Living with and living by tattoos – discursive analysis of a bodily practice

In this case study, we present a discursive analysis of tattoos related to significant autobiographical events, examining their pictorial, interpretative, embodied and discursive characteristics in a remembering process. Tattoos are pictorial motifs of a culturally defined system, while tattooed persons as active agents endow them with personal meanings connected to their motives. This study presents the connection between motif choosing and individual motives, as well as the embodied positions of tattoos with their discursive consequences. Our paper underscores that not only new or reinterpreted meanings are created in this practice, but persons also construct their own positions, their own situated selves and identity in a positioning process. Through these discursive identity positions, that are assigned both in everyday conversations and in wider social-cultural discourses, persons construct more positive self-images, thus creating a device for coping with crisis situations.