Your Tattoos can Live on After you Die

[Sevrin]

So now there's a group that will skin your corpse and let your loved ones enjoy it after you are long gone. Now I don't have any tattoos, but is this something that would really appeal to a lot of people who do?

A New Service Will Remove Tattoos from Your Body After You Die

As fashion choices, tattoos are fairly permanent. But compared with other works of art, tattoos are ephemeral, doomed to decay as their hosts' skin wrinkles and, when they die, be burned or buried along with them. Tattoos can cost thousands of dollars and mark major life milestones, but unlike paintings, you'll never be able to bequeath them to your descendants. No one showcases old tattoos in their home.

Charles Hamm wants to change that, which is why he started theNational Association for the Preservation of Skin Art(NAPSA). The nonprofit organization is devoted to enabling people to preserve their tattoos—skin and all—and pass them on to their loved ones after they die.

Full article on Vice

 

[SaffronBurke]

Cool! Bikers have been doing this for ages. There may have been some ancient societies that did as well, but I don't remember which.

 

[AerynShade]

That is awesome! I'd love to have my sister's tattoos after she dies. I want them to make up the covers of a photo album. That would be such a treasured family heirloom.
Everyone thinks I'm nuts, but I don't really get why it bothers people.

 

[JerryBoBerry]

I'd rather they just took a picture.

 

[InternAvery]

I'd rather they just took a picture.

THIS!

SO MUCH, THIS!

The idea of dead skin hanging on the wall, in a frame, after someone passes away... it just creeps me out.

ESPECIALLY because I'd think, each time I saw it, about how it was removed.

 

[fandango]

I find it a bit weird and creepy to have an actual part of someones body, to me its no different then having my loved one stuffed and mounted.I'd rather stick to photos and memories.

But actually thinking about it now my Mum keeps my Dads favourite old hat on a hatstand in the corner of her living room and its nice to see everytime I go round there.

Is a hat any different to some skin? Probably it is, but maybe its not if the tattoo reminds you of them basically I have no idea and now I'm rambling.

I'll just say that whatever makes you happy and makes it easier to deal with the pain of someones passing is all good I guess.

 

[SoTxBob]

wow, what a cool house you have. And such an interesting lamp shade.
Thanks glad you like it. The lamp shade is made from my dead [insert relation here] tats.

sorry, seems a bit too creepy. After all, didnt the world condemn that german dood for making some things from human skin?

 

[VeronicaChaos]

I don't have any tattoos but I think it's a neat idea! After all, hair has been used for mourning/rememberance jewelry for ages. It's definitely not weird.

This isn't news to me though, seeing as how I am obsessed with death haha.

 

[Sevrin]

I don't have any tattoos but I think it's a neat idea! After all, hair has been used for mourning/rememberance jewelry for ages. It's definitely not weird.

Just because something has been done for ages does not mean it can't be weird. The fetishization of body parts has a long weird history, and so does ancestor worship. Pilgrimages to shrines where the supposed bones and other assorted remains of dead saints are kept are still performed today, but that doesn't make them any less weird. This business of tanning decorated human skin is just a recent incarnation of the phenomenon.

 

[jeff98902]

This thread on Tattoo preservation instantly reminded me of Japanese Dr. Masaichi Fukushi that preserved the tattoos of deceased
Yakuza. kind of creepy, but interesting. Check out the links.

http://iheartautopsy.com/life-and-death-tattoos/
http://noitesinistra.blogspot.com/2014/04/dr-masaichi-fukushi-o-colecionador-de.html#.VhmVK-xViko

 

[Shaun__]

Fuck those people, all of me is going to be burned to ash after I die if I get my way. They can put the ash in a fancy frame if they want to hang me on the wall.

 

[Sevrin]

Fuck those people, all of me is going to be burned to ash after I die if I get my way. They can put the ash in a fancy frame if they want to hang me on the wall.

Speaking of ashes, I'd be surprised if this showed up on anyone's Amazon wishlist.

 

[Deleted member 25213]

oh man, I'm pretty much covered in tattoos but I think this is creepy as hell. Pretty sure no one needs to have my skin hanging out in their living room, even if I love them dearly.

 

[David_Lee_Loca]

If somebody really wants my tattoos after I die, go for it. It's not like I need the skin anymore!
I've actually considered the possibility of donating my body to the Bodyworlds exhibit if it's still going strong when I die.
I mean, I'd get to travel the world and educate people long after I'm gone. That thought just seems so cool to me.