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Wall Street Journal
14 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Wall Street Journal
‘Dinner With King Tut' Review: The Taste of Ancient Egypt
The science writer Sam Kean's all-in approach to research is evident not only from the ink on the pages of his books but from the ink on his skin. In 'Dinner With King Tut: How Rogue Archaeologists Are Re-creating the Sights, Sounds, Smells, and Tastes of Lost Civilizations,' Mr. Kean spends time with various specialists devoted to understanding the lives of our distant ancestors. In the course of his travels, he makes stone tools, tans leather, mummifies a fish and renders seal blubber into oil. The depth of the writer's commitment is tested when he meets with a Southern Californian tattooist proficient in ancient methods of body art. While he is, in his own words, 'not a tattoo guy,' the author feels obligated to submit to the artist's needle, settling on a small asterisk on his thigh. 'Given how universal tattooing was in prehistory, I realized I'd always have a gap in my understanding of life unless I sucked it up and got a hand-poked tattoo myself,' he writes, referring to the manual method some experts believe was used to ink Ötzi, a 5,300-year-old mummy discovered in the Alps. Traditional archaeology holds little appeal for Mr. Kean. He recalls time spent at archaeological digs, where he observed practitioners meticulously sifting through dirt, as 'such a letdown, the most godawful tedium I could imagine.' He's instead drawn to the burgeoning subfield of experimental archaeology (also known as experiential or living archaeology), whose adherents attempt to accurately replicate elements of ancient people's lives. Each chapter of this lively book covers a specific time and place, beginning 75,000 years ago on the African savanna and concluding with 16th-century Mexico. Stops along the way include ancient Egypt, Imperial Rome, Viking Europe and medieval China. Each chapter presents an overview of life during the period and introduces the experimental archaeologists Mr. Kean meets in his travels. (Some, it should be said, aren't technically archaeologists but are, in the author's fond description, 'screwball enthusiasts.')
Scottish Sun
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
I never have to buy clothes as I've got them tattooed on & love it but trolls totally disagree
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A TATTOO can sometimes make or break a look. While they sometimes act as the perfect accessory, they can also detract from an outfit. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 3 Nein is virtually covered in tattoos from head to toe, and trolls aren't too keen Credit: TikTok/alwaysnein 3 But she insisted she never has to buy any new clothes, because her inkings act as her outfit Credit: TikTok/alwaysnein 3 She then turned around to show that the etchings continued on her back too Credit: TikTok/alwaysnein And despite the fact some people reckon Nein's vast array of inkings do just that, she completely disagrees. In fact, she never has any need to buy any new clothes, as her etchings act as her ensembles. In a video on TikTok, the stunning blonde insisted "tattoos are my favourite outfit" as she posed in a barely-there black crop top and low slung jeans. The clip began with her looking at the camera, smiling coyly as she showed off her vast display of tattoos. As well as intricate designs on her shoulders and stomach, both of her arms were covered in blackout tattoos. Nein then moved away from the camera slightly and turned around, to show a whole load more inkings on her back. But people in the comments section were almost instantly divided as they weighed in on the woman's unique look. With many taking aim at the blackout tattoos on her arms specifically. "Ow hell nah," one raged. "Just no..." another said. I looked like a Monsters Inc character after disastrous lipstick tattoo "I will never understand why people want black out tattoos," a third commented. "I didn't realise they were tattoos on your arms," someone else added. "Will never understand tatts that are basically only black," another said. "In my opinion I don't like the tattoos on your arms but your back tattoos look actually sick," someone else said. However, others defended Nein, with one insisting: "I genuinely don't get the hate! "Girl your tattoos are beautiful and match you so well." The ink-redible ancient history of body art Scientists have discovered the world's oldest tattoos on the arm of a 5,000-year-old Egyptian mummy on display at the British Museum. The mummy, known as Gebelein Man A, pushes back evidence of figurative tattoos by 1,000 years. The oldest tattoos were once thought to belong to a South American Chinchorro mummy who had a moustache-like design inked on his face. It was initially thought he died in 4,000BC but in 2015 researchers found he is in