Tattoo Artists as Religious Figures

JOURNAL for the SCIENTIFIC STUDY of RELIGION Tattoo Artists as Religious Figures Gustavo Morello SJ Sociology Department Boston College Tiago Franco De Paula Sociology Department Boston College If tattoos have a religious function, tattooists play a role in crafting a spiritual object. Hence, we explore the religious function of the tattooist and how tattooists deal with religion in their work. We used a “Lived Religion” approach that focuses on religious practices instead of religious organizations, because neither tattooists nor tattoo parlors are religiously legitimized figures or institutions. We collected data from tattooists from five different countries, with 23 semistructured interviews, 110 photos, and 4 video clips. After doing a content analysis of the interviews, and a denotative analysis of the photos and videos, we found that tattooists are aware of the religious overtones of their work. They understand themselves as figures that perform spiritual tasks. We also verified that tattoo parlors are spaces of religious negotiation, where tattooists, tattooed, and other actors exercise power. Finally, we established that a religious tattoo is the result of the negotiation among the actors involved, and that tattooists play a role as religious authorities. Keywords: tattoo, tattooist, Lived Religion, religious figures, embodiment. Introduction In recent years, there has been an increase in studies about religious tattoos (Barras and Saris 2021; Brac de la Perriére 2017; Dougherty and Koch 2019; Ibarra 2021; Kloss 2022; MaldonadoEstrada 2020; Maloney and Koch 2019; Morello 2021a; Morello et al. 2021; Yllescas 2018). Tattoos are signs of supernatural beliefs (Ganter 2006), convey spiritual meaning (Johnson 2006), marks of commitments and religious callings (Koch and Roberts 2012), a body record of overcoming difficult situations (Tokarski 2016), and commemorations of the departed (Davidson 2016; Heessels, Poots, and Venbrux 2015). They are reminders of foundational experiences; encounters with, a commitment to, or an attempt to get closer to something sacred (Firmin et al. 2008). These studies tell us that some people practice religion through tattoos. As a consequence, if tattoos have religious functions, tattooists have a role as someone crafting a spiritual object (Foemmel E. 2009; Johnson 2006; Lane 2014; Tsou-Pin Chen 2019). In this article, we focus on tattooists and their role in producing a religious tattoo. Are they doing religion? If so, in which ways? How do they understand the religious overtones of their work? Acknowledgments: We are grateful to Jocelyn Boudreau, Natalie Cho, Calvin Czapko, Jack Engelmann, Yuchen Gu, Mary Martin, Thomas Matulis, and Nicole Moeder for their work, and to Boston College’s program of Undergraduate Research Fellows for the funding of these students’ research assistant positions, and to our colleague Eve Spangler for her suggestions and insights. Correspondence should be addressed to Gustavo Morello SJ, Sociology Department, Boston College, McGuinn 422 140 Commonwealth Ave. E-mail [email protected] Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (2024) 00(0):1–20 © 2024 The Authors. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. JOURNAL FOR THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF RELIGION The Tattooists’ Labor In ancient societies (in Europe and the Americas), tattoos were made by skillful individuals who were, most probably, performing a religious deed (Krutak 2015). Later, tattooing became a part-time activity and, at the end of the 19th century, a full-time profession. With the increasing popularity of tattoos and the technological improvement of the tools, many tattooists started to understand their work as art (de Oliveira 2016; Ferreira 2008; Walzer Moskovic 2015). Tattooing, as a full-time profession associated with creativity, is a recent development. The increasing identification of tattooing as art (Kosut 2014; Rees 2022) triggered a tension in the field between being a creative tattooist and someone who just copies a design or merely answers clients’ requirements (Serup, Kluger, and Bäumler 2015). Tattooists have to navigate between artistic freedom and clients’ expectations (Martin 2018; Resenhoeft, Villa, and Wiseman 2008). In tattooing, the canvas is a person with opinions, tastes, and personal choices (Sizer 2020). The artification of tattooing, and therefore the incorporation of the client’s ideas and desires in the process, has transformed the relationship between tattooists and clients: as tattooing has become more personal. More tattooists describe their job as emotional labor (Steckdaub-Muller 2018). For tattooists, creating a welcoming experience for their clients is key (Modesti 2008). They need to craft the right balance of artistic atmosphere, tattoo culture, and hygiene. Starting in the 1990s, medical aesthetics became a new clientele requirement, competing with the traditional aura of the tattoo shop as a marginal place (Costa 2004). Many times, tattooists have to deal with the religious requirements of their clients. When working on religious tattoos, tattooists perform a spiritual process upon their clients by allowing them to make visible a group affiliation, a spiritual experience, to mourn or engage in a healing path (Tsou-Pin Chen 2019). However, since they have control over the design, execution, placement, and size of the tattoo, tattooing is a locus of power struggle (Barras and Saris 2021). The studio is then a location where tattooists can make a living, and get trained; pour out artistic ideas, intimate convictions, and personal experiences; and even connect with a suprahuman power (Serup, Kluger, and Bäumler 2015). These functions and expectations make the parlor a locus of tensions: between the need for a profit to make a living for the artists and the tattooists’ artistic creativity; between expressions of personal freedom and legal restrictions, mostly in three areas: age requirements, hygiene standards, and copyright issues (Minahan 2015; Raymond, Halcón, and Pirie 2003). In addition, for many female tattooists (and clients), it might be a place of gender discrimination (Alves Roberto 2019; Atkinson 2002). Religious tattooing happens in that context. Since tattooists (and parlors) are involved in the process of religious tattooing, we wanted to study them as religious figures (and spaces). Because neither tattooists nor parlors are religiously legitimized figures or institutions, we need a way of looking at religion that allows us to incorporate “unchurched” religious figures into the analysis. Lived Religion and Tattoos as Religious Practices We found the “Lived Religion” approach a useful framework since it pays more attention to religious practices (what regular people do when they do religion) than institutional prescriptions (what the religious organizations require their members to do) (Ammerman 2021; McGuire 2008; Pereira Arenas and Morello 2022). Ammerman (2021) starts by sorting out the elements of a religious practice. She explains that, as with any other human practice, religious practices include materiality, embodiment, emotions, moral judgment, aesthetics, and narratives, but that the distinguishing feature is the intention to connect with something other than this world. That intention can be explicit or implicit, the subject can state that or it can be read as such in a given context. 