Olive Oatman, 1858. She was the first tattooed white woman in the U.S.
After her family was killed by Yavapais Indians, on a trip West in the
eighteen-fifties, she was adopted and raised by Mohave Indians, who gave
her a traditional tribal tattoo. When she was ransomed back, at age
nineteen, she became a celebrity. Photograph courtesy of the Arizona
Historical Society, Tucson, 1927.
Maud Wagner, the first known female tattooist in the U.S., 1911. In
1907, she traded a date with her husband-to-be for tattoo lessons. Their
daughter, Lotteva Wagner, was also a tattooist. Photograph courtesy of
the author.
From the book
“Bodies of Subversion: A Secret History of Women and Tattoo,” by Margot Mifflin, published by PowerHouse Books.
Excuse the white stripes, please! It was a bit tricky getting rid of the New Yorker's hyperlinks.
ReplyDeleteReally cool women.
ReplyDeleteThese days, tattoos go hand in hand with S & M in this country, and piercings go with that as well. When I was a young kid in rural Surrey, a very old tattooed Maori woman got on the school bus every day - that was a real novelty. Christ knows how she ended up in Surrey.
ReplyDeleteThat is such a splendid image Tom!
ReplyDeleteOlive Oatman's tattoo is uncannily similar to the kuia's moko, really interesting, methinks.
And as for the tattoo on Maud Wagner's breast of the woman riding a lion ... side saddle. Mmm.
Yes MF, cool women. If you follow the link you will find pictures of a woman in her seventies or eighties who was tattooed back in the old, freak show days. Looking at her skin is like looking like an old animal - and this is interesting too. She is like an old seal/bear/lion. Maybe that is why we find it so discomforting?
And the prevailing 'first white woman' narrative is interesting too ...
ReplyDelete