A coworker of mine has had his mind on tattoos a lot lately and he's been doing some research into different cultural expressions through ink. Particularly Russian mafia tattoos. For anyone who has seen Eastern Promises, you will be familiar with some of this. It's a really interesting way of tattooing where the art tells the story of the person's life. Even the placement on the body carries a level of importance. The spires on a building represent the number of prison stays, a spider in a web means you're an addict, a cat means you're a thief. It goes on and on. There are also shaming tattoos put on the forearm, being more visible, that will describe something 'treacherous', like child rape or homosexuality. I like the thought that a tattoo isn't just an image the someone likes, but is rather a kind of log of the things done in your life.