14685906, 0, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jssr.12910 by Boston College, Wiley Online Library on [02/04/2024]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License 2 3 As much as the intention of the practitioner, the social context can indicate that a practice is religious. While the Lived Religion perspective emphasizes the agency of the actors to produce and express religious meaning, it also understands that religious activities are socially constructed. People express themselves through practices informed by both institutional and popular traditions they have at hand. Religious tattoos do not happen in a religious vacuum, but in a specific religious milieux. Neither are they conditioned only by religious traditions: Other elements like popular culture, available technology, and economic cost influence tattoos. The Lived Religion approach studies practices individuals perform beyond the religious mandates, in a concrete historical context. Within this approach, Morello (2021b) explains that religion is an ongoing human relation with a suprahuman reality. The activities, objects, spaces, and emotions involved in that connection are part of the religious experience. Because religion is understood as an ongoing human relationship with a suprahuman power, any person who intervenes (fostering or preventing) that connection may become a religious figure. Although not thoroughly explored, researchers have paid attention to the religious role of nonreligious figures. They have registered that family members, friends and acquaintances, and social networks communicate, challenge, and recommend practices that subjects incorporate into their ordinary religious repertoire (Morello 2021b; Rabbia et al. 2019). Therefore, the Lived Religion approach opens up our consideration of religious nonspecialists (that is persons who have not been trained or approved as religious ministers in any religious tradition), as producers of religion (Morello 2019; Pérez-Vela 2023). The literature reviewed mentioned an exercise of authority in the tattoo shop (Barras and Saris 2021), therefore we shall not assume that nonspecialist equals nonauthority. Since religious authority is present in alternative spirituality groups (Altglas 2018; Di Placido 2022), and popular celebrations (Maldonado-Estrada 2020), it might be also present at the tattoo parlor. Sample and Data Collection While we have seen in the introduction that some tattoos are religious practices, we barely know about the role tattooists play in that practice (Barras and Saris 2021). To explore that, we looked for tattooists who identify their work as religious or spiritual. Following the Lived Religion approach, we assumed that by portraying it in that way, they either knew the intention of their clients or interpreted that in the social context where they worked. We agree with Ammerman (2013) that the spiritual/religious distinction is a moral boundary, one that separates “us” from “them.” Both categories mention a connection with “something beyond this world” (the relational aspect Morello 2021b highlighted), but “spiritual” emphasizes a distance from religious organizations and, to some extent, a level of independence that “religion” does not. Here, we looked at tattooists who labeled their work spiritual or religious, not so much to explore the boundary, but to assess the tattooist’s role in the context of carving a tattoo that (they understood) connects the client with something suprahuman and is therefore a religious practice. In any case, we approached tattooists with the idea that a religious tattoo was not only limited to an explicitly religious one (like images from Hindu, Christian, or any other institutional tradition) but also one that a client may have gotten for religious reasons (Morello 2021a). However, we kept our category open to whatever tattooists understood and labeled (in their social media accounts) as “religious” or “spiritual.” We may have missed tattooists who do not sort their work in this way, and others who characterized tattoos under other labels (like “flowers” or “nature”) that may have had religious significance. 14685906, 0, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jssr.12910 by Boston College, Wiley Online Library on [02/04/2024]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License TATTOO ARTISTS AS RELIGIOUS FIGURES JOURNAL FOR THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF RELIGION Figure 1 Antonio Moura’s Instagram account. He uses “Religious” as a term to describe some of the jobs he has done [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com] Researchers started recruiting and training a group of undergraduate students1 who, after being trained to do interviews, certified to work with human subjects, and getting the Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval, reached out to tattoo artists who showcased, in their social networks or webpage profiles, tattoos they deemed religious or spiritual: traditional religious in the local culture (Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Santero, Christian, and Satanist images), or that they labeled as spirituals (spiritual geometry, neo-Nordic spiritual, healing designs or similar material). The research team built, from webpages (like https://www.cxxiiapparel.com/blogs/cxxiiblog/christian-tattoo-artists), Instagram (see Figure 1), Facebook, and Yelp profiles, a database of 167 tattooists who spoke English, Spanish, or Portuguese (languages the team members were fluent in). Then, they reached out to them through emails and text messages (WhatsApp and Instagram). The team started contacting tattooists in September 2021, and at that point, it was difficult to get an answer at all. It seems that after the COVID shut-downs, clients who were postponing their tattoos rushed into the parlors. Between December 2021 and August 2022, a total of 30 tattooists 1 All have taken sociology and methodology classes at that point, and some have already participated in other research projects. 14685906, 0, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jssr.12910 by Boston College, Wiley Online Library on [02/04/2024]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License 4 5 Table 1: Sample demographics Religious Self-Identification Catholic Unaffiliated Eastern Orth Other Protestant 8 8 3 3 1 Generation X ’65–80 M ‘81–95 Z ‘96–10 8 11 4 Time as tattooist 0–5 6–10 11-< 6 3 14 Ethnicity Black Latino White Middle Eastern and North African descent (MENA) 1 6 14 2 Note: N = 23. completed the online consent form, but only 23 did the interview. We allowed them to pick a pseudonym, their artistic alias, or their name. Interviews were conducted mostly orally (online and in person) but three artists responded to the questionnaire by email. The interviews lasted an average of 30 minutes and were conducted by six different researchers. In total, we interviewed 19 tattooists in the United States (working in the metropolitan areas of California, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Missouri, and New York) and one from each country: Israel, Palestine, Spain, and Italy. The team interviewed 7 females and 16 males. All the interviews