Tattoo

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First published: 30/10/2024

I tend to believe a person’s aesthetic – what they find beautiful, and what they find ugly – is the closest thing to a carrier of personal identity we have. I am not my physical body; I am not my memories; I’m not even my brain. But as a lossy approximation, I would be okay with saying I am my aesthetic taste.

Michael Edward Johnson, ‘A Future for Neuroscience’

Many people know me as a philosopher. Some know me as an ape. But only my closest friends know me for the shape of my aesthetic. And while I can appreciate most forms of art – notably, music and film – perhaps the most aesthetically interesting (and neglected) is tattoo. This is a post about my relationship with tattoo, inspired by a recent piece I received decorating my legs. As my body is an unfinished artwork I plan to update this post with future developments, but I’m not in any rush :).

What is Tattoo?

More than just an art form, a tattoo is a biological process that involves marking both the skin and the immune system of the subject. First, the artist must carefully deposit ink into the dermis, a layer of skin between 1-4mm thick which sits between the epidermis (top layer) and hypodermis (third fatty layer, also called ‘subcutaneous tissue’).1 Within the dermis are located various blood vessels, nerves, sweat glands, and irregular connective tissues with slow cellular turnover, making it an ideal layer for permanent ink placement. Here’s a model to illustrate this:

For more information on these biological processes behind tattoo, I recommend watching this video

As ink is technically a foreign substance this provokes an immune response, causing macrophages to flood the affected area and literally engulf ink particles attempting to break them down. But these ink particles are typically large and composed of chemically stable compounds (e.g., iron oxides) making them resistant to such processes, so the macrophages remain in the dermis trapping these particles to prevent their spread throughout the body. When macrophages die, new ones arrive and re-engulf the ink, effectively keeping the tattoo intact over time.2 Thank you immune system! <3

My Body

Not only is tattoo a form of self-expression, it is also a way of giving thanks to different parts of the body: by decorating my skin I am actively celebrating their various functions which contribute to the persistence of the pattern that is ‘me’ (however you define it).3 At this stage in my life I am more interested in larger pieces that seamlessly integrate to cover the whole of my body, but as I age I plan to ‘fill in the blanks’ with smaller designs representing specific aspects of my philosophy. Also it is worth noting that I have mild psoriasis, but this does not seem to interfere with the tattoo or healing process.4

Legs (2024)

Earlier this year (2024) I was reflecting on how wonderful the legs are – they carry us wherever we want to go without fuss, but their efforts are rarely acknowledged by the other parts of the body. So I made the decision to get a leg tattoo, to give thanks.

My pattern, courtesy of Misha Ruka in Barcelona

I really love this design. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I first contacted Misha to craft such a large piece, but as soon as I saw it I knew that I had made the right decision. Some features I especially appreciate are the sense of strength conveyed by the parallel lines and the gentleness of their curves which wrap around the legs. The shape of the pattern as it climbs upwards feels both organic and mathematically simple, connecting different body regions together to form one cohesive structure.5

Unfortunately, as this is a 3D pattern, its full beauty can’t be captured in a 2D image. Fortunately, the tattoo process was documented extensively by Federico Cella, a local photographer and videomaker:

(video to be released soon)

Not only does the pattern exist in 3D, but it is composed of 0D, 1D, and 2D primitives (dots, lines, and curls, respectively).6 If you zoom into the image you will find that this is because the entire shape is made up of very small dots, each resulting from a single needle handpoking my skin. I love the texture that results from this method, but it was a lengthy process: ~16 hours in total, not including the 5 hours that it took Misha to draw the pattern on my legs freehand. Its awesome to think that because of the simplicity of this method (avoiding the use of any fancy electronics), in principle it could have be replicated thousands of years ago.

Arms (2022)

I wear my philosophy on my sleeve – literally, not just figuratively. As my philosophy contains the key to understanding how I feel and relate to the world, you could also say that I wear my heart on my sleeve (by way of transitive relation).

