Kathmandu Ink

Nepal’s image is now inked with the country’s first international tattoo convention - Bibek Bhandari

 

Kathmandu, Nepal-- Nilu Shah’s left shoulder blade serves as a canvas for local tattoo artist Ujjwol Mathema. As she leans forward on a chair, Mathema focuses on his art as the needles ink the 24-year-old’s skin.

 

“I can only smile…it’s ticklish,” she shares her experience of her first tattoo—a set of tribal wing— during the three-day first Nepal International Tattoo Convention that took place in Kathmandu, the capital, from April 22 to24.

 

Nepal’s image has for a long time been inked with Mt Everest and of late with the Maoist insurgency, forcing developed countries to issue travel advisories. But the country is trying to transition into a Republic after the end of the decade-long civil war that ended in 2006. One way it is doing so is by eyeing on opportunities to cash in from tourism, one of the major sources of income for the country. With the beginning of the Nepal Tourism Year 2011, a government initiative to boost tourism, Canadian rocker Bryan Adams became the first international artist to perform in the Himalayan Republic—it was a sign of the changing times. Two months after the concert, Nepal is hosting the first International Tattoo Convention. 

 

Mohan Gurung, the brain behind the convention, says he wants to make the first international convention a forum where local and international artists and tattoo enthusiasts can interact and interpret tattoos as an art form and not just some abstract tad. Amid sounds of punk and metal music, local and international tattoo artists from the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Germany, Thailand, India and the United States along with tattoo aficionados, converged for an ink feast. In the 97 indoor stalls, artists displayed their artwork in booklets as enthusiasts browsed the stalls and interested souls surrendered their skin. And though tattoo was the theme, the motives among participants diverged.

 

For Puskar Thapa, 20, a student, inking his name on his left wrist, resonates pop culture influence for his decision. For the 70-year-old Guinness Rishi from India, his motive is to “spread the message of world peace.” A Guinness World Record holder, his body exhibits tattoos of 305 flags of different countries, 185 maps and has 2,985 characters. He wants to add 30 more flags in Nepal. Contrary to this, for Yasramiya Chaudhary of western Nepal, it’s all about tradition. The 66-year-old was first tattooed at the age of 20 because it was mandatory in her tribe to get inked before marriage.

“Otherwise, my in-laws wouldn’t eat anything I cooked,” says Chaudhary whose hands, feet and chest is inked with tribal art. 

 

Tattoos, in Nepal, though have had a radical branding despite it being a part of some ethnic cultures.  The branding represented being a part of ‘the free love’ ideology made popular by the hippies who strolled Freak Street, a hippie hub of Kathmandu during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Locals did not want to associate themselves with it and scorned the art form on the whole. Another reason for resentment towards a tattooed person in the past was, culturally only people from lower castes decorated their bodies with stars and moons with a belief that once their soul left their body they would be able to recognize them in heaven.

 

But, tattoos, today are now becoming “an acceptable ‘art’ form,” explains Gurung, a senior tattoo artist and also one of the organizers of the convention.

 

Marcus Blachny, a German tattoo artist, shares a similar notion as he sits at Mohan’s Tattoo Inn three days before the convention. For him, his trip to Kathmandu is to “exchange ideas and know about Nepali art” for the artist’s interest lies in Asian art. Gurung says it’s the Nepali art and culture depicted in the form of Hindu gods and goddesses or scriptures that has helped Nepal to garner support for tattoos.

 

 “The underground scene has now transformed into a mainstream business,” Gurung says amid a background of metal music in his studio, 'Mohan’s Tattoo Inn' in the tourist district of Thamel.  Established 12 years ago, one of the oldest tattoo parlors in town, now sees a diverse groups of people - from tourists to college students and even professionals. Gurung’s appointments have an eight-month waiting list. 

 

In the capital, the burgeoning tattoo parlors—around 30 that concentrate between Thamel and Freak Street— also testify that inking human skin can be adapted as a profession now. Mathema, who didn’t have a “good relation” with his family over his choice of profession once, says the changing trend is a positive indicator.

   

“However, the new generation of artists are just imitating,” says  Mathema who recently opened his tattoo parlor, 'Ujo Tattoo'  in Freak Street. “There’s moving money but they’re not focusing on hygiene, quality and environment.”

 

Mathema says he wants to set a standard. His education on art of tattoo making in Australia along with professional experience in Thailand, Mumbai and Dubai reflects in his tattoo parlor: a narrow lane of an old house opens into a new structure, which is cleaner and looks more professional with proper equipment than others in the vicinity. At the convention too, he was one of the few artists who covered his mouth with a mask. He thinks “it’s a must.”

 

With the increase in the inking business, the fashion for tattoos has tainted its true colors; it’s fueled by pop culture to “look cool.” But for tattooists Mathema and Gurung, “tattoos aren’t just tattoos.”

“I have a relationship with my tattoos,” Gurung says of his 25 permanent body art. “It’s a collection of memories,” he says explaining his bodily canvas of art dedicated to his wife, children, friends and traveling experiences.

 

However, cultural commentator Anil Chitrakar looks at the post-flower power generation getting a tattoo to be different.

 

“They make tattoos to be different—for a separate identity,” he says.

For Shah too, she wants her first tattoo be to “special and different” for she wants it to be one of its kind. “But for me, it’s also about the art and the feelings associated with it. I’ll always have my first tattoo associated with this event [the first international tattoo convention] in Nepal and in some way be a part of an interesting history.”