but two (in Spanish and Portuguese) were conducted in English. One interview used an Italian translator. Regarding religious affiliation, eight interviewees identified as Catholics, one as Protestant, three as Eastern Orthodox, eight as unaffiliated, and one as Jewish, Santeria, and New Age. Only two artists, one in New York State, and another one in Spain, did only religious/spiritual tattoos. Three other tattooists (in Italy, Israel, and Palestine) did tattoos related to pilgrimage sites (Loreto, Jerusalem, Bethlehem). In terms of age, 8 were “GenX,” 11 were millennials, and 4 were “GenZ.” Six artists have been tattooing for 0 to 5 years (one was just starting), 3 for 6 to 10 years, and 14 for more than 11 years (one was retired). In terms of ethnicity, 1 artist was Black, 6 Latino/Hispanic, 14 were White, and 2 from Middle Eastern and North African descent. The team interviewed 1 nonbinary, 6 female, and 16 male tattooists (see Table 1). We got 110 photos and 4 video clips from 17 artists (see Table 2). Some researchers took photos during the fieldwork, some tattooists sent us pictures of their religious/spiritual work, and we also recovered some other pictures with screen captures from tattooists’ public Instagram account 14685906, 0, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jssr.12910 by Boston College, Wiley Online Library on [02/04/2024]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License TATTOO ARTISTS AS RELIGIOUS FIGURES JOURNAL FOR THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF RELIGION Table 2: Visual data collected Photos Screen capture Videos 76 34 4 feeds, that were labeled “religious,” “spiritual,” “sacred images,” or similar. Each researcher got a set of printed copies and coded them. Following Bargain-Garrigues and Morello (2023), we explored the participant-produced visual data and analyzed the kind of information can be retrieved from such a visual database without using the verbatim accounts that accompany it. To build a critical discipline of looking, we kept in mind particular contexts of production (i.e., images produced for the artists’ social media accounts), genres, and our interpretations. First, we attempted to “read” the pictures with no preconceived idea about what they represented; then, we conducted successive and separate waves of manual analysis of the images and ended up with an agreement that is reflected in this article. Analysis Coding the transcripts, photos, and video clips, we identified three moments in the production of the religious tattoo: the relation between the tattooist and the clients (here we explored the setting of the parlor and the selection by the clients); the process of tattooing itself (focusing on the preparation, the intimacy and spiritual overtones of the moment, and the handling of the pain involved), and finally, the tattooists’ assessment of religious tattoos (that is how they asses their creations and understand the effects they may have in the clients). The Relationship with the Client Here, we explore strategies tattooists put in place to select potential clients and the relationships they establish with them. The Parlor Artists take care to build a welcoming ambiance in their studios. Zoey Taylor does everything in her hands to “create a comfortable environment.” Jona Carduci claims that “even if you got a nice tattoo, but you don’t get a nice experience to go with it… when you see that tattoo, you will remember the bad experience.” Part of the ambiance is the decoration. Religion is present from the very beginning. Annie Montiel has “pictures of Jesus and Catholic iconography” in her studio. Mehai Bakaty, located in New York City, a religious melting pot, has a “sort of the shrine of every major religion represented there. And then there’s a small shrine to my father [also a tattooist] at the top.” Some of the photos we obtained show the parlors. Many were taken to show them; others are pics of a tattoo, but since they were taken in the studio, we have glances of the setting. Making a clear statement, the decoration of some studios includes religious imagery (Figure 2). Buddhist, Christian, and Hindu sculptures and paintings are displayed on parlors’ walls and chests. Some display flashes (paper prints of tattoos, see Figure 6) or metal planks with religious imagery (sort of stamps, see Figure 8); both traditional methods are used to transfer the drawing to the skin. The background music played at the studio contributes to the parlor’s vibe. Wassim Razzouk describes his studio in Jerusalem as “visually nice and calm, there’s music playing in the background all the time. It’s not spiritual music or Catholic or Orthodox music. Sometimes it’s 14685906, 0, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jssr.12910 by Boston College, Wiley Online Library on [02/04/2024]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License 6 7 Figure 2 Anna Schafer’s parlor entrance in Chicago. We can see Catholic, Hindu, Buddhist, and Christian images on the shelf [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com] soft rock (…) most of our clients are pilgrims, [older people] we don’t go crazy.” A different experience will happen for clients who visit Daniel Fernandez in Malaga, Spain: “When I’m going to tattoo, what usually sounds in my studio are Marchas de Semana Santa (Listen for example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhyMv_CNsZs). It’s a very peculiar parlor because people come to the studio and go crazy: ‘But hey, no Heavy Metal is playing here! Rosalía is not playing here’ And when they hear this!” The music confirms his style of cofrade tattoo, part of the Catholic tradition of Andalucía, Spain. Client Selection Tattooists agree that “the clientele reflects the artist” (CJ Budz). Because their former clients are the ones who promote their work, tattooists have to be careful about what they do and what they avoid doing. They agree that it is central to have a connection with their clients. Anna Schaffer expresses this need for connection by affirming that she likes “to feel the vibe” of the client before doing the tattoo. Jona Carduci claims that it is important for him to build “a relationship with a client: a relationship made of trust (…) that’s why [tattooing] it’s a very important and deep, spiritual if you want, experience.” CJ Budz affirms that the process of tattooing is a “co-creative process between the artist and a client. If the client is not with me, we’re not dancing together.” 