Aroon Thaewchatturat's extraordinary pictures do more than capture the tattoos, they capture their wearers' personalities, and perhaps even theenergy invested in them by the designs.Bangkok Post, Sunday July 31.Brunch Magazine.http: //www.bangkokpost.com/arts-and-culture/book/249574/skin-deep
Tom Vater is a freelance writer working in southern and Southeast Asia. His articles have appeared in a variety of publications including the Asia Wall Street Journal, the South China Morning Post, Marie Claire, Penthouse, and many others. He is an explorer and adventurer, and has travelled on foot across the Himalayas, been diving with sharks in the Philippines, spent time with nomads, pilgrims and soldiers, secret agents, pirates, hippies, policemen, and prophets. Aroon Thaewchatturat has been a freelance photographer since 2004. Her features have appeared in magazines such as GEO and The Far Eastern EconoReview, while her images have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Time, The Financial Times, and Lonely Planet amongst others.
By Andrew Marshall Monday, May 23, 2011 - TIME Magazine (Asia
Edition)
Read more: http:
//www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2071020,00.html#ixzz1MpMZ1QpHThe
introduction to "Sacred Skin," Tom Vater and Aroon Thaewchatturat's
new tribute to Thailand's "sak yant," or sacred tattoos, begins
with an agonized exclamation: "Uaaahh!" So it should. While modern
tattoos are efficiently (though not exactly painlessly) applied
with an electric machine, "sak yant" are hand-hammered into your
wincing body with a long needle.But no pain, no gain -- and, if you
believe the enthusiasts, the rewards are out of this world.
Devotees credit "sak yant" with warding off sickness, attracting
lovers and helping them emerge unscathed from car crashes. A
housewife caught in last year's crackdown on antigovernment
protesters in Bangkok tells the authors, "People around me got shot
but my tattoo protected me.""Sak yant" are etched onto both soul
and skin, as Thai photographer Aroon's portraits record in hypnotic
detail. The mostly monochromatic designs borrow from Buddhist and
Hindu mythologies, and the space between them is often overlaid
with an ancient Khmer script that German writer Vater likens to
"mysterious instructions." Designs are executed by priestlike
figures who have their own secret ink recipes and recite prayers
while they work. Their customers see themselves as disciples, bound
for life to their master and feeling a kinship with all those
bearing his designs. Some disciples are also in thrall to the
tattoo's spirit. That introductory "Uaaahh!" emanated from a man
who believed he was possessed by the spirit of the tiger tattooed
on his torso. Vater describes him careering around a Buddhist
temple near Bangkok in a trance so violent that it took five
soldiers to subdue him.Prominent among "sak yant" enthusiasts are
police, soldiers and gangsters, who claim bullets bounce off their
magical second skin. Many Thais still associate tattoos -- even
sacre
Sacred Skin Thailand s Spirit Tattoos, the new two-hundred page,
eight-by-ten-inch guide to sak yant protection tattoos by Tom
Vater, with color photography by Aroon Thaewchatturat, is a
beautifully organized, visual treat for both tattoo artists and
collectors. Divided into easily navigable sections (Sak Yant,
Master and Devotees, Sacred Images, Wai Khru the annual day of
respect held in central Thailand and a helpful Glossary), this
clearly-written, entertaining treatise is packed with fascinating
facts and descriptions of every aspect of this time-honored art
form. But it s the photos that steal the show. Page after page of
both full-body and detailed images showcase the work of leading
traditional sak yant masters. Available at $32.95 from amazon.com,
this is the perfect handbook, for those of us who have long been
intrigued by the magical hand-poked designs that protect the wearer
from the dangers of an ever-encroaching
world.ReviewTattooRoadTrip.comBob Baxter, editor-in-chief
TattooRoadTrip.com and past editor-in-chief of the award-winning
tattoo magazine Skin & Ink
Aroon Thaewchatturat's extraordinary pictures do more than capture
the tattoos, they capture their wearers' personalities, and perhaps
even theenergy invested in them by the designs.Bangkok Post, Sunday
July 31.Brunch Magazine.http:
//www.bangkokpost.com/arts-and-culture/book/249574/skin-deep
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