Masters of Body Modification

Out of every woman in the world, she’s one of just a handful who can honestly say they’re a living work of art. She’s Julia Gnuse, the illustrated lady, or to followers of Guinness, the most tattooed woman in the world.


 

Born in 1959, Julia amazingly didn’t even begin her modification transformation until her mid thirties, and now has approximately ninety-five percent of her body inked! Unlike most women who have a plethora of body art pieces, her reasons for the extensive work weren’t purely for the aesthetic loveliness of the tattoos themselves either. Ms. Gnuse has a rare genetic disorder called porphyria; a unique aversion to sunlight that results in blistering, scarring, or discoloration of the skin. And like any woman who’s just too cool for school, she got the idea to cover her skin marks with something empowering and beautiful: tattoo art.

Her tattoos range from realistic monochrome to brilliant vivid color, and cover over a dozen styles of art. They include cartoons, tribals, florals, Japanese style color blocking, classic television personalities, and loads of other fun fare. And she says that some of her favorites are her tattoos of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. My favorites (of those that I’ve seen) are the vibrant flowing waves across her cheek, and her adorable knuckle tattoos featuring the Peanuts Gang from Charlie Brown!



Today in her mid 50′s, Julia resides in California and remains the Guinness Book of World Records’ most tattooed woman in the world, falling short of most tattooed person by a narrow margin under just a handful of men who have between 95 and 100 percent of their bodies tattooed. The most tattooed person as of Guinness’s last publication was Lucky Diamond Rich, a New Zealand native who boasts 100% ink coverage.

Altered Attitudes Piercings and Tattoos in Modern Film

Once upon time, in a far away land (called Hollywood), actors with piercings were a lot like fairy godmothers. We weren’t really sure that they existed, and those of us who thought they saw one only had a blurry photo or two and couldn’t prove it. But today, as more characters in film and literature are being written with piercings and tattoo art to reflect the changing social norm, modified movie actors and characters are finally coming into prominence. You can even track the change.

 

 

  Although tattoo art has been seen amongst film characters of particular types earlier (sailors, mystics, societal outcasts), for the most part the real onset of both character and actor adapting body modifications didn’t begin until around the year 2000. One of the more notable examples of a character being reinvented for the modern era is Francis Dolarhyde, the title character in 2002′s Red Dragon. Originally seen on the big screen in the 1986 film adaptation of Thomas Harris’s novel of the same name, the Francis character is covered with an amazing dragon tattoo. His tattoo was later redesigned to a more modern monochrome version and features prominently in the 2002 movie version starring Ralph Fiennes.
 

Another film that lent its style to modern modification trending, adding to a growing fashion yearning for all things mystical and idiomatic was 2007′s 300, starring Scottish actor Girard Butler as the king of Sparta and Rodrigo Santoro as Persian god-king Xerxes. Along with stunning Grecian fashion and a barrage of pierced, tattooed, and implanted creatures, the character of Xerxes himself is shown with large, golden Middle Eastern style rings pierced through his nose, eyebrow, cheeks, and ear cartilage. This is a slight change from his original depiction in the Frank Miller comic book on which the film is based, as in the comics he also wears piercings in his bottom lip.

 

 

 Perhaps the most prominent recent character to be shown with both piercings and tattoos is Stieg Larsson’s tough as nails female protagonist Lisbeth Salander of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. This character was first played on the big screen in 2009 by the lovely Noomi Rapace and then again just recently by Rooney Mara for the English version. (The original is in Swedish, as is its eponymous novel.) Both women got real piercings to play the role, including several in the ear cartilage and some in the nostril, septum, lip, eyebrow, and nipple. The Swedish original starring Rapace is even part of a trilogy; one movie for each of Larsson’s books, starting with Dragon Tattoo.


 

Other actors who have been pierced and tattooed, whether for a role or not, include Drew Barrymore, Johnny Depp, Ewan McGregor, Colin Farrell, Viggo Mortenson, Lenny Kravitz, Angelina Jolie, Keifer Sutherland, Asia Argento, Robert LaSardo, Eve Salvail, Katie Holmes, Leelee Sobieski, Scarlett Johansson, and countless others.

Life in Ink the Meaning of My Tattoos

Great American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters, compared to what lies within us.”  But what about what lies permanently engraved upon us?  I’m talking of course, about tattoos.



The tattoo is a many splendored thing, and we’ve watched its evolution across the passing of a century with all the vim and verve that an artform deserves.  From vaudeville to Sailor Jerry, permanent makeup to Ed Hardy, the tattoo has become an integral part of popular culture in the Western world.  In fact, figures taken in the 2000s suggest that approximately 16% or one sixth of all adults in the United States have at least one tattoo.  What’s even more impressive is that those who are counted amongst that percentage cannot be characterized into any particular set of demographics.  Basically, tattooing transcends the barriers of race, age, gender, and economic status to become one of the most popular means of human identification and expression worldwide.



Now back to the great Mr. Emerson.  Tattoos for most are an expression of some part of us that would otherwise remain hidden.  We mark our bodies with things we choose specifically, things that speak to us, or that express our personalities or indulge our secret passions.  So in that way, what we ink on the outside can represent what lies within us.  Our tattoos can become the expression of our inner strength, the proof of our bravery, or an emblem of our values.
My tattoos are a statement that I’ve chosen to represent my love of simplicity, of Eastern culture and enduring symbolism, and in many ways of keeping my private thoughts.  I put them in places that most people will never see, not because I want to appear “uninked,” but because I’m a very private person.  I can count the number of people who know where my tattoos are and what they translate to in English on just my two hands.  And in that way, they also symbolize the strength and depth of my closest friendships, and the spiritual element that I feel is inherent to permanently marking myself.