fact younger than 5,200-year-old frozen mummy Ötzi the Iceman. Ötzi was found by walkers preserved in a glacier on the Italy-Austria border in 1991. Imaging using various wavelengths revealed a total of 61 tattoos: Geometric designs of dots, crosses and parallel lines. Ötzi would have done lots of walking im the Alps and it is thought the tattoos may have been a kind of acupuncture to ease joint pains. There is evidence of tattooing on mummies found in the Taklamakan Desert in China dating from 1,200 BC. Modern tattoos of the kind sported by David Beckham are thought to have developed in Polynesian cultures over centuries. The name comes from the phrase tatatau, meaning to hit or strike, which the British sailor James Cook heard when he reached Tahiti in 1769. "I guess the algorithm chose this TikTok to be rage bait for tattoo haters," another said. To which Nein replied: "I can take it, I love my tattoos haha!" And when someone else asked how long her tattoos took, she revealed the left arm took "six hours straight", while the right arm took two sessions of three to four hours each. "I never understood people who hate tattoos (on other people), I know exactly what tattoos I want and will have two sleeves!" another wrote. "Your tattoos make a whole outfit and I LOVE it!!!" someone else insisted. As another said: "My mum says her tattoos are her forever accessories!"
The Sun
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
I never have to buy clothes as I've got them tattooed on & love it but trolls totally disagree
A TATTOO can sometimes make or break a look. While they sometimes act as the perfect accessory, they can also detract from an outfit. 3 3 3 And despite the fact some people reckon Nein's vast array of inkings do just that, she completely disagrees. In fact, she never has any need to buy any new clothes, as her etchings act as her ensembles. In a video on TikTok, the stunning blonde insisted "tattoos are my favourite outfit" as she posed in a barely-there black crop top and low slung jeans. The clip began with her looking at the camera, smiling coyly as she showed off her vast display of tattoos. As well as intricate designs on her shoulders and stomach, both of her arms were covered in blackout tattoos. Nein then moved away from the camera slightly and turned around, to show a whole load more inkings on her back. But people in the comments section were almost instantly divided as they weighed in on the woman's unique look. With many taking aim at the blackout tattoos on her arms specifically. "Ow hell nah," one raged. "Just no..." another said. I looked like a Monsters Inc character after disastrous lipstick tattoo "I will never understand why people want black out tattoos," a third commented. "I didn't realise they were tattoos on your arms," someone else added. "Will never understand tatts that are basically only black," another said. "In my opinion I don't like the tattoos on your arms but your back tattoos look actually sick," someone else said. However, others defended Nein, with one insisting: "I genuinely don't get the hate! "Girl your tattoos are beautiful and match you so well." The ink-redible ancient history of body art Scientists have discovered the world's oldest tattoos on the arm of a 5,000-year-old Egyptian mummy on display at the British Museum. The mummy, known as Gebelein Man A, pushes back evidence of figurative tattoos by 1,000 years. The oldest tattoos were once thought to belong to a South American Chinchorro mummy who had a moustache-like design inked on his face. It was initially thought he died in 4,000BC but in 2015 researchers found he is in fact younger than 5,200-year-old frozen mummy Ötzi the Iceman. Ötzi was found by walkers preserved in a glacier on the Italy-Austria border in 1991. Imaging using various wavelengths revealed a total of 61 tattoos: Geometric designs of dots, crosses and parallel lines. Ötzi would have done lots of walking im the Alps and it is thought the tattoos may have been a kind of acupuncture to ease joint pains. There is evidence of tattooing on mummies found in the Taklamakan Desert in China dating from 1,200 BC. Modern tattoos of the kind sported by David Beckham are thought to have developed in Polynesian cultures over centuries. The name comes from the phrase tatatau, meaning to hit or strike, which the British sailor James Cook heard when he reached Tahiti in 1769. "I guess the algorithm chose this TikTok to be rage bait for tattoo haters," another said. To which Nein replied: "I can take it, I love my tattoos haha!" And when someone else asked how long her tattoos took, she revealed the left arm took "six hours straight", while the right arm took two sessions of three to four hours each. "I never understood people who hate tattoos (on other people), I know exactly what tattoos I want and will have two sleeves!" another wrote. "Your tattoos make a whole outfit and I LOVE it!!!" someone else insisted.
