Shana's Orange Tattoo - More Than Meets the Eye

I met Shana on the subway back in June. She shared this tattoo:

Shana explained that this is a navel orange from a botanical etching dating back to the 1700's. He explained that he found the illustration in a botanical text book.

Shana further elaborated by explaining that she associates oranges with times that she felt calm and safe and that, among the "thirteen-ish" tattoos, many are different versions of oranges and orange blossoms.

Furthermore, Shana identifies as a transgender individual, and he intimated that the oranges and accompanying blossoms balance out the masculine elements in his appearance.

This was inked by Jason McAfee at Temple Tattoo in Oakland, California.

One may have noted that I used both masculine and feminine pronouns when writing about Shana. I took my cues from Shana's biography on her website:

"Her visual art has been shown at The New York Center for Book Arts and Southern Exposure and is in the collections of the Walker Art Center and the University of California, Irvine, University of California, Berkeley, and University of Southern California libraries’ special collections.  His essays have appeared in Flow Magazine (flowtv.org) and Clamor Magazine, and she contributed a chapter addressing the role of the prison industrial complex in Hurricane Katrina inThrough the Eye of Katrina: Social Justice in the United States, published by Carolina Academic Press.  [Shana] has given talks on transgender representation and deconstructing “hate crime” in queer politics at the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies at the City University of New York, Yale University, and Oberlin College.  She is also a long-time member of Critical Resistance, a grassroots organization fighting the use of the prison industrial complex to address social problems."

Thanks to Shana for sharing this fascinating tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

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The Only Tattoo Blog that Educates its Readers About the Clutius Manuscript AND the Hoplite Phalanx

As you may have guessed from the title above, this is an educational post.

Anna has four tattoos, but it was this one, on the back of her left calf, that caught my eye as she passed me on Seventh Avenue last week. I stopped to ask what this was all about. And I felt like I was back in the classroom. Absolutely fascinating!


This piece is based on the art found on the Chigi Vase:


So why is the Chigi vase, a piece of Corinthian pottery dating back to around the 7th century, B.C., important? Anna explained that it is on the vase that the first artistic representation of the Hoplite Phalanx formation appeared. Or, the earliest surviving representation. It is in this battle formation that soldiers are lined up in such a way that the soldier next to them uses their shield to protect their neighbor. The economic formation proved very effective and it was an important step in democracy, as a group of soldiers banded together to form one cohesive unit.

Anna is an alumna of Reed College in Portland,Oregon, where she studied the Classics. I didn't mention to her at the time that I was a graduate of Occidental College in Los Angeles, a similarly small liberal arts college where there is a deep tradition of teaching the Classics. So, I got why she had this tattooed on her, not to mention how nicely done it was in the first place.

Aside from the liberal arts background, I also related to Anna on the level that she is originally from the Central Coast of California, near San Luis Obispo. Although my connection to California is in L.A., to the south, I still have 12 years of life in the Golden State ingrained in my identity.

This segues to the piece on her left arm, a watercolor-like tattoo of a plant:


This is in fact, a strawberry plant, which is an integral part of the agricultural identity of the central section of California. The tattoo is based on the watercolors first recorded in what is known as the Clutius Manuscript, a 16th Century work of early botanical paintings. You can check out the link below for more information on this collection.

Anna, who also blogs here about her adventures with fresh vegetables and fruits in New York City green markets, had these tattoos inked in Portland by the artist Amy Cole. Ms. Cole works out of Tiger Lily Tattoo and Design.

Thanks to Anna for sharing her cool (and thought-provoking) body art here with us at Tattoosday!