14685906, 0, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jssr.12910 by Boston College, Wiley Online Library on [02/04/2024]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License TATTOO ARTISTS AS RELIGIOUS FIGURES JOURNAL FOR THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF RELIGION Figure 3 Wassim Razzouk’s cross design on a pilgrim’s arm [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com] This “dance” needs a connection that would allow the two parts to move together without stepping on each other’s feet. Wassim Razzouk illustrates this negotiation: “The clients know more or less what they want. For example, they want a cross, but they don’t know the shape of it or the design of the cross. And so that’s where we help them by choosing the design” (see Figure 3). To evaluate the connection, the first meeting is key. According to Turbo Qualis, “That first session, isn’t just about trying to understand the design of the tattoo. It’s like, are we going to have a rapport?” For Anna Schaffer, “Once the client comes in, I like to do a lot of small talks and just kind of, you know, find out a little bit more about them, especially if they’re new, especially if it’s their first tattoo.” Nowadays, many tattooists have shifted this initial contact from in-person to online. Zeye One affirms that “in-person consultations became very time-consuming (…) So, I switched to the phone. I ironed out my process.” This meant, in some cases, having a social media manager who assists them with messages, feeds, and appointments. Annie Motel designs “the tattoo with the client present, working with them in the process, to make sure we get the tattoo design exactly to their liking.” Daniel Fernandez focuses his first sessions on finding the placement for the tattoo. He starts discussing “the body part in which the customer wants the tattoo. To decide the area of the body, I take some pictures of the client’s 14685906, 0, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jssr.12910 by Boston College, Wiley Online Library on [02/04/2024]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License 8 9 posture and see the tattoo on multiple sides. When the placement is decided, I will start working on the design.” Gender is an important variable in how comfortable the client will be during the process. Female artists argue that women tend to feel more comfortable getting a tattoo from a female tattooist. From their point of view, tattooing is still a male-dominated industry. Janice Danger illustrates this by speaking about her experience: “When I first started, that was my biggest clientele, the women, because they’re like ‘Oh my God, finally I can feel comfortable and get a tattoo without that male-dominated environment, or just someone that relates to me.’” Annie Schaffer herself feels “definitely more comfortable with female artists, especially with certain things that I’m tattooing on my chest or something.” Consultations may end up in rejections. According to Steve Fourier, “as important as it is for the client to make their boundaries known, sometimes the artist must do the same and just say ‘I’m not the person that’s going to do this tattoo for you.’” One of the first things that will determine the direction of the consultation is the style of the tattoo requested. Zoey Taylor says “If I feel like I’m not the right artist for it, I’ll try and refer them to somebody who is.” This alignment, however, goes beyond aesthetics. Artists stated they rejected working with someone when they perceived a lack of commitment from the person (Turbo Qualis) or a lack of respect for their work (Antonio Moura). They also have body part boundaries. Most interviewees agreed with Mehai Bakaty “I don’t tattoo faces. I try not to tattoo hands unless somebody is heavily tattooed… Just, for social reasons, you know… job interviews and things like that.” Modestas Kunce has “a professional eye, and you can see that’s gonna look crap you know? (…) I start being honest and just saying ‘Hey man it’s gonna look crap to be honest you know? I just don’t want to do that stuff’ (…) Usually people understand.” Kunce acknowledges that it is a delicate skill “trying to balance my art and what the client wants.” Many artists have religious and moral limits. Tattooists refuse to do what they identify as “hateful symbols” (Anna Schafer), “wildly inappropriate” (Janice Danger), or “creepy offensive” (Zoey Taylor), like racist, homophobic, sexist, transphobic tattoos. Others add to that list “extreme political views” (Jona Carduci), excessively judgmental opinions (Nakona Macdonald); and tattoos people “are getting to get back at someone” (Talya Alsberg). Some deny doing some specific religious figures, like Ánimas Benditas (Daniel Fernández), or Christian images in the case of Paul Both who identifies as Satanist. For Zeye One, her limit is “Baphomet,” and explains she does not “want somebody to know that I did it. I won’t fuck with that.” The Tattooing The process encompasses the preparation the tattooist does for the session and the tattooing in itself. Tattooists Preparation The preparedness before the client arrives varies depending on the size of the tattoo and the last time the tattooist and client have met. Tattooists agree that a good night of sleep is the best preparation for their work (Modestas Kunce, Antonio Moura). Some “pump [themselves] up” with music (Anna Schafer), are mindful about hydration (Janice Danger), and even enjoy some weed (Zeye One). Usually, tattooists will go over the last exchange they have had with the client and the design agreed upon. Anna Schafer draws “everything out to a tee to show the person, we’re both confident in the design. So it’s like I’m a little bit more confident coming in, like knowing exactly what I’m going to do.” Tattooists set the station before the client’s arrival, “sizing up making a stencil, then setting up the room (…) sanitary coverings are going down on everything, setting up the ointment and the ink caps and bagging everything and wrapping up my machines (…) and then sort of looking at the design and deciding which needle groupings feel like they’re going to get 14685906, 0, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jssr.12910 by Boston College, Wiley Online Library on [02/04/2024]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License TATTOO ARTISTS AS RELIGIOUS FIGURES JOURNAL FOR THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF RELIGION the output that I want” (Steve Fournier). This process feels to Zoey Taylor “like it’s a ritual (…) I do everything the same way every time in the same pattern at the same speed (…) I need to do everything myself.” Intimacy Tattooing is “a very intimate experience, right?” explains Natasha Zinos, “you have someone like poking this needle into your body for hours and hours… It takes a lot of trust.” Clients, “even if they’ve got all their clothes on, they’re very vulnerable” concedes Zoey Taylor. Tattooists deal with this aspect in different ways. Some artists have a medical approach. Turbo Qualis’s experience was “like when you’re with a doctor, the seriousness of the illness (…) because you’re not worried about if the doctor is looking your chest. You are worried if the doctor sees cancer.” His clients were worried about the tattoo and its quality. Other tattooists look to create a relaxed environment, “dimming the lights (…) Some like silence, some music (…) candles. Not talking anything like spiritual but you feel like it’s spiritual” says Modestas Kunce. That physical intimacy gives room for a spiritual connection. Janice Danger comments “People love sharing, especially like in an intimate setting like that (…) I feel like people just pour their hearts out to me while I’m doing them (…) yeah, it is a very intimate process. And I am grateful that people want to share, you know, such intimate feelings with me.” Zoey Taylor describes that “because of the intimate nature of what you’re already doing, I always joke that it eliminates the first three years of small talk of getting to know somebody (…) people will tend to get into (…) deep topics.” Zeye One explains that