Issue #6 Tats t' Wind!
Celebrating the grandames of female body art and some of the Crone Clubbers getting tattoos later in life.
Aged 106, Apo Whang-Od, went viral last year after her appearance on the cover of Vogue Philippines - the oldest woman to ever do so. She is often described as the "last" and oldest mambabatok (traditional Kalinga tattooist) of her generation. The ancient art of batok - traditional hand-tapped tattooing - dates back a thousand years and traditionally, only men were allowed to learn the art. Whang-Od is an exception and her only chosen apprentices are women in her bloodline, breaking the patrimonial tradition for the first time in recorded Kalinga history.
The tattoo ink she uses is composed of indigenous materials, usually a mixture of charcoal and water, that is tapped into the skin using a thorn from a calamansi or pomelo tree.
Apo Whang-Od is thought be the last mambabatok of her generation. She uses designs found in nature and basic geometric shapes. Her signature tattoo is three dots, representing herself and her two female apprentices, a continuation of the art form from the older to the next generation.
Her tattoos are symbols of the Kalinga tribe, signifying strength, bravery and beauty. And I’m sure you’ll agree, three finer crone attributes there cannot be.
In the West, Iszi Lawrence says in this discussion on BBC Radio 4, it’s thought that tattooing as a profession, didn’t kick in until the late 1800s.
According to the wonderful Insta account @womensart1, the earliest known female professional tattoo artist in the U.S. was Maud Wagner, born in 1877. She was also a contortionist and an aerialist, and together with her husband, is credited with “bringing tattoo artistry inland, away from the coastal cities and towns where the practice had started,” (source, Wikipedia).
At 74 years of age, @photodianne (pictured below, top left), has been photographing the tattoo community for over 40 years. Check out her Insta for some wonderful photos of some of the female pioneers of tattoo art, including Betty Broadbent, Bev Robinson and America’s Tattoo Godmother, ‘Shanghi Kate’.”
When Sheffield artist Pete McKee reimagined his much-loved matriarch ‘Lilly’ as a ‘modern day’ crone, it made me smile, and got me wondering whether more older women were getting body art, and if so, what were the personal stories behind them.
So I posed the question to our merry gang in the Crone Club’s Private Members Facebook Group, and our Insta crew at Crone_Club_Reclaiming_Crone, and we got quite a response! Some definite themes started to emerge which rather beautifully correspond with many of the ‘crone qualities’ we regularly explore.
A huge thank you to everyone who shared their stories and pictures, I’m so sorry that there wasn’t room to feature them all.
Here’s just a few of them! 👇🏽
An act of love - to honour our loved ones.
“Write your name on my arm with a fountain pen. This means you really love me.”
Morrissey
Since, well, forever, humans have made permanent markings on our bodies to honour those we love.
Kath Wilson, now in her 70s, had her first one in her 50s once her children had grown up, “to celebrate the family I had created.”
“All my tattoos mark something significant in my life - one for my mum who has died. I share a rose tat with my daughter and granddaughter (it was her first). My last was to celebrate my golden wedding…
I love these marks on my skin, permanent reminders. Now in my 70s they nestle into my age-spotted skin and I love them all.”❤️
Indeed, it seems many women share the experience of getting a tattoo with one or more of their children, such as @gnidlogeeb, whose 30 year old son bought her a tat for Christmas.
“We went to the parlour together and both had our first ever tattoos on the same day.”
Marie, aged 63, is an artist, who describes herself as being “fully croned and loving it!” She says her work has gone from “angst-filled installation” to “blossoming blousy mixed media painting” as she entered her crone years (check out Marie’s beautiful work on Insta @marieroberts.artist). Marie got her first tattoo at 57, a fern on her forearm, after finding a tattoo artist that completely blew her away (Clare Doody Best aka #GoldiloxTattooer in Moseley).
“I took my first steps through a ferny wood as a baby and now I walk through woodland every day and have a garden full of ferns. Ferns represent strength and rebirth, so maybe this was my initiation into becoming my new self.”
Not surprisingly, nature is a much celebrated visual language in crone body art. Like Charl’s lavender tattoo which she had done at 52.
Siân also had her first one at 52.
“It's some leaves on my ankle representing growth and was hand-poked. I had my sparkles on my forearm done by the same artist the following year to represent a close friend who died in 2020 and another who had passed a few years before. I carry them with me everywhere now. I'm doing the Camino di Santiago in October, so planning on getting a cockle shell afterwards.”
