Tatts amore
18.05.12
Much more than the pigments of the imagination, tattoos embody rich cultural and social tradition, with lines frequently redrawn to ensure relevance to the modern tribe. Sarah Harris reports. BENEATH Jay J Nguyen’s crisp business shirt a helicopter hovers. The ubiquitous gunship looms large against the backdrop of the rice paddies and mountains of his homeland and a family scattered like petals. There is heart in this sleeve - the wordless rendering of one migrant’s story and the Vietnam War.
“I wanted to get something meaningful,” the young business banker from Cairnlea explains.
“The way I looked at it, a tattoo was going to be with me the rest of my life, so I wanted it to be something that I would always want to carry with me. That is why I have my whole family on my arm.
“My grandfather was killed in the war. One of my aunties came to Australia in the ’70s. Then one by one she sponsored her eight brothers and six sisters. We were the last to come in
Source: Macedon Ranges Weekly