Pride in Art

                                                                                                 

                        “Pride in Art”

            Throughout many generations people have always had different views on tattoos. They have always had cultural assumptions on tattoos. Some of the cultural assumptions that are always being said are: religion, gang affiliation, heritage, and many more. People always assume that people with tattoos are affiliated with gangs.  Some people also assume that people get tattoos because of their heritage or religion. Some of the examples of tattoos because of their heritage are when the Aztecs, Mayans, Samoans, etc had to get tattoos on their face or on any body part. The tattoo that I am learning about influence people to question the meaning of the tattoo and learn about the heritage. People are always assuming without knowing the story behind the tattoo.

Before I asked my uncle about his tattoo I had already made some cultural assumptions which is normal now in society. Some of the cultural assumptions were that he was in a gang. I also assumed he did it because of his heritage, I assumed this because of his tattoo was of an Aztec warrior and the empire. I assumed that since he is Mexican and the descendancy of a Mexican is an Aztec.

However, after I asked my uncle about his tattoo, it cleared up my assumptions that I had about his tattoo. I found out that the story behind the tattoo was to show people where he came from and how proud he was of his heritage. In the interview my uncle said that his tattoo symbolizes “freedom and inspiration for the Mexican people”, because the Aztecs were hard working people. He also said that he got his tattoo from his cousin, who works in a tattoo parlor, on his shoulder to show his pride. When he first got the tattoo he was 18 years old and he got without permission from his parents. When his parents found out, they wanted him to take it off, but after explaining the meaning of the tattoo to them, they accepted his decision of getting the tattoo.

 Moreover before he got the tattoo people assumed that he was from a different ethnicity because of his skin color this led to the decision to get his tattoo to show that he was a Mexican and where he came from. The tattoo challenged the assumption of him being from another ethnicity. His story fits into the cultural assumption it showed that after he got the tattoo it showed a part of his culture and the pride for his heritage.