@Diane_moore says she’s planning to get the roots and branches of her tattoo (below) extended as a symbol of her growth over the last three decades. (There’s a Crone Club badge up for grabs if you can name the band and title that Diane’s original tat below was based on?)
Tats to honour ourselves, and to remind us of our primary need for ‘love of self’.
Several women described the impetus for getting a tattoo later in life as a positive act of selfcare - a permanent reminder of the fundamental need for love of self, especially as we head through menopause. Heading into her 50th year, Adele took the plunge and got her first. Like many in midlife, Adele faced battles on many fronts - still having to work full time, entering peri-menopause and caring for her mum who has Alzheimer's, as well as being a mum to two daughters, and soon to be a grandparent.
Three days before her 51st birthday, Donna suffered a life-changing stroke. She says:
“I had this done at a very significant part of my stroke recovery! I was 53 when I was inked. The design was taken from one of my favourite dress fabrics. This dress always made me feel happy! It has two flies intermingled with the pattern. 2fly studios will always be a part of my life musically. It was a wonderful experience having it done.”
Reclaiming our bodies - an act of choice and control.
In the Radio 4 programme below, Peak Poet, Helen Mort, talks to tattoo artist, Lou Hopper, about tattoos being a positive act in the reclaiming of our bodies. Helen shares the story of her own sternum tattoo to mark the end of breastfeeding. (And yes, apparently that IS as painful as it sounds. 😬)
As someone with a VERY low pain threshold, I’m fascinated about the the pain element of getting a tattoo. In their discussion, they explain that unlike most of the pain that women experience - periods, childbirth - getting a tattoo is a DECISION for pain that we are actually in control of. Or, as @Imclea255m who is planning to get another tat to balance out her existing one so beautifully put it:
“If I can’t balance my hormones, I can at least balance my tats!”
In the programme, they reflect on the popularity of back tattoos for women - perhaps a ‘turning our backs’ on our younger self, so we can move on and re-imagine the new.
Tats as a positive act of reclaiming our bodies is never more moving than in the stories of women who have had mastectomy tattoos following a battle with breast cancer. The process of doing this seems to have a huge positive impact not just on the woman who has had the mastectomy, but also on their artist.
A positive statement of intent for our future crone self.
The Triple Goddess, in Neopagan usage, represents three distinct aspects united in one being - the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone, each symbolising a separate stage in the female life cycle and a phase of the Moon. The wonderful
gifted herself a Triple Goddess tattoo with the flower of life pattern for her 60th birthday.
Creating a tattoo that celebrates our past roles and embodies the qualities of the crone we want to be is one that, who knows, even I might one day pluck up the courage for. 😳 After all, @Holmfirthgirl rightly says, entering cronedom is:
“Time to do what I want to do.”
And if the world disapproves?
Well, as we all know, one of the greatest crone qualities of all is the post-menopausal superpower of not giving a fk (or to use a
acronym - IDGAF!) A quality rather beautifully summed up in Sarah Osborne’s recent tat…
Q: Did you get inked later in life? Why did you do it and what does it mean to you? Or if you’re a wimp like me, hypothetically speaking, if you were to design one for yourself as a symbol of the crone you want to be, what would it be? We’d love to hear your stories in the comments below. 👇🏽
Much love and croneage.
Juzza
xxx
ps A huge thanks to everyone for bearing with me this last few months during Dad’s illness and death, and those who upgraded to paid! When you’re not earning, every penny helps, so THANK YOU xxxx
A few links
Crone Talks 002. Join us to honour Crone Carole Taylor’s story in the second of our Crone Talks - “Giving up my baby was not my choice.” Limited tickets. Priority given to paid subscribers, but all welcome.
A couple of us Crone Clubbers are going to Crone Club Steph’s retreat in North Wales ‘Mastering Me’. There’s two places left if you want to join us - I can’t ruddy wait, it’s going to be ace!
Crone Nonika_Nonika’s book of poetry is available to buy here, it’s called: ‘Mouthing Off - on the flip of a century
Sheffield Crones - A rare chance to see four of Crone Karen Sherwood’s amazing paintings @cupolacontemporaryart in her gallery’s most recent exhibition ‘Alchemy: Air & Fire by @paulinerignall and @allamclaire. “A wonderful collaboration of a painter and a ceramicist and the culmination of a 14 year friendship”. Details at www.cupolagallery.com
Fabulous article! And so honoured be part of it! Thank you for sharing my inky crone tale ☺️
The mastectomy tattoos blew me away, incredibly moving and stunning artistry. Great work Juzza