Kristin is 25 and currently living in Norway. She has a masters degree in Literature and Education and dreams of being a college professor and a loving mother. She currently has 8 tattoos and counting and says "think that all women are beautiful, tattooed or not!"
She has sent in two of her tattoos:
This is her floral backpiece. Each flower represents places that she has lived in, fell and love with, and calls home.
The middle piece is the flower of Washington,where she has lived in for a decade, the Blue Rhododendron. The small purple flowers on the bottom are the state flowers of Illinois. She was born and raised in Illinois. The large yellow flowers are the Nebraska state flowers, the Goldenrods, where her family has deep roots. The Pink Cornflowers are the flowers of Germany, where her family originates from and where she also where she went for her college studies. The Pink Heather flowers are the flowers of Norway. She's married to a Norwegian man and Norway is now her current home.
As you can see, she has Papa Lyle on her right side, a homage to her Grandfather. She says: "The idea of this tattoo was to keep the background open and free, like a bouquet on my skin, to take home with me wherever I am...also, this way I can add new homes in the future too!"
Flowers are extremely common tattoos, mostly because they flow and are extremely color. Flowers hold a lot meaning, either spiritual, represents a homeland, or a birth flower. Flowers also represents ourselves. I myself have the Hellebore flowers on my side.(I haven't posted them in the post because they are not finished) The artist originally didn't like them because they were dark and harsh looking but after talking to him and he spent more time thinking about the flower he realized, "they aren't ugly, they are resilient. They're not delicate like most flowers." And that is how perceived me, resilient. The Hellebore flower is one of the four classic poisons, Night Shade, Hemlock, Aconite.
A popular flower that people get tattooed is the Cherry Blossom. Cherry Blossoms bloom in Spring are normally associated with Asian style tattoos. Spring, as most of you represents renewal. I have known many people who gotten Cherry Blossom tattoos after something very memorable happens in their life. After they loose a loved one, when they fall in love, when they have a near death experience.. Many people get these flowers for different reasons. In China, the Cherry Blossoms represent power, feminine beauty, and love. In Japan, the Cherry Blossoms, represents the transience of life. The flowers tie in with the Buddhists fundamental teachings, stating all life suffers and transits through life.
Flowers are powerful and a great feminine tattoo. And Kristin's flowers are powerful. They are maps of places that she calls home.
I am sorry for the delay, and I am sorry for the lack of photos in this one.
If you want to send in a photo of your tattoo and your story, please email me at experimentvictims@gmail.com
Please comment and I hope you enjoyed what you have read so far!
C. Baudelaire
Hello -- thanks for sharing these beautiful tattoos. Forgive me for being an alarmist, and I hope I'm just missing something: Kristen from Norway -- are the brown spots on the lower part of her back tattoo part of the art or her natural skin? Would suggest she get checked out by a dermatologist, they look rather suspect. Being someone who is prone to melanoma myself, can't hurt to have suspicious marks looked at. Wishing her good health.
ReplyDelete