Toni Marques is a Brazilian journalist based in Rio de Janeiro. He has published a volume of short stories and a volume of poetry, and has also worked as a freelance journalist and scriptwriter for TV. His most recent book is O Brasil Tatuado e Outros Mundos (Tattooed Brazil and Other Worlds), published by Rocco in 1997.

Tattooed Brazil by Toni Marques.

Transcribed and edited by Steve Gilbert

I like to write, and I'm always thinking up new projects. A few years ago I submitted a book of poetry to a major publisher in Rio de Janeiro, and while I waited for it to be accepted, I was looking around for another project. One of the editors at the publishing company said, "You have some tattoos. Why don't you write a book about tattooing?" She had recently been in Paris and had seen a book about tattooing in French. But there was no book about tattooing in Brazil. She suggested that I write something popular, and that I divide it into two parts: a history of tattooing throughout the world, and a history of tattooing in Brazil. That's why I called it Tattooed Brazil and Other Worlds.

I began by researching accounts of tattooing which had been written by physicians and criminologists. One of these was Tatuagem e Criminalidade (Tattooing and Criminality) written in 1912 by José Ignacio de Carvalho. It is a thesis which he presented to the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Rio de Janeiro as a requirement to obtain the degree of doctor of medicine. He reported that tattooing was common not only among convicts, but also among laborers, sailors, and other members of the lower classes. His thesis is one of our first windows on tattooing. He described European tattooing as follows: "French tattooing is varied, expressive and artistic. English tattooing is monumental, exuberant and extravagant. German tattooing is monotonous, with a perfection that is almost mechanical." How did he know all that? I don't know whether he had traveled to Europe, or whether he saw European tattooing on sailors and convicts in Brazil. It's an interesting point, because he condemns tattooing, even though he recognizes that it may have some artistic merit.

He says that Brazilian tattooing is much more modest and less spiritual than European tattooing. He says it is characterized by simple ornaments and naive designs, such as words and names in banners, the figure of a crucified Christ, Saint George killing the dragon, and other popular icons which express the passionate roots of the soul of our lower classes. This is ironic, because he had some understanding of artistic standards in tattooing throughout the world, but he couldn't comprehend the poetry of tattooing among the poor people of Brazil.

Another physician, Dr. Angelo Rodriguez, made a similar study in Bahia State in 1912. His book includes photographs of some very beautiful tattoos on sailors. For instance, there is a photograph of a Swedish sailor who has an elaborate tattoo on his chest. It is the figure of a woman draped in a Swedish flag, and she is standing over a winged earth. It was done by a tattoo artist in Paris. Another sailor, a Hungarian, has the same tattoo except that the figure of the woman is draped in a Hungarian flag.

There are a number of other studies dealing with criminal and medical aspects of tattooing which were published about the same time. But they are not well known. Even the librarians didn't know about them. I was the first person who had taken these books out of the library since they were published!

But in the case of tattooing among the natives of Brazil, it was a different matter. Tattooing is mentioned in many books written by Brazilian anthropologists and by foreign visitors. One of the first such accounts was published by Henri Estienne in 1512. Estienne was an explorer who took some Brazilian natives back to Europe and exhibited them at the French Court. He reports that the faces of the natives were decorated with scars and blue tattoo marks. Some of them had blue lines which went from their ears to their shins.

Another interesting historical record is by Jean de Léry, a missionary who wrote a book titled History of a Voyage to Brazil (1577-1578) . This was the first book in which I found cannibalism mentioned. De Léry writes: "The natives who perform these acts of cannibalism are honored. After eating human flesh they return to their homes, where they make bloody incisions in their chests, arms and thighs. They then rub black powder into the incisions, which makes them indelible. The number of scars indicates the number of victims sacrificed, and those with the most scars are accorded the greatest respect.

There was a Jesuit priest, Fernão Cardim, who traveled throughout Brazil from 1583 to 1590 and wrote a book titled A Study of the Land and People of Brazil. He also mentions cannibalism. He reported that some of the natives used the teeth of rodents to make crossed patterns of scarification, into which they rub a fluid consisting of coal powder mixed with the juice of an herb. The healing process took several days, during which time the man who had been scarred did not eat, speak, or move from his bed. In this tribe, the ritual scarification preceded the act of cannibalism.

The natives used many different instruments for scarification and tattooing: diamonds, palm tree thorns, fish teeth and mammals' teeth. Members of the Munducurus tribe used a tool consisting of a piece of wood with ten or more rodents' teeth set close together in a straight line, with which they incised a series of parallel lines in the skin. They then rubbed soot into the incisions to render them indelible. Even today tattooing is practiced by some native tribes. Three or four years ago Brazilian authorities discovered a tribe which had been unknown to white men, and the members of this tribe had series of dots forming lines tattooed on their faces. It is estimated that there are nearly sixty tribes living deep in the jungle, and it is probable that, unknown to us, tattooing is still being practiced in many of these tribes.There are many accounts of tattooing written by explorers and anthropologists which I have not had time to read. This would be a subject for another book.

A most interesting account of tattooing is to be found in a book titled The Marvelous Soul of the Streets, which was written by an author who calls himself "John of Rio." It was published in 1908. "John of Rio" was the pseudonym of the writer and journalist Joao Paulo Alberto Coelho Barreto. He described several different kinds of tattooing. One of these was tattooing related to religion and superstition. For instance, John of Rio describes a sorcerer who was tattooed with the arms of Shengo. Shengo was a black deity. That was the first historical mention I found linking tattooing, which was not usually practiced by blacks, and the religion of blacks.

