Photos: Field Museum's 'Tattoo' Exhibit Illuminates An Overlooked Art

In 1936, Jessie Knight (1897–1994) became the first English female tattoo artist to open her own shop. The daughter of a tattoo artist, she trained under Charlie Bell and practiced her art for over 40 years. Her business card read “Lady Tattoo Artist – Expert at Free Hand". Photo: Haywood Magee/Getty Images

To convey the artistry and physical techniques of contemporary tattooing practice, the exhibition features sixteen life-size silicone body parts that have been tattooed by master tattooists from around the world. This female torso’s tattoo design was created by Tin-Tin, France’s most highly regarded tattoo artist. He is admired for both his hyperrealist technique and what he calls a “neo-Japanese” style. © musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, photo Thomas Duval

Tattoo artists in Kad Luang Market, Chiangmai, Thailand. Photo credit: Dow Wasiksir

Apo Whang Od (also known as Fang-Od Odday), now almost 100 years old, is one of the last master tattooists among the Kalinga people of the Philippines. She lives a traditional life in the mountains of central Luzon, and is in great demand as a tattoo artist. She is now training a new generation of Kalinga tattoo masters. Photo: Jake Verzosa

To convey the artistry and physical techniques of contemporary tattooing practice, the exhibition features sixteen life-size silicone body parts that have been tattooed by master tattooists from around the world. This silicone body form was tattooed by Ernesto Kalum, based in Borneo, Malaysia. Klum extensively researched the animist cosmologies of the Iban ethnic group of Borneo, and uses their traditional zoomorphic motifs in his designs. musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, Photo: Thomas Duval

To convey the artistry and physical techniques of contemporary tattooing practice, the exhibition features sixteen life-size silicone body parts that have been tattooed by master tattooists from around the world. This silicone arm was tattooed by Xed LeHead of the United Kingdom. Some of the inks he used are visible only under “black light” (ultraviolet light). musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, Photo: Thomas Duval

Born into a famous family of tattoo artists based in Switzerland, Filip Leu first began learning tattooing arts from his father at the age of ten. This cast of a male torso was created from a living model, and then tattooed by Leu as though it were real skin. Leu amplified traditional Japanese iconography on a bold scale for his design. musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, photo: Thomas Duval

A great master of traditional Japanese irezumi tattooing, Horiyoshi III designed and physically tattooed this silicone armfortheexhibition. Afteraneight-yearapprenticeship in the 1970’s with the tattoo artist Horiyoshi I, he eventually took the name Horiyoshi III. musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, photo: Thomas Duval

Born in 1961 on the island of Moorea in French Polynesia, Chimé is a major figure in the renewal of Polynesian tattoo arts. This 2013 design he created for this female leg recalls one that might have been made for a Marquesian woman at the end of the 19th century. Between the horizontal bands, stylized motifs represent turtles, sea eels, bonito fish tails, and sharks’ teeth. musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, photo: Thomas Duval

Now based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Leo Zulueta studied traditional hand-tool tattooing traditions of Borneo. To convey the artistry and physical techniques of contemporary tattooing practice, the exhibition features sixteen life-size silicone body parts that have been tattooed by master tattooists from around the world. musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, photo: Thomas Duval

This early twentieth century kit of tattooing needles was made from cactus needles in Argentina. musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, photo: Claude Germain

This charming female figurine, from St. Lawrence Island off the coast of Alaska, portrays the chin stripes once often worn by Yup’ik women. For thousands of years, indigenous women in the North American Arctic practiced tattooing. Chin stripes symbolized the skills necessary to be a wife and parent, as well as connections to ancestors and spirits. The Field Museum, photographer John Weinstein

This carving from Field Museum collections depicts scar tattooing, practiced by the Makonde people of Tanzania and Mozambique. Tattooists make an incision with a small knife and then apply black pigment to the cut. When the cut heals, it forms a darkened, slightly raised scar called a keloid tattoo. The Field Museum, photographer John Weinstein

This seventeenth-century stamp was used to imprint a design on a Christian pilgrim’s skin, for a tattoo to be received after a journey to Jerusalem. A tattooist would soak the olive wood stamp with ink made from candle soot, and press it onto skin. The design was then tattooed with a needle. musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, photo: Thierry Ollivier, Michel Urtado

This terracotta figure from Mexico has double lines of facial tattoos, extending from the hairline to the nostrils and circling the eyes. The forehead and cheeks are adorned with curved tattoos. musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, photo: Claude Germain

This sculpture portrays ta moko, a form of tattooing practiced by the Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand. Intricate patterns represent a person’s accomplishments, genealogy, and social standing. Ta moko is worn on different parts of the body, including the face. musée du quai Branly, photo: Thierry Ollivier, Michel Urtado

To convey the artistry and physical techniques of contemporary tattooing practice, the exhibition features sixteen life-size silicone body parts that have been tattooed by master tattooists from around the world. Born in New Zealand in 1962 to the Maori tribe Te Aitanga a Hauiti, Mark Kopua first trained as a sculptor. He is a great practitioner of ta moko, traditional Maori tattooing. This tattoo design is a peha or “story on skin” of Uetonga, a mythological teacher of tattooing. musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, photo: Thomas Duval