tattooing leads to “heart to heart conversations with clients.” Mehai Bakaty reflects “It’s a strange thing that we do to ourselves… But you need somebody else to do it for you. So what does that mean? … It’s a ritual. And what is a ritual, it is akin to devotion, and religion.” A Spiritual Work Tattooists talk about a special state of mind when they start tattooing. Some meditate (Talya Alsberg), “set affirmations” (Ben Clarke), or “center” themselves (Nakona MacDonald) while others explicitly connect with some suprahuman being. “I would pray. I think that it’s important to understand that (…) things that are done with attention and reference become prayer,” says Turbo Qualis, who was “seeking to push me more and more out of the process and trying to have a great Divine inspiration in there, you know?” Others pray to “the tattoo mentors I’ve had who have passed on” (Annie Motel), or communicate with a “higher spirit” (Talya Alsberg). Zeye One prays after tattooing “I have an altar at home where I go and cleanse myself so that any energies that I’ve might have caught from most people. You’re supposed to wash your hands with Holy Water every time I attend people.” Once the process starts, tattooists get into a special state of mind that they describe as “almost checked out (…) very, very concentrated” (Anna Schafer), “You feel like loose kinda (…) you’re like diving into the picture (…) I’m into my zone” (Modestas Kunce). Nakona Macdonald needs to “center me, and have a particular way to calm, reassure.” Many artists understand themselves as canalizing something suprahuman through their work. “I do have a lot of feminine energy about me, and you can see it a lot in my designs,” says Janice Danger. That “energy” is something to handle carefully, “Like if I’m tattooing death on you, death gonna be around (…) like someone who passed, they’re gonna be there” explains Zeye One. CJ Budz sees himself as a “vehicle for delivery (…) something from beyond, channeling.” Some tattooists agree they are channeling a “sentiment… [The tattoo process] is very emotional” affirms Daniel Fernandez, “almost 40% of my clientele end up in tears (…) it’s very moving” he concludes. Jona Carduci explains that he “lets the emotion flow and carry on” the tattooing. Wassim Razzouk, a 28th generation of a family of tattooists in Jerusalem, thinks that “As a family, we have been the custodians of this tradition for hundreds of years (…) And I think it’s a bit more 14685906, 0, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jssr.12910 by Boston College, Wiley Online Library on [02/04/2024]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License 10 11 Figure 4 Clients of Walid Abouayash, showing the tattoos they got during their group pilgrimage to Bethlehem, Palestine [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com] - it goes beyond art, it’s a little bit more traditional and spiritual (…) [Clients] want to be part of this history and part of this tradition.” Clients condition the ritual. “Sometimes,” explains Jona Carduci, “there are clients that want to talk or laugh, or talk about a story (…) Some other times, there are people that stay in silence with closed eyes, maybe they pray or they want to relax. So it’s never really the same. The experience is always different.” Other times, clients come in a group. Pilgrims to Bethlehem may stop at Walid Abouayash’s studio to get a tattoo (see Figure 4), and many times “we worship together. It was very cool, very nice […] I will send you some videos. You will know what I am talking about.” He sent us four videos of two different sessions. In one session, Mr. Abouayash is tattooing a group of six middle-aged white males in his studio. While one of the men is getting a tattoo on his left arm, the others are sitting and standing around the place. All of the six men are singing along to the song “Chain Breaker,” by the Christian singer Zach Williams. One of them stands alongside the man who is getting the tattoo, touching his shoulder and holding his other hand in the air as he is praying. In another video, the same group is standing in the studio and cheering with their drinks while they sing the song Hallelujah, by Leonard Cohen. The other couple of videos portrays the tattooing of a group of approximately 15 middle-aged women in what seems to be a hotel lounge (in his interview, Mr. Abouayash mentioned occasionally working in hotels). In one of them, he is tattooing the left arm of one of the women while the rest of the group claps and sings enthusiastically to a song in Arabic. In the other, he is shown waving his arms in a sort of dance movement without leaving his chair, while the same group of women is clapping and singing a slower song. Asceticism Tattooing, like some religious penitential practices, “hurts (…) It is not fun in the sense of ‘pleasant’. But it feels so like cleansing, right? (…) That’s what cathartic things are. But it’s like, it feels very important,” explains Natasha Zinos. Turbo Qualis agrees, “The tattoo process was very cathartic, right? And so there was a measure of confession and healing and all these things that were tied into the process.” This pain is “very much a part of the tattoo experience as well,” says Qualis, and it is the dealing with pain that facilitates in some cases a “deeper reflection.” He explains that when a person “starts moving deeper into the spiritual contemplative life, you begin to understand that 14685906, 0, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jssr.12910 by Boston College, Wiley Online Library on [02/04/2024]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License TATTOO ARTISTS AS RELIGIOUS FIGURES JOURNAL FOR THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF RELIGION the problem is not necessarily pain, but the problem is our perspective on pain (…) There is a reality that this awareness of pain and [tattooing is] learning to embrace it. This is in many ways why tattooing [was] associated with rites of passage and spirituality. Ancient people understood that pain is how deeper awareness is brought forth.” Physically, tattooing is an exchange of blood for ink. As much as ink is part of the tattoo, releasing blood is the flip side of that process; and for some tattooists, blood has a symbolic dimension. “I do believe that you’re messing with blood. So that’s a high like, spiritual thing,” says Zeye One, “anytime you encounter anybody you’re releasing energy [and I can reach] that energy by tattooing them because I’m messing with blood, you know?” She offered some clients to take with them the discarded paper towels soaked in blood, “This is not trash, this is your soul”; she recommended burning it. “In a way,” exclaims CJ Budz, “this is like a blood ritual, it’s witchcraft!” The Tattoo Tattooists in this sample consider tattoos, in general, to have a liminal status in between body, mind, and heart. Nakona Macdonald thinks of tattoos as “describing something other than physical, but not as perhaps as intellectualized, as mental.” Religious tattoos are the culmination of that feature. In this section, we explore tattooists’ perception of their work on their clients. “We’re Carving Symbols into People” For CJ Budz, tattooists “construct meanings (…) you know, like we’re playing with symbols all the time. We’re carving symbols