Maiztro

The corn tattoo. Before I started researching artists to give me my tattoo, I had always assumed that people got tattoos for themselves. Because whatever image it was that they had decided to have etched under their skin until their dying days was something important to them. I was wrong. The more I looked through the hundreds of different artists' work, the more I realized that most people get tattoos for everyone else except themselves. Like a new pair of $300 jeans, they get what they think everyone else will like. I realized that all the tattoos I saw looked increasingly similar. Sure, there were gender divides; girls get stars, or birds, or flowers while guys get skulls, or some sort of ferocious animal. And then there are the tattoos that everyone gets like Chinese characters or tribal designs, but soon I was shocked to realize that although it was always right there in front of me, I had never really noticed how narrow a spectrum of images are used for tattoos.

Going back a few years now, I started reading gardening and botany textbooks before I joined the Peace Corps. The more I prepared for my approaching immersion into agricultural life, I increasingly found myself really drawn to the botanical images of vegetable producing plants, especially those sketched in an austere black and white.

I had been thinking of getting a tattoo for years, but it was always really important to me that I choose something I could justify having on my body permanently. Once I settled on the idea of a botanical sketch, because of my years spent working professionally in restaurant kitchens I next decided that I wanted some sort of food. After that, it was only a matter of time before I decided on corn because of the close connection with Latin America that had I had made over the last six years.

Not only is corn the most important staple in Latin American diets and an integral part of the culture, it is also one of the first crops man domesticated, and its roots are in South and Central America. This is the third reason I chose the ear of corn for my tattoo. Although I am still very much a novice at agriculture, I am certain that it is something I will continue to pursue knowledge in and integrate into my own existence for the rest of my life.

I need to go back to the beginning of all this in order to illustrate a very interesting observation I've made since I got this tattoo almost two months ago. Tattoos have a negative connotation assigned to them in our society, especially amongst older generations. One of the most remarkable experiences I have had since getting this tattoo of an ear of corn on my arm, is that people in their fifties, sixties, and seventies approach me and comment on how much they like my tattoo. Which makes me think that if people started to think just a little outside the box about what we consider artistically appropriate to have as tattoos, or maybe if we just got what we really wanted and not what we thought fashionable, that the negative opinions of tattoos and the stereotypes that come along for those who have them, would quickly erode away.