Right arm: This symbol is a blend of the Greek symbol ‘phi’ (Φ) representing ‘philosophy’ (and its commitment to truth-seeking), and the letter V representing both non-speciesism (I was raised vegan) and, more recently, valence realism. It serves to recognise that there exists no intrinsic morally relevant difference between humans and non-human animals – or indeed, any sentient being capable of having valenced experiences. I came up with this design at age 16 while daydreaming in my high school philosophy class, waiting ~9 years before getting it embedded in my skin.7

Left arm: A stylized representation of the Eye of Horus, a >5000 year old Egyptian symbol that represents phenomenal consciousness (i.e., the ‘what-is-it-likeness’ of subjective experience). Holistically the tattoo represents an eye, a metaphor for sentience (i.e., a conscious subject looking out at the world). But if you break it down further, the individual shapes seem to represent sensory organs corresponding to each of the six primary perceptual modalities that make up our internal world simulations: smell (nose), sight (pupil), thought (brow), hearing (ear canal), taste (tongue), and touch (limb). Moreover, if you superimpose this symbol over a mid-sagittal image of the human brain, each component seems to map onto discrete neuroanatomical structures which are hypothesised to play an important role in processing sensory information corresponding to these modalities!8

Torso (2021)

This was my first tattoo and undoubtably the most acutely painful (ribs suck). I got it matching with close friend & fellow animal advocate who drew the design herself, inspired by a similar tattoo I found in a reddit post that has since been taken down.

It depicts a cow, a pig, and a chicken, which are among the most abused animals by humans. The intention was to not forget about the horrors of factory farming, which I consider to be the biggest (ongoing) moral catastrophe in our species’ history.9 Seriously, fuck factory farming.

My Aesthetic

As I noted earlier, I find tattoo the most interesting form of aesthetic expression, but this does not imply that it is my favourite. In fact, I am generally lukewarm about most tattoo designs, and I like only a handful. Certain tattoos I love, which typically share the following features:

  • Simplicity: Simple tattoos look better, age better, and accent the body better than complex designs. By ‘simple’ I’m talking about bold black lines, avoiding fine lines, intricate patterns, and coloured ink. I also think it is wise to avoid designs with lots of representational content because what something ‘means’ is liable to change over time, as a function of both cultural evolution (and associated changes to semantic reference frames) and aging skin.
  • Structure: Unlike a paper canvas, tattoo lives in the skin, which is a stretchy organ with special topological features (depending on your morphology). This supports the implementation of all kinds of 3D patterns which literally could not exist in any other medium, which I think is very cool.
  • Symmetry: In the words of Philip W. Anderson (1972, p.394), “It is only slightly overstating the case to say that physics is the study of symmetry”. The same could be said for biology, chemistry, and phenomenology. Valence is plausibly grounded in phenomenal symmetry, which I find more beautiful that words can describe. I like symmetry.

These features generally align with so-called tribal tattoos which are often associated with certain cultures and semantic interpretations. For this reason I don’t consider any of my tattoos ‘tribal’: they are simply patterns that I find beautiful with no externally imposed or associated meaning. However, having grown up in New Zealand (home of the Tā moko), I can appreciate culturally significant tattoo designs. For example, here is a photo of my biological father’s Māori-inspired tattoo:

I’m generally not a fan of flash tattoos (i.e., standardized designs for walk-in customers), although I love browsing flash sheets whenever I get the chance. When it comes to smaller pieces I would rather pick a custom design that represents a core axiom of my philosophy and wait several years to ensure that I don’t substantially update my high-level priors. Waiting is also good to preserve optionality for larger-scale tattoos.

The Process

Depending on its size and placement, the process of getting a tattoo can be anything from a short (painful) stop at your local studio to a multi-year project. For smaller custom tattoos (e.g., arms & torso) I view this process as more transactional – I am essentially paying for the skills and resources of an experienced professional to draw a stencil onto my skin. But if I am attracted to the work of a particular artist then I will reach out to them personally and abide by their method, without expectations about the end result (other than placement area).

