'Membership' Tattoos

A permanent marker of membership for better or worse, meant as evidence of absolute lifetime loyalty to a clan, gang, brotherhood or collective – these are tattoos that can earn some serious notoriety, with some proudly displayed and others kept secret and guarded. Think of the Yakuza and their members, whose favouring of immensely beautiful and complex body art for insiders is teamed with a culture of extreme discretion – full body tattoos end neatly before the wrists and ankles, and a blank stripe of skin is often left down the front of the torso so that an open shirt will not betray a thing. Social groups and institutions from a diverse range worldwide have invested in the practice of sharing an inked symbol; it’s a well known aspect of military culture, just as it is ubiquitous amongst biker gangs, and a strong trend amongst rappers and in hip hop culture. Some might see it as taking pride in being an outlaw, deliberately stepping beyond the boundaries of convention; for others it’s a simple part of a life story. Kinship Tattoos can be simple or complex; they can even denote hierarchy. The emergence of tattoos in gang cultures of several US cities has shown the evolution of a hierarchy system, for example: base-line ‘grunts’ might carry the stylized initials of their gang-name on a forearm or a symbol, and top-line gangsters might have an entire back-piece dedicated to their group.