The Influence Of Traditional Tattoo Art In Modern Society In Indonesia

Tattoo art, or better known as tattoo, is part of Indonesian culture and tradition for thousands of years. Indonesian state with many islands create many different culture and art forms. This cultural treasures including the pattern and forms a distinctive tattoo Indonesia’s diverse traditions. The islands are still traceable which has the form of tattoo body art is the island of Borneo, Nias Island, Nusa Tenggara, Sulawesi Island, Flores, Sumba, Bread, Papua, Bali.For those tribes tribal, tattoo art is a part of life that can not be separated from them. They use tattoos as identity, from his tattoos we could find out who the person is. The knights put a tattoo on his body as achievements and their versatility in hunting and war. The woman put a tattoo as a sign of maturity, marriage, skill in weaving, dancing and so on. Even Dayak started giving tattoos on children when they were five years old. Tattoos for tribal communities is something sacred and requires a long process in the making. Patterns and forms of tattoos also not arbitrary. Each tribe has a particular motif that has been agreed upon meaning by the members of the tribe. Thus makes a tattoo meaning understood by all members of the tribe. Many of the tattoos tradition is part of another tradition that has been prohibited, for example, the tradition of the Dayak Iban who put tattoos on their fingers after successfully hunt a human head. Tattoos are also part of their original religion which still comes from the Megalithic era animism. Tattoos as a shield to evil spirits and their introduction in nature after death.Because of the influence of political, social and cultural, cultural or art form is a few decades ago to the point of almost extinct and forgotten. Many factors are driving the decline of tattoo art in Indonesia. Internal factors includes the expiration of Ngayau culture, Ngayau is the culture of the Knights of Dayak. In 1894 the colonial government initiated a meeting Tumbang Anoi in Central Kalimantan. Where all customs authorities and warlord gathered to agree on the end of the war between groups. In addition, external influences such as the inclusion of major religions such as Islam and Christianity and also the political atmosphere Indonesian government that forced these tribes to change the way of life which impact on the way people view tattoos are labeled criminals.But thanks to the atmosphere of Indonesian people’s lives change over time, include changes in the political atmosphere of the fall of the dictatorial regime of President Suharto and the advancement of information and technology, gradually the art of tattooing tradition in Indonesia began to be studied and practiced back. Today many modern society that re-use tattoo tradition with a variety of reasons. Start from admirers of art and tattoo design itself to the mission of preservation and revitalization of cultural traditions. Advances in information technology also led to greater public knowledge and no longer open to stigmatize the tattoo as a symbol of the barbarian or criminal. Until born something called Neo-tribal, which is where the modern society that uses the tattoo tradition with a combination of content and meaning of the tattoo itself. When tribes used tattoos as a tribal sense of identity and communal agreed meaning, it is usual modern tattoo meaning known only to who has the tattoo itself, and is also used as a critique of the surrounding community.