After my recent experience with Misha I have come to prefer the handpoke method of implementing tattoo over machines, for two reasons. First, I found it much easier to settle into the steady rhythm of individual needle poking sensations (compared to the jagged saw-tooth quality of machine tattoo), which is super important for my skin to accept the ink. Second, my handpoke tattoo healed significantly faster than those resulting from machine (I could comfortably touch it within 48 hours) with none of the usual scabbing or fluid leakage.10 This makes sense: tattoo machines typically operate in the range of 50 to 3,000 cycles per minute, likely shredding the epidermis in the process and causing far more trauma to the underlying skin layers. But handpoke takes more time to complete, so it is usually more expensive per square inch of inked skin.

Misha dotting the outline of his freehand drawing | Link

Pain

It’s important to emphasize that hedonic setpoints are variable and multi-dimensional, so the level of pain associated with the same tattoo differs significantly between individuals (based on their phenotype and other factors). I would place myself in the >95th percentile for sensitivity to tactile pain (compared to most humans), which I expect has to do with either the density of nerve endings in my dermis or some other parameter of my nervous system which amplifies the noxious signal.11 Because of this, tattoo is consistently among my most difficult life experiences.

I typically get through the process by closing my eyes and maintaining a state of whole-body awareness, with a gentle sense of openness and mettā directed toward the coming sensations. Sometimes I have music on, but only simple ambient tracks (usually to block out the noise of the shop). If I lose my focus my organism begins to react like an injured animal, trembling and contracting in response to each sensation (real or predicted), so I would not recommend getting a tattoo unless you have a well of equanimity to draw from. On the other hand, I’ve heard some people fall asleep during tattoo, so it really depends on your level of sensitivity.

I hear that disassociatives (e.g., ketamine) are a safe and reliable method of reducing tattoo pain, but this probably isn’t an option for most people given its legal status in most jurisdictions. Also, you are likely to lose some amount of agency, which is nonideal if you are getting inked in a public shop.12 You can get numbing cream to help with the pain, but the half-life is relatively short so larger pieces would require reapplication during the session. Whatever strategy you are considering, talk to your artist about it first – they’re the one working with your skin.

Trust

Perhaps the most important factor in the tattoo process is trust; the artist needs to trust that the subject can bear with the pain, and the subject needs to trust in the artist’s aesthetic. Usually when you commission an artist to create something novel you won’t see the design until the day of the tattoo’s imprint, so its really important to make sure their work resonates with you before making contact. If you still don’t like it on the day, you’re under no obligation to get it done (though you might lose your deposit). But when things work out you get to carry a beautiful artwork on your skin for the rest of your life, which is pretty darn special.

  1. Because of its high fat content, accidentally penetrating the hypodermis causes blowout (i.e., blurred ink), which is one of the many reasons you should not be frugal when selecting a tattoo artist. ↩︎
  2. This process also explains why tattoos fade over time, as some amount of ink is thought to escape engulfment with each successive generation of macrophages. ↩︎
  3. Indeed, I would still have my tattoos regardless of whether I was the only person in the world to see them. ↩︎
  4. This is just my experience. Other psoriasis-sufferers (e.g., on reddit) report that tattoos can trigger flare-ups due to Koebner phenomenon. ↩︎
  5. I am thinking that my next big tattoo will extend this pattern, continuing up my torso and snaking down the arms. But I am open to feedback on other cool ideas :). ↩︎
  6. Theoretically, this pattern also has a 4D shape since it exists on my body through time, but I lack the capacity to model this. ↩︎
  7. This is because I wanted to ensure that my preferences were stable over time (and they were). ↩︎
  8. To be honest, I’m somewhat skeptical of attempts to reduce core qualities of consciousness to discrete anatomical regions of the brain, but its fun to imagine that this model is correct. ↩︎
  9. Measured in terms of unnecessary preventable suffering caused by humans. ↩︎
  10. Cells in the epidermis are more jelly-like and capable of molding their shape, so I would speculate that this is because they can form a protective barrier over individual needle pokes. ↩︎
  11. This is despite being in the estimated <5th percentile for emotional instability (manifesting as e.g., anxiety, neuroticism, depression), meaning that these two dimensions of ill-being are uncorrelated – at least for me. ↩︎
  12. In a more private setting, however, I would totally explore this option. ↩︎
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