes along with it as a surface where the icon is being marked. When a thought or idea is transferred to an icon/ image and imposed on a body (here “the body” means the physical entity or surface) that process could be identified as an “authoritative” one. Tattooing can also be seen as an imposed act on the body like an official seal on a written text. Once you put a tattoo you authorize or brand yourself with that particular icon or mark. That will become an identity for others to find you. Tattoo also remains on a body forever as a permanent reminder /defender and reveller.

The video “Stampa” deals with one method of tattooing. Instead of drawing, here the image is being forcefully sealed on the body. After the act of execution the icon remains on the body as a tattoo. The applying method was different but the result became a tattoo. Even if forcefully done the icon shows the belief of him and which remained forever whenever he is seen. The identity of an individual in a “Global market” deals with the dilemma of “imposed consumer belief” which is imposed from outside (even with lots of physiological violence) but seems to be a part of once own belief. Charged violence / imposed icon have become a part of the tattoo body. The skin internalized the deep scars on the body. Resistance has become a pain provoked by the tattoo needle, delicate, minute but not long lasting.