“All of my friends were inking similar designs on their body and I was also encouraged to follow the same,” confesses Shrestha. Fitness trainer by profession, he says that his friends persuaded him to have a tattoo as they convinced him that tattoos will look good on his toned muscular body. But after having the tattoo for 15 years, he was tired of the tattoo on his arm and decided to cover it up with another tattoo.[break]
Now in his forties, Shrestha still wants a tattoo but this time he wants to ink Ganesha, one of the Hindu gods. “I’m a devotee of Lord Ganesha. So I think I’ll have his tattoo somewhere on my body,” he says.
Though tattooing in Nepal has its history in Newar and Tharu communities, modern tattoos are different from those traditional ones. While elders from these communities stuck to traditional art such as names and images of their gods, the new generation vying to ink their body basically looked forward to western influenced designs.
Shrestha’s experience is just an instance of those people who went along with the commercial tattooing that flourished in Nepal since the late ’80s. When modern tattooing techniques were first introduced in Nepal, the designs were mainly influenced by the western tribal tattoos which were basically in black, says Ujjwal Mathema, tattoo artist and owner of Ujo Tattoo at Freak Street.
Mathema, who has been tattooing for the last 14 years, says that the trends are changing since he has been in the business. “Earlier, people used to follow the designs that were available at the studio but now people who want to get tattooed come with a concept,” he says.
Prem Tsering Sherpa, 27, has portraits of his parents’ tattooed in both of his lower arms. He says he had his first tattoo when he was 19 which he did out of sheer curiosity, and that tattooing is mainly a fashion statement for the urban youth. “But after the first tattoo, I knew I had to tattoo something that’s important to me, and hence my parents’ portraits,” he says.
Like Sherpa, many people have started tattooing designs that are of importance to them or were at a certain point of their life instead of going for catalogued designs provided in the studios.
Though Nepalis do have concepts, they still prefer modern designs unlike foreigners who want traditional Nepali designs incorporated in their tattoos, says Mathema. “When the modern tattoo culture started, we followed the western influence and even while using the tribal tattoos, we did not choose to use our native designs. But things are changing. Nepali traditional designs are also becoming popular in recent days,” he says.
One popular body art with native design is that of pilot and actor Vijay Lama’s. He has Akash Bhairab, a Hindu deity, tattooed on his right arm. After nine months of hard work by tattoo artist Mohan Gurung, owner of Mohan’s Tattoo Inn, the tattoo was completed. “Mohan didn’t even take a single paisa for the tattoo as it was his dedication to art. And though it was painful to bear the constant prick of needles, I would love to put it as a blissful pain,” says Lama.
He adds that he tattooed the Hindu deity because it’s the emblem of Nepal Airlines, for which he works, and also because the deity reminds him of the Bag Durbar neighborhood where he grew up.
Bijay Gurung, tattoo artist at Mohan’s Tattoo Inn, says that the trends of tattooing traditional Nepali demonic gods like those of Lama are on the rise. “Foreigners and Nepalis alike come to have tattoos that are inspired by some native traditional designs,” says Gurung. He adds that Buddhist chants and some religious signs such as Om and lotus have also been rising in recent days.
Bijay Gajmer
Mohan’s Tattoo Inn has also been organizing Nepal Tattoo Convention for the past three years. The patrons in the tattoo convention who come from different countries also seem keen on traditional Nepali designs. Even international artists who visit the convention also look forward to the native designs of the country, says Gurung.
Mathema also agrees that having traditional designs during tattoo conventions is important. “The traditional designs have been long forgotten and if we don’t make an effort to revive it now, it’ll be gone forever,” he says. He also shares his plans of traveling to the Terai region of the country to learn about Mithila art so that he can incorporate them in tattooing.
“If we don’t take the initiative now, the new artists will barely understand the value of traditional designs,” he adds.
Though Mathema takes body art as sacred and something that he parallels to meditation, he says that most of his clients come for tattoos to follow the ongoing fashion trends. “It’s a kind of fashion among groups of youngsters who want to get tattooed because their friends did,” he says. But he advises his young patrons to think it over before they make the hasty decision out of impulse.
“In my studio, we refrain from tattooing or piercing people below 18 years. It’s because I believe that they don’t have clear ideas of what they are doing. And some professions like medical, army and police don’t register people with tattoos and I don’t want these young people to back down because they inked their body in a whim,” he says.
Pranjali Singh, 24, has tattooed a collage of things that reminds her of a certain “complicated” period of her life. Though she describes herself as an art lover and is satisfied with her tattoo that’s inked on her back, she rethinks before revealing it. “After I got the tattoo, I hid it from my mother for about a year. And finally, when she saw it, she freaked out,” says Singh. Her mother was concerned that she would be judged for having a tattoo and would affect her career as well.
Lama, however, begs to differ. He first got his tattoo when he visited Mohan’s Tattoo Inn at Thamel on his daughter’s persistence to have the same designs inked on their shoulder blades. “Tattoos are a form of art and we shouldn’t be making a stigma out of it. I had no problem when my daughter wanted to ink her body. But I also suggest that youngsters should know their limits and think before inking if they will be able to appreciate the art because once it’s done, it’s permanent,” he advises.
The trend of tattooing with permanent ink is certainly on the rise. And with the increasing number of tattoo studios in Kathmandu, people now have a larger range of options. Life is certainly fast paced for the younger generation and people are unlikely to settle for something for a longer time, and if tattooing was a passing fancy like most things, then it can only be a permanent mark of regret. So, it’s better to use one’s brains than blindly follow a fashion trend.
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