The Art of the Poor: How Tattoos Tell Stories of Struggle and Resilience
They’re like a birthmark you can’t wipe off
Tattoos serve various purposes in societies all around the world, such as marking rites of passage, indicating status and rank, displaying religious and spiritual devotion, showing bravery, promoting fertility, symbolizing love, and providing protection.
But then there are what I call the art of the poor: permanent marks that tell stories of struggle and resilience on the bodies of the less fortunate.
It’s scorching hot when we get off the bikes in front of the narrow alleys between the rows of plain clay houses. They belong to a Maithili community in Dhanusha district in southern Nepal, close to the Indian border. And it is right here where tattoos reveal the origin of its less fortunate women and their plight.
Privacy is no prerequisite
We have been invited into Subdi’s home, a simple construction with a thatched roof comprising two tiny rooms. These contain everything that Subdi and her family own, including sleeping and storage facilities, cloth racks, photographs, and kitchen utensils.
Subdi and her husband occupy the room where we gather, while the other is home to their 18-year-old son and his…
