Tattoos And The Skin They Were Etched On Analysis

As I’ve done the reading for this week on tattoos and piercings, I was eager to learn more about tattoos in my native country. After a quick Google search with the key words: tattoo, culture and Romania, the following Vice article populated as the first result option with the title, “Here's a Collection of 19th-Century Romanian Tattoos and the Skin They Were Etched On” by Mihai Popescu. The title caught my attention, not just because it claims to be a historical approach on tattoos in Romania, but also because it reminded me of last week’s class discussion on what kind of body parts people preserve, since the second part of the title suggests that the actual pieces of skin that the tattoos were etched is part of the collection; in other words it isn’t just a collection of images but also a collection of the actual skins that bear the tattoos. As if the title of the article wasn’t enough to catch my attention, as I started reading it, I realized that the collector of the taboo-like collection of tattoo skins of “illiterate male delinquents” of Romanians and foreigners, was no other but, my cousin’s husband’s great-uncle, Nicolae Minovici.
Nicolae Minovici and his brother Mina Minovici were forensic scientists and founders of …show more content…
Minovici was considered a gutsy pioneer who dealt with the dark side of society, a theme that fascinated both the local and the international press at the time." I find this collection intriguing, not just because it belongs to a very distant, non-blood related relative, but also because the believed that the life-choices of the illiterate male citizen of the 19th century Romania, could be understood through his choice of tattoo. I am not sure how convinced I am that a choice made in a certain moment can pin-point to the roots of one’s behavior and