Marked by the journey: Aesthetic reflexivity and existential transformation through travel tattoos

Drawing on Lash's concept of aesthetic reflexivity, this study examines how travelers employ aesthetic reflexivity through tattooing to engage with their existentially transformative tourism experiences. Using informed grounded theory, we carried out thirty-one interviews with travelers who had obtained tattoos to commemorate an existentially transformative journey. Findings identify three interrelated forms of aesthetic reflexivity: (1) displaying existential transformation through commodification, tourism discourses, and power; (2) negotiating existential transformation through relationships, belonging, and life trajectories; and (3) navigating existential transformation through embodied pain and resilience. Findings extend existential transformation by conceptualizing aesthetic reflexivity as an embodied and aesthetically mediated process through which existential transformation is performed, interpreted, and reactivated. Practitioner implications include artist partnerships and accountable design choices.