Arkansas Tattoo Project Update

Native Arkansan, Rapper Cboddy of Little Rock with the Little Rock symbol and ARK in graffiti-style letters.

From Cboddy:  ”I was doing shows from state to state and I got to represent where I’m from in a way.  And what better way than to put the official Little Rock logo stamped on my arm.”  

Discussing what he loves about Arkansas: “Everybody knows everybody, so to me I look at everybody like family.  Everybody is so open-armed, to me anyway.”

Recently we began a documentation project examining the diversity of ways people choose to represent their home state of Arkansas on their body.   The project is in its beginning stages, and we’ve taken the documentation process online so it can be community-driven and grow organically.

Since we started the online Facebook version of the Us Tattooed Kids:  Arkansas Project last week, thirty-six tattoo photos have been submitted and we have 236 likes!  We also started a Twitter account for the project, which you can follow here.  I’ve also been doing interviews with as many people as possible—either online or in person—and many of these stories will be featured in the upcoming article.  In case your unfamiliar with the project, you can go here to read all about it.

Here are just a few photo updates we’ve received and a glimpse into some of the things people are saying about their tattoos and the larger concept of Arkansas as home.  If you know of someone with an Arkansas tattoo, please spread the word.  We want to hear from you!  To read more and join the conversation, visit us online on facebook or Twitter.

Basic state outline uploaded by John Crouch, a native Arkansan and classical composer who now lives in Maryland.

From an email interview with Crouch:  ”I had been saying for about a year that I wanted it. I don’t know if I would have gotten it if I still lived in Arkansas, but living in Baltimore for 6+ years made me miss Arkansas.”      ”After high school in Springdale, my formative early adult years were spent in Fayetteville. Now I’ve lived in Baltimore for six and a half years and I’m still amazed at how much more interesting and progressive a small Southern town can be than a fairly large Northeastern (technically, to some, a Southern Mid-Atlantic) city. I’ve had more than one instance of proclaiming the virtues of my small college town and how it adopted progressive causes and issues years prior to Baltimore.”

Here’s a few more images that have been posted to the site.  We’re still waiting to learn more about them.  But the images are pretty strong as is.  What’s your story?  

Submitted by tattoo artist, Scott Diffee. Waiting for more info on this tattoo.

I've been wondering if there are other city specific tattoos besides Little Rock. There are! Tattoo by Scott Diffee at the Parlor.

Skyline of LR. Tattoo by Scott Diffee.

Do You Have an Arkansas Tattoo? Know Someone Who Does?

One such tattoo.

For years now people from Arkansas have been getting tattoos that represent the state in some way.  Recently my husband got one, and we discovered that many people of older generations were clueless as to why. I got to thinking about how the Arkansas tattoo is a multi-layered symbol for younger generations, and set out to hear more stories about the varied reasons people decide to permanently mark their bodies with the symbol of a place toward which we all have pretty complex emotions.

Some get the state outline, some get 501 (does anyone get 479 or 870?  Haven’t seen it but surely someone has it, right?), others ask for state symbols like the apple blossom.  Others gets the Razorback, but that’s a slightly different genre of tattoo, which I’m not covering in this research but might in the future.

So far no one can trace how far back Arkansas tattoos go (but if you think you know then please, do tell!) And there are drastically different opinions regarding “ownership” and legitimacy.   Whatever the case, people with Arkansas tattoos have decidedly strong feelings for the state and often seem to have a deep awareness of both its beauty and problems.  In that sense Id say it’s a marker for a complex and layered form of regional love.   And I think that’s endlessly fascinating and important.

And this much is also clear: the prevalence of the Arkansas tattoo crosses racial and socio-economic boundaries and represents varying responses to the concepts of home, place, and identity.

So, do you have an Arkansas tattoo?  Know someone who does?  Would you be willing to share your story for possible publication?  Sometimes when I approach people with a request to ask them more about their tattoo they’ll tell me their story is boring.  Trust me, it’s not.   If you’ve got an Arkansas tattoo, I’d love to hear all about why you got it and what it means to you.   If you know of someone else who has one, please pass on this blog post.  I’m working on an article as well as putting together an audio montage of people telling their Arkansas tattoo stories.  And I’d love to see this research project continue on in many forms.  So I’d love to hear from as many people as possible!  Spread the word.

Thanks so much!