The Irish Sun
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
I never have to buy clothes as I've got them tattooed on & love it but trolls totally disagree
A TATTOO can sometimes make or break a look. While they sometimes act as the perfect accessory, they can also detract from an outfit. 3 Nein is virtually covered in tattoos from head to toe, and trolls aren't too keen Credit: TikTok/alwaysnein 3 But she insisted she never has to buy any new clothes, because her inkings act as her outfit Credit: TikTok/alwaysnein 3 She then turned around to show that the etchings continued on her back too Credit: TikTok/alwaysnein And despite the fact some people reckon Nein's vast array of inkings do just that, she completely disagrees. In fact, she never has any need to buy any new clothes, as her etchings act as her ensembles. In a The clip began with her looking at the camera, smiling coyly as she showed off her vast display of tattoos. Read more Tattoo stories As well as intricate designs on her shoulders and stomach, both of her arms were covered in blackout tattoos. Nein then moved away from the camera slightly and turned around, to show a whole load more inkings on her back. But people in the comments section were almost instantly divided as they weighed in on the woman's unique look. With many taking aim at the blackout tattoos on her arms specifically. Most read in Fabulous "Ow hell nah," one raged. "Just no..." another said. I looked like a Monsters Inc character after disastrous lipstick tattoo "I will never understand why people want black out tattoos," a third commented. "I didn't realise they were tattoos on your arms," someone else added. "Will never understand tatts that are basically only black," another said. "In my opinion I don't like the tattoos on your arms but your back tattoos look actually sick," someone else said. However, others defended Nein, with one insisting: "I genuinely don't get the hate! "Girl your tattoos are beautiful and match you so well." The ink-redible ancient history of body art Scientists have discovered the world's oldest tattoos on the arm of a 5,000-year-old Egyptian mummy on display at the British Museum. The mummy, known as Gebelein Man A, pushes back evidence of figurative tattoos by 1,000 years. The oldest tattoos were once thought to belong to a South American Chinchorro mummy who had a moustache-like design inked on his face. It was initially thought he died in 4,000BC but in 2015 researchers found he is in fact younger than 5,200-year-old frozen mummy Ötzi the Iceman. Ötzi was found by walkers preserved in a glacier on the Italy-Austria border in 1991. Imaging using various wavelengths revealed a total of 61 tattoos: Geometric designs of dots, crosses and parallel lines. Ötzi would have done lots of walking im the Alps and it is thought the tattoos may have been a kind of acupuncture to ease joint pains. There is evidence of tattooing on mummies found in the Taklamakan Desert in China dating from 1,200 BC. Modern tattoos of the kind sported by David Beckham are thought to have developed in Polynesian cultures over centuries. The name comes from the phrase tatatau, meaning to hit or strike, which the British sailor James Cook heard when he reached Tahiti in 1769. "I guess the algorithm chose this TikTok to be rage bait for tattoo haters," another said. To which Nein replied: "I can take it, I love my tattoos haha!" And when someone else asked how long her tattoos took, she revealed the left arm took "six hours straight", while the right arm took two sessions of three to four hours each. "I never understood people who hate tattoos (on other people), I know exactly what tattoos I want and will have two sleeves!" another wrote. "Your tattoos make a whole outfit and I LOVE it!!!" someone else insisted. As another said: "My mum says her tattoos are her forever accessories!"