And then there were the Turks living in Brazil. They were Muslims and they used to tattoo magical amulets and charms. Maronites also tattooed magical symbols, and Schismatics tattooed magical icons on the chest and arms. The most widespread kind of tattooing was that practiced by the lower classes: street vendors, workers, soldiers and criminals. Among these people, tattooing became an industry with chiefs, vice-chiefs, and practitioners.

John of Rio says that the tattooists were children who worked for an outlaw boss called "The Don Man." In the neighborhood of the Naval Arsenal John of Rio was able to find nearly thirty children tattooists. They were just kids ten to twelve years old and they used to walk around asking "You want a mark?" Their tattoo kit was just and bottle of ink and an instrument consisting of three needles attached to a wooden stick. In April 1908 those 30 kids did 319 tattoos. And by tattooing they made more money than a regular day laborer. John of Rio interviewed the Don Man, who had a figure of Christ tattooed on his chest, a snake on his leg, the five pointed star of Solomon, the stigmata, and a siren. John of Rio reported that when the Don Man wanted to get rid of a woman's name, he used mother's milk to obliterate the tattoo.

The prostitutes who worked for the Don Man used to have initials of their lovers tattooed on the left breast. If the relationship ended, they would tattoo the same initials on their feet, so they could step on it every day of their lives. There is also a book written by two doctors about tattooing. It is titled Tattoo and Criminality and it was published in 1966. It's a very long book with a little bit of history and lots of studies of criminals. But this book ignores the presence of a Danish tattooist who was working at that time in the port city of Santos, which is in San Paolo State. This was Lucky Tattoo (his real name was Knut Gregerson). He was a friend of Tattoo Jack and Tattoo Ole back in Denmark. He was a sailor, and during the forties he was just traveling around in Argentina and Brazil, and he saw a new market for tattooing that could be exploited. In 1959 he opened up a shop in Santos and went to work tattooing sailors and prostitutes. He was the founder of modern tattooing in Brazil.

Less than one year after his arrival the newspapers discovered him. I read newspaper articles which were published about him in 1960. They recognized the excellence of his work, although he was a self-taught artist. People who met him described him as a wild guy. He drank a lot and used drugs. He gave his occupation as "painter" and got a visa which allowed him to stay in Brazil, and he worked there until he died of a heart attack in 1983.

In the sixties surfing became popular in Rio de Janeiro. There was one particularly popular and handsome surfer named Petit. He went to Lucky and got a tattoo of a dragon with bat wings and a pointed tail in the style of Pinky Yan. And about that same time, tattooing was being written up in magazines from the US. There was an issue of Life magazine with an article about tattooing and a picture of Lyle Tuttle.And so Lucky's business prospered, and other surfers went to Santos to get tattooed by Lucky.

One of Petit's friends was a very popular and controversial song writer named Caetano Veloso. He wrote a song about Petit. It was called "Boy from Rio", and in the lyrics it tells of the dragon tattoo on Petit's arm. That song was a great hit and was featured on the radio and TV. and it became the title song of a popular soap opera. The song "Boy from Rio" was a tremendous hit. And that made lots of young people want to be like the boy from Rio. It was a mass phenomenon. Suddenly everyone wanted to have a tattoo. And would-be tattoo artists popped up everywhere. About that time (1980) Lucky moved to a city near Rio in order to be near the surfers. He was busy tattooing but he also had time to travel around Brazil, and made many naive paintings which still exist.

One of the first of the new tattooists was a woman named Ana Valio who opened a high class shop in Ipanima, which is a very good neighborhood in Rio. She had a university education and had studied architecture. She was the one who got to tattoo the golden youth: the educated kids from good homes. Some of her clients were actors and executives and other professional people. Today in Rio there are about seven good tattoo shops, and in addition all over the city there are people tattooing in the streets and exchanging tattoos for sex, drugs, a CD or anything. The same kind of thing is going on in San Paolo, where in one large shopping center there are five shops. If you include people who are tattooing in the streets, there are over a thousand tattooists in San Paolo. The public health authorities ignore it, because they have more urgent problems to deal with. There are even five people manufacturing machines in Brazil. I don't know if they are any good. The better tattooists get their supplies from the US or Europe.

Unfortunately most Brazilian tattooists are not interested in native Brazilian tattooing. When I was doing my research on indigenous tattooing I offered some of the designs to tattooists but they said their customers would not go for it. They prefer American Indians or tribal designs from Borneo. I thought I could make a big breakthrough and change the way people saw tattooing with my book. But of course it was a delusion. Only after the book was finished did I realize what it meant to me. When I was writing it, I became so excited by the process that I couldn't see it. The book is like a first tattoo by a tattooist. It has its errors, and it has its imperfections. But it is an honest and sincere and deeply respectful declaration of love, not only for tattooing but for mankind. I think tattooing is a form of love. A love not for oneself and not for a tribe, but for mankind. The most painful aspect of tattooing is not the physical pain one experiences while being tattooed. It is the pain of death. We are all destined to die. And that's why I see only two motives to be tattooed: life and death. And sometimes they are linked together. You cannot separate in a single drawing which part of it is life and which part is death. If you have only one reader who can understand the slightest part of your work, you have given something to him and this reader will give it to someone else. That is love. Love is something people give each other through time and through space to make life more comprehensible and more bearable. Tattooing for me is a declaration of love for life. Because it communicates that every single day of your entire life you look at it and understand what it talks about. It talks about love.