into people.” Mehai Bakaty thinks “It’s about human expression, expressing something other than the self, then the physical form. And it’s the one bit that we get right to do. It’s the thing that separates us from the animals.” Talya Alsberg sustains that the “drawing themselves hold a spiritual meaning. So, they don’t have to be an image of an Eastern goddess or a Buddha (…) Not necessarily.” Turbo Qualis claims that tattooing is a process of “imbuing the body with symbols of power, symbols of meaning.” The 110 pictures collected provided us with a corpus of images that (tattooists understand) people use to express their inner life, devotion, religious experiences, and affiliations. We saw some tattoos depicting traditional religious figures, like Satanist, Hindu, Buddhist, and Christian tattoos (Figure 5). Among the ones that do not portray explicit traditional religious images, they portray sacred geometry, snakes, ouroboros, fantasy figures, and nature. There is a third group of pictures that portrays tattoos that depict traditional religious designs but with a twist. We found that some tattoos were original creations mixing traditional signs, some portray iconography associated with the departed (dove, death angel, heaven images); others are reformulations of a female figure associated with the Virgin Mary, depicted some twist on angels, or recreated the Ying and Yang symbol (Figure 6). Beyond the intention of the bearer, Steve Furnier thinks that religious imagery (virgin of Guadalupe, cherubs, angels, devils, halos) is “the most direct depiction of good or evil, (…) an eternal struggle.” And for that reason, people gravitate to them even when they are unaffiliated. They are using the images to convey a religious meaning, but not necessarily the one established by religious institutions. These images were placed mostly on the backs, chests, arms, and wrists. The ones on the legs were a minority, and only three of them were on top of the skull, face, and neck. In terms of body location, religious tattoos are all over the body but tend to be on arms and torsos. In terms of surface covered, except for the ones on the wrist, most of these tattoos use the whole portion of the arm, forearm, back, chest, shoulder, and the whole top of the skull. Religious tattoos seem to take a considerable portion of the skin’s “real estate.” Many tattoos were not overtly religious. Talya Alsberg creates designs that “are my own, but there’s always a look into symbolism within the artwork. There’s a huge amount of symbolism to look into and talk about (…) I believe the drawings themselves hold the spiritual meaning” 14685906, 0, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jssr.12910 by Boston College, Wiley Online Library on [02/04/2024]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License 12 13 Figure 5 Daniel Fernandez is an artist in Malaga, Spain, who specializes in Cofrade tattooing [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com] (see Figure 7). Anna Schafer, who enjoys being outdoors, brings her experience of nature into her tattooing: “I felt I always feel very much at home and peace (…) in nature (…) So it’s just like, kind of bringing that type of life into my tattoos.” The religious quality of a tattoo is noticeable for tattooists. Many agree that there is a certain depth in the religious tattoos, which goes beyond the image that is represented. Turbo Qualis explains that he “can almost always tell if a design was done by someone who (…) was not a Christian or a Protestant, I could tell because it lacked a certain kind of depth to it. Not just in the aesthetic, the design of it, but there was a spirit in those lacking some soul, you know what I mean?” Mehai Bakaty agrees, “There’s something deeper going on, there’s some reason that person wanted to be tattooed at that moment, and carry that moment with them for the rest of their lives.” Jona Carduci thinks that “you need maturity and depth for this kind of tattoo,” referring to the ones he does (see Figure 8). What Are These Symbols About? Many of the artists in the sample stress that the tattoo is an artistic expression of a personal experience. Jona Carduci says that “you can record in your skin a special feeling, a special emotion, a special time in your life.” For Daniel Fernández, religious tattoos are a form of devotion 14685906, 0, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jssr.12910 by Boston College, Wiley Online Library on [02/04/2024]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License TATTOO ARTISTS AS RELIGIOUS FIGURES JOURNAL FOR THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF RELIGION Figure 6 Ben Clark is a tattooist working in Manhattan, New York City, who includes Hindu and Buddhist images in his portfolio. On the walls, we see flashes of crucifix tattoos [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com] Figure 7 One of Talya Alsberg’s (Brooklyn, New York City) healing tattoos [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com] 14685906, 0, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jssr.12910 by Boston College, Wiley Online Library on [02/04/2024]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License 14 15 Figure 8 Jona Carduci’s pilgrim tattoo design. He replicated old planks used in the 19th century in Loreto, Italy [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com] like no other: “For me that tattoo, that is inside your body, under your skin, and represents your faith… it’s much more! It’s much more than any other religious expression because you’re getting your faith printed on your skin.” For others, tattoos are a mark of a spiritual journey. Three tattooists we interviewed work in destination places for pilgrimages: Loreto (Italy), Jerusalem (Israel), and Bethlehem (Palestine). Wassim Razzouk is the 28th generation of tattooists in Jerusalem. His family has been tattooing pilgrims since the 1300s. For him, “It makes sense for a lot of people that have never thought of getting a tattoo, and then suddenly they hear about or they read the history [of his family tradition and parlor in Jerusalem] they want to be part of this history.” Tattoos can be a healing device. Zeye One mentioned the process of tattooing as part of a healing process, “to find out what tattoo you need, or what is considered a medicine, you know, that tattoo, or like a form of protection.” Talya Alsberg focuses on healing tattoos, so much that “my job is that I’m an intuitive tattoo artist and a healer” (see Figure 7). Antonio Moura commented that many clients look for him to do tattoos in honor of loved ones who passed away. In these cases, he normally adds religious images to the memorial tattoos, such as angels, crosses, and white pigeons. 