The Guardian
30-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Want a limited edition artwork tattooed on your skin? Berlin is the place to go
It may be the oldest art form in the world, practised 5,000 years ago by Ötzi the iceman and his fellow copper age Europeans. But with its more recent associations with red-light entertainment and gangland crime, modern tattooing has long been shunned by the galleries that turn lines on canvas into financial assets. A new initiative in Berlin concedes that the tables have turned. With tattoo studios in the German capital booming but many artists struggling to make a living, the Works on Skin project specialises in selling works by established and emerging contemporary artists that are not to be hung on a wall but to be etched on the human body. 'The art market has frozen up and many studios are suffering,' said the scheme's initiator, Holm Friebe. 'So we tried to think about how we can unlock new fields for artistic practitioners and thus repair a broken market.' Via its website, Works on Skin sells artwork in numbered limited editions of 100, initially for €100 each but reaching up to €2,000 for the last remaining numbers. With their purchase, buyers acquire a signed fine-art print of the artwork and a certificate that gives them the one-off right to have it tattooed on their skin, thus 'realising' an artwork that until that point is considered 'work in limbo'. Instead of familiar designs such as swallows, butterflies or Samoan tribal patterns, customers can grace their skin with a drawing of the old sound system at the nightclub Berghain by artist Andreas Hachulla, or a faux-naïf neon doodle of a wine-drinking woman by Anna Nezhnaya or a sketch of a female clown by concept art duo Eva & Adele. While most works can be placed anywhere on the body at any size, others come with specific instructions. Pop artist Jim Avignon's cartoonish humanoid flame has to be placed in such a way as to ensure 'that a muscle underneath moves the fire', while Via Lewandowsky's planet-blue dot must be scaled to the buyer's height to represent the size ratio of the sun to the Earth, thus highlighting 'the marginality of human existence in the universe'. 'We are doing something very new and at the same time very old,' said Friebe, a trained economist and nonfiction author. 'Because art on skin was the beginning of art history – before work on stone, wood, canvas or paper.' With 150 editions sold since the launch of Works on Skin last summer, a new set of designs will be released on 17 April. The initiative is being received with a healthy degree of scepticism in the world of tattooing proper. Fatih Köker set up Berlin-based tattoo studio Noia in 2015, recruiting many artists who were schooled at prestigious German art academies. Unlike the artists represented by Works on Skin, however, those working at Noia do not just create the designs but are also able to do the tattooing themselves. 'It's quite funny to see how things change,' said Köker. 'We were ignored by the art world for ages, and now they are trying to play at our game.' Traditionally, tattoo artists are approached directly by their clients, without an agency as a go-between taking a cut of their earnings. Works on Skin, by contrast, takes a 50% cut, paying out profits every three months. 'Our whole idea is to offer artist studios long-term and sustainable income streams,' said Friebe. There is also the thorny question of copyright. The certificates issued by Works on Skin stipulate that while the work can, in principle, be passed on to another possessor when the current human canvas dies, there can 'only ever exist one valid version'. Such notions of exclusivity appear to sit awkwardly with the conventions of what art historian Matt Lodder calls a 'magpie art'. 'Tattooists have long been copying and adapting works of fine art,' said Lodder, a senior lecturer at the University of Essex and author of Tattoos: the Untold History of a Modern Art. 'In 1890s London, for example, what people often wanted on their bodies were copies of fine-art prints.' Until now, the law has mostly been on tattooists' side. In January 2024, a court in Los Angeles sided with tattoo artist Kat Von D in a dispute over whether her tattoo of jazz musician Miles Davis had violated the copyright of the photographer on whose image it was based. 'The thing with copyright infringements in tattooing is that they are hard to remedy anyway,' said Lodder. 'You can't force someone to remove a tattoo off their body.' What if someone were to simply get a tattoo based on the images on Works on Skin's website without paying the €100 or more to acquire the certificate of authenticity? Friebe would be fine with that. 'Go ahead,' he said. 'But then you would be looking at a tattoo tribute, not an artwork in its own right.' Established tattooists should not worry that artist studios are about to steal their clients, Friebe believes. 'We respect tattooists, but ultimately we work in different fields,' he said. 'We sell tattoos by artists who don't usually make tattoos to people who don't usually have tattoos.'
