Eileen Corder Hayfork, California USA
)
|
'Mary's Tattoo'
(Click image to pop-up an enlargement)
Artist's comments ...
EILEEN CORDER
Hayfork, California USA
Mary'sTattoo
PaperDim: 10" x 10"
ImageDim: 8" x 8"
Block: shina ply
Ink: Graphic Chem. Anitiquarian Oil Black
Paper: Rives Lightweight et al
Edition: 40
Comment: It takes a lot of guts to get a facial tattoo. At one time, chin tattoos were
common among women of many tribal cultures in America. In particular, Karuk,
Yurok and Hupa women of the Klamath River Basin, near where I live, took on chin stripes, often called the “one-eleven.” At the beginning of the twentieth century, however, women suddenly stopped being tattooed. Some say the markings were frowned upon or preached against, became out of fashion or were even outlawed. As gradmothers and great gradmothers died, this once common body marking all but disappeared. Today a few resolved women wear the “111.”