14685906, 0, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jssr.12910 by Boston College, Wiley Online Library on [02/04/2024]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License TATTOO ARTISTS AS RELIGIOUS FIGURES JOURNAL FOR THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF RELIGION The Outcomes Tattooists witness a transformation in their clients. Steve Fournier explains that with “larger pieces that require come back, like that in and of itself becomes ritualistic (…) like you are going through an actual transformative process, and you’re showing up again, and again… to that sort of the point of discomfort and (…) like you feel like you’ve gone through a transformation with the larger tattoo.” The body modification signals a deeper one: “it’s very beautiful to watch (…) a permanent object on their bodies that holds that energy of growth” (Talya Alsberg). Turbo Qualis specialized in big pieces. He took an “iconographic style” meaning that his tattoos told a story and that he approached the process as a meditation. He found that many people came to his parlor for that kind of experience, and even came back “for counseling and encouragement.” He mentioned that some clients “came out of atheism and became spiritual”; even some that because of the tattooing process, ended up becoming Christian Orthodox. Wassim Razzouk speculated that for many of his clients, the tattoo is the “highlight of the trip [to the Holy Land]” because it is something “more personal”; a “memorable experience” that marked the pilgrimage especially, “they feel that they have been renewed, they feel they have been baptized again.” All these aspects make tattooing “a ritual from the beginning of the day to the end of it; (…) the whole experience is spiritual” (Talya Alsberg). Nakona Macdonald considers tattooing “a service which affects both mind and body quite strongly, (…) we are exploring the past, present, and future; both through the senses but also in speech and something intangible (…) It is a method that dwells in its own special unique space.” Jona Carduci argues that is the wholeness of the tattoo experience what gives meaning to the mark, “getting a religious tattoo is 360 degrees experience (…) it’s not just the beauty of a tattoo on your skin but it’s the experience that’s why it’s a deeper meaning.” Discussion As we looked at religion as practices people do to connect with a suprahuman reality, we studied the context of those practices. Tattoos happen in a given culture, at the hands of a tattooist. Considering tattooists’ understanding of religion and the spiritual overtones of their work is important if we want to apprehend their role as religious figures. We approached 167 artists, who labeled their work as “spiritual,” “sacred images,” or “religious” (their words), or because some images in their portfolios are considered religious in our culture. Our approach was wide, to allow tattooists to include any images they understood as religious. We also looked in their social media profiles for images we (researchers) identified as Satanist, Santero, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, and Jewish. However, only 23 respondents did the interview. We assume that they found it important to discuss this aspect of their work with us, either because they do religious tattoos, or because they find religious overtones in their jobs. The interviews confirmed this assumption. Allowing tattooists to define their work as religious/spiritual, according to their parameters, adds to our understanding of Lived Religion. While eight interviewees self-identified as religiously unaffiliated, in the description of their role as tattooists, they talk about religious practices: personal meditations, prayers, conversations about “other than ordinary” aspects of life, counseling, mantras, cleansings, use of incense, holy water, and sacred music. Looking at their work from a “Lived Religion” perspective, we saw religious elements in tattooing and we saw that tattooists were aware of that role. The evolution of the tattoo, from a fixed design to a personal creation, has changed the role of tattooists. The artistic turn in the sixties opened the door to personalized designs, with an increased role of the artist in the configuration of the tattoo and more interaction with the client. That negotiation with the client characterizes the work of these tattooists. 14685906, 0, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jssr.12910 by Boston College, Wiley Online Library on [02/04/2024]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License 16 17 All artists interviewed here are full-time tattooists, with an important clientele and a remarkable following on social media (ranging from 10 to 270 thousand followers). They come from different religious, generational, geographical, and ethnic backgrounds. This diverse, intentional sample of tattooists understand tattoos as meaningful objects beyond mere adornment. Tattooists mentioned different sources of symbolism. Tattoos bear experiences and emotions; and commemorate moments, peoples, communities, and places; elements that are foundational for the tattooed persons’ lives. The religious tattoo is the apex of that symbolism. And vice versa, the more symbolic the tattoo, the more religious it is perceived to be. For that reason, tattoos considered religious are not only the ones depicting religious images; they may include the ones that connect a person with something beyond ordinary life. Tattoos connect with something hidden that arose because of the tattooing process. Tattooists translate something in the inner, spiritual realm into the surface of the skin. The tattooing, in this sample, happened in a tattoo parlor. The shop is a space of creativity and service, state regulations and economic pressures, a locus of power struggles between artist and clientele, state regulations and religious devotion, social expectations and technical possibilities. The “Lived Religion” approach already highlighted religious figures other than the clergy (family, friends, acquaintances). In this study, we found that tattooists fit into the category of religious figures. Following the process of tattooing, from consultation to aftercare, allowed us to identify different moments when tattooists exercise that role. Tattooists are sumptuary-service providers, in a competitive field, and during the time of the interviews, they were coming back from economic constraints due to the COVID pandemic closings. They try to get clients, making them as comfortable as possible, incorporating their demands, and putting their experience in play to produce the best tattoo. They are aware that they provide a service, and as professionals who depend on their artwork, tattooists make efforts to meet the customer’s expectations. However, they carefully select their clients, rejecting the ones they do not want to work with because they disagree on the boundaries. The tattoo functions as an advertisement for the artist’s job, therefore it should reflect the artist’s view and style. Tattooists’ religious views tend to be clear from the beginning: the decoration and the music tell the client about the artists’ position. Moreover, the conversation with the tattooist about the design will be framed either by the morals of the tattooist who may reject some works or by the beliefs and desires of the clients they accept. Artists deny tattooing when they do not have a connection with their potential clients. They worry about commitment to the tattoo, respect for the artist’s work, spiritual statements, and worldviews. Tattooists exercise power at a “technical” level (aesthetic suggestions, and educated guesses about the future of the tattoo) but also at a moral level (refusing certain things, encouraging others). They do not want their work associated with moral views they disagree with. We found that more