“Tatuarte” in Holguin

By: Juan Pablo Carreras

Translated and edited by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.

Tattoo session during the second edition of the Tatuarte body art project, at the headquarters of the Hermanos Saíz Association (AHS), in the city of Holguín. Photo: Juan Pablo Carreras / ACN.

With the presence of researchers, specialists and defenders of body-art, the second edition of the Tatuarte body art project was developed. It was held at the House of the Young Creator of the Hermanos Saíz Association (AHS), in the city of Holguín.

Gilberto González Carcacés (Yiki), founder and organizer of the event, said that this edition was attended by plastic artists, young creators and more than a dozen developers of this art in the country.

He said one of the distinctive features of the gathering is seen in the stimulation of the tattooed crutch, a technique that has disappeared today. It goes back to the origins of this artistic manifestation, consisting of a stick and two needles to achieve the desired drawing by hand.

The defense of the aesthetic and artistic values of the tattooed as a mode of expression within the plastic arts. This was the main objective of the discussions after the presentation in theoretical workshops of presentations on the ritualistic tattoo and the policies of the written body, by Vladimir Hechavarría and Danilo Guerrero, respectively.

Yudith Figueredo Domínguez, a young assistant, who offered the possibility of being tattooed at no cost, saod that the approach to this practice means assuming in the body a manifestation of the art that one will carry for life.

At the same time, Enrique Hernández Castellón, an artist from the province of Matanzas, said he was pleased by the reception of the AHS in the territory. He commented on the rise of this culture in Cuba which is experiencing an advance along with technological development, because every day better equipment, inks, and all kinds of materials become available.

During the closing day, a children’s workshop for screen printing and recycled paper was developed’ This theoretical event on muleta tattooing, in addition to the jam session by of the troubadours Raulito Prieto, Manuel Leandro and Leiner Verdecia.

The tattoo in the Cuban society of the 21st century still has as many detractors as followers and, although its origins go back to the emergence of the main civilizations, it is still subject to taboos and prejudices.

Tattoo session during the second edition of the Tatuarte body art project, at the headquarters of the AHS, in Holguín. Photo: Juan Pablo Carreras / ACN.