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Tattoo Artists Find Inspiration In Chinese Culture
Liu Chen, journalist
Tattoo artists in Auckland are integrating traditional Chinese elements into their artwork as interest in East Asian designs grows.
Popular with Chinese customers who are seeking to reconnect with their heritage, the designs are also attracting interest from Southeast Asian and European customers who are interested in Chinese culture.
Standard designs include ink paintings of flowers, birds, fish, trees and landscapes, as well as different styles of calligraphy.
More abstract designs include flying dragons, misty clouds, ancient sayings, seals, porcelain vases and Nüshu (a syllabic writing system created and used exclusively by women).
Jiayi (Raina) Gao, who learned calligraphy as a child, has been working as a tattoo artist at Blank-Leaving Tattoo Studio in downtown Auckland for more than two years.
Gao has been pleasantly surprised by the interest in her work.
"At the beginning, I was just doing words in the style of calligraphy," Gao says.
"Later I found that many people like the things involved in calligraphy, such as seals. They would tattoo their names or their Chinese zodiac signs in the style of a seal."
The process of creating brings Gao a sense of accomplishment.
After communicating with customers about the location, size and style of the tattoo they want, Gao prepares the design on an iPad and checks if any adjustment is needed before starting the needlework.
"Customers really like the style of calligraphy - the appearance of the brush strokes and the softer edges - and so I combine these two aspects and use them in my designs," she says.
Although Gao is proficient at cursive, semi-cursive and standard calligraphy scripts, she says many customers opt for a cursive script as part of their design.
Customers tend to like the cursive script's sense of mystery and undefined characteristics.
"Many customers ... may not speak Chinese, but their grandparents are Chinese," Gao says.
"They would have the Chinese names of their family, or a seal of those names, tattooed on their bodies."
She says practicing calligraphy is unrealistic for many people, but she finds meaning in introducing the art to people through tattoos.
"We can introduce [calligraphy] to them slowly and let them understand it slowly," she says. "Even if they just begin to express an interest in it, I think we have already made a breakthrough."
Chenrong (Lily) Liu, another artist at Blank-Leaving Tattoo Studio, began learning Chinese painting at the age of six years old.
"I think it's interesting to be able to paint Chinese paintings on the body," Liu says. "I can also incorporate my own designs. ... It's a very interesting thing to blend my own designs into Chinese paintings and then put them on people's bodies."
Liu says some customers like fish and birds that carry specific meanings. Carp, for instance, symbolise auspiciousness and wealth, while magpies symbolise good luck. Others ask for their birthday flowers or flowers representing their own country to be turned into tattoos.
Liu says Chinese ink tattoos are a good way of covering up old tattoos.
"Because [Chinese ink tattoos] feel relatively fluid, the characteristics are suitable for covering up tattoo so that it does not look like a cover up," she says. "The ink appearance makes the image look like it is designed that way. It's very natural."
Liu says that traditional Chinese paintings run in her blood, and she is happy to share information about Chinese culture.
"It would be good if more people accept Chinese-style tattoos," she says. "It would be quite interesting for those of us who do Chinese-style tattoos abroad."
Jing (Xixi) Zhang of Dreamhands Tattoo Studio has worked as a tattoo artist for seven years in China but started to focus on Chinese ink painting style tattoos when she came to New Zealand around six months ago.
"I love nature, flowers, birds and trees, and so most of my content includes these things," Zhang says. "I think flowers are just really beautiful and pleasing to the eye ... and so most of my designs include flowers."
Zhang created a tattoo of peonies to cover up an abdominal scar of a woman who had previously undergone a caesarean section.
The brown-green branches of the peonies cover up the shallow scars, with decorative red flowers in bloom.
"Women love to be beautiful," Zhang says. "She thinks that if this scar is permanent, she would feel a little embarrassed. ... Although she knows that giving birth is a wonderful thing, she also hopes to be beautiful herself. "
Zhang says people in New Zealand are generally happy to choose a tattoo design without being constrained by stereotype.
"Today, people are more open to Chinese-style tattoos, including floral designs," she says. "Unlike in the past, when men typically chose tattoos to emphasise masculinity, people now focus on what appeals to them personally. Whether a design is considered 'feminine' is no longer a concern - what truly matters is selecting a tattoo that reflects one's individual taste and self-expression."
She says the "realism" seen in Western artforms is very different from the "freehand brushwork" used in Chinese painting.
She wants to help people from different ethnic groups understand the richness and diversity of Chinese culture through her designs.
"I can ... reflect these elements of traditional Chinese painting in my tattoo work," she says. "This style is different from Western painting and has its own beauty of oriental charm."
Zhang says tattoos often have special meaning to people, just like the auspicious knot in the Tibetan patterns tattooed on the palm of her left hand.
She says it is painful to have a design tattooed on the palm of a hand and work done in that area tends to fade easily.
However, she says the tattoo reminds her to accept the pain and imperfection of life.
"When I see someone with a tattoo that holds a special meaning, I'm often touched," she says. "It inspires me to take this matter [tattooing] more seriously and do it even better."
Zhang's husband, Aorigeler, also arrived in New Zealand recently.
Having worked as a tattoo artist for 14 years, the Inner Mongolian has undertaken extensive research on the evolution of ink throughout history.
Aorigeler's work typically combines traditional and modern elements, using Tibetan Buddhist thangka techniques and including images from Chinese myths and legends such as dragons and phoenixes.
"Many local people don't really understand what Chinese tattoos are or what Chinese paintings are," he says. "They think dragons are Japanese, lotus flowers are Japanese and peonies are Japanese. Japan has done a better job of exporting its culture.
"As a tattoo artist, I believe it's important to highlight and share the essence of Chinese culture through communication to explain our designs with our customers."
Yifan (Chloe) Hou, a tattoo artist at Wild Child Tattoo, was first interested in tattooing because she liked art.
Over time, she has developed her own unique Chinese style.
Her designs include exquisite cattail leaf fans, embroidered lanterns, floating sky lanterns, lattice windows, porcelain vases, flower branches and flying swallows.
She says Chinese culture can provide an endless source of inspiration for creators, just like the tattoos she designs that feature Nüshu.
"Sharing our culture and helping more people to appreciate it gives me a profound sense of achievement," Hou says. "Introducing Chinese culture to others, sparking an interest [in China] or even correcting misconceptions about China fills me with pride."
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