experienced artists are clearer about their boundaries (things they will or will not do) and bolder in talking about the religious aspects of their work with their clients. It seems that they have consolidated a profile, and the clients who look for them are self-selecting. Both clients and artists know what to expect from each other. The tattoo is a negotiation between the tattooist and the customer, a convergence between the desires of the latter and the views of the former. The tattoo, like any other religious practice, is socially constructed. It is the result of a negotiation between different actors, religious and nonreligious, that ends up defining what the tattoo will be. For many artists, the preparation is a liminal religious state: They focus, meditate, cleanse, listen to inspiring music, pray, connect with the ancestors, and set the workstation in a specific way. The physical intimacy of the tattoo (someone else penetrating your body and leaving a permanent mark) often triggered a spiritual conversation that includes emotions, motives for tattooing, memory of meaningful experiences, and departed persons. 14685906, 0, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jssr.12910 by Boston College, Wiley Online Library on [02/04/2024]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License TATTOO ARTISTS AS RELIGIOUS FIGURES JOURNAL FOR THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF RELIGION In tattooing, pain is part of the process. It is unavoidable. The person has to manage it. Many tattooists and their clients see this dynamic as a metaphor for religious life. Pain is present in other religious practices as well, like fasting, pilgrimages, and penances. The exchange of blood for ink is at the center of the process. Blood is a physical object charged with spiritual meaning, like “life,” “effort,” and “suffering.” Tattooing is, to some extent, a “blood ritual”; the pain involved is a constitutive part of the process. And so it is the intimacy of the session; however, we registered cases of communitarian tattooing. The session can be emotional, with clients and tattooists ending up in tears. Tattooists provide emotional labor that easily moves into a spiritual realm when working on a religious tattoo. Many see their work as spiritually related; they feel “canalizing something from beyond” (CJ Budz), bigger than themselves. Tattooists consciously prepare for their task, and many incorporate religious routines before or after tattooing. These interviewees provide a spiritual service: Tattooing involves vulnerability, personal conversation, and a cathartic, penitential experience. It is a ritual that involves routines for the preparation of the space, and the tattooing itself, routines that can involve music, singing, and prayer. While the meaning of tattoos is deeply personal, at the same time people need “somebody else to do it for you” (Mehai Bakai). Tattooing needs a minister. In that role, tattooists mentioned noticing the spiritual journey of their clients, the creation of the tattoo in parallel with the inner change, like “a new baptism” (Wassim Razzouk). Conclusion This is an intentional sample of tattooists who characterized their work as religious or spiritual in their portfolios, so it is a self-selected sample. We contacted artists we found online, and the ones who spoke English, Portuguese, or Spanish; and as mentioned, it was difficult to engage them in the project. Among the 167 contacted, these were the 23 that wanted to talk. Because of the limitations of the sampling, we did not compare among cities, religious affiliations, age cohorts, or genders. However, this is an international and interconfessional sample; with data collected with multimethod techniques that involved participants-produced photos that expanded the understanding of what is religious, and spiritual. Asking tattooists about “religious, sacred images, spiritual” tattoos broadened the category of “religion” (they pointed to symbols that are not overtly religious) and revealed another site of religion as a social construction (the result of a struggle, a negotiation of many agents). Tattooists select their clientele, codesign the symbol (refusing to do those they disagree with), spiritually prepare themselves before the tattooing, and conduct a ritualized process. Tattooing includes dealing with pain, blood, silence (or chants), intimacy, and vulnerability. All to carve symbols that are meaningful for the client. In the end, tattooists witness both physical and spiritual transformations. They see the process as a spiritual change, with effects on people’s life. The parlor is a space of religious negotiation, where different actors exercise power. The result of the negotiation among these actors (and technical restrictions) is the religious tattoo. The Lived Religion approach allows us to unveil religion outside religious institutions and spaces, a construct broader than the one circumscribed by religious traditions, and also as a field with disputes and negotiations, interconnected with other fields. While anthropologists hypothesize that first tattooists were individuals performing a parttime religious deed; today tattooing is not required in any major global religion. However, some artists still do part-time “spiritual work.” A transformation in tattooing, the artistic turn, opened up a space of creative tattooing and the incorporation of clients’ religious views into them. Tattooists understand religious tattoos are an expression of devotion, a record of a special experience, a connection with a tradition, a form of protection and healing, and a way to commemorate the departed. 14685906, 0, Downloaded from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jssr.12910 by Boston College, Wiley Online Library on [02/04/2024]. See the Terms and Conditions (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/terms-and-conditions) on Wiley Online Library for rules of use; OA articles are governed by the applicable Creative Commons License 18 Tattooists have a religious role in religious tattoos; “We are carving symbols into people,” said CJ Budz. Symbols that are artistic expressions of life experiences, spiritual emotions, and religious ideas are used to make sense of a person’s life and to narrate her own story. What is their role in producing a religious tattoo? Tattooists in this sample do consider they have a religious/spiritual role, and they are aware of the religious aspects of tattooing. However, they are not aware of their role as religious authority. It seems the authoritative function has not been explored, in part because the space of agency in the tattooist profession is new: Tattoos were associated with creativity and fine arts only since the 1960s. Before then, most tattooists replicated standard designs. Exploring the role of tattooists in producing a religious tattoo is important because of the growing religious function of unrecognized religious figures. For example, as religion moves online, what is the religious role of media producers, web page designers, and social media handlers? Who are the religious figures shaping everyday religious practices, beyond religious authorities? Who has, and under what circumstances, a religious role in our religious world? 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