The Art of the Star Tattoo

Tattoos, like other phases, waver in and out. But tattooing as a contemporary phenomenon experiences its own unique phases; the phases of tattoo designs. Many individuals, when deciding a tattoo, fear becoming the object of derision by selecting a tattoo design that is too common or overused, but at the same time, they desire tattoos that are universally understood. Current events, recent cultural developments or social obsessions translate easily to tattoos, and the various rises and falls in trends can be traced by the amount of tattoos that result, eternally sketched in skin. However, some tattoo designs are timeless; they are popular, sometimes overused, but forever iconic. The star tattoo is one of these never-ending, always-changing, forever-evolving tattoo designs that, when done wrong, can make the wearer seem a little unimaginative, but when done, can spark such intrigue in passers-by through establishing common ground.

The star tattoo has quickly become one of the most common tattoos. Whether the icon is used by itself or included in a larger motif, the star is permanently inked on bodies around the world. Some wearers do find creative ways to use a star tattoo; for instance, a star-shaped outline can simply serve as a border for a more detailed image inside. In many ways, the star tattoo itself is only a vessel for a deeper meaning, or a more important element. Humanity has used symbols for millennia to express beliefs, ideals, dreams and religious aspirations, universal symbols that can be recognized across language barriers to elicit emotions and feelings. A star tattoo, like any other tattoo, is there for one purpose: to express emotion and to create emotion in return.

While for some wearers a star tattoo is merely a neat, clean symbol to be used a means to some bigger end, for others, the end is the star itself. For these individuals, stars are a powerful image, a relational concept of the individual before the universe, the small before the big. Wearers will look at a star tattoo and remember how insignificant they are, how infinite the universe is, and question their purpose in it all.

These are deep thoughts for such a small tattoo, but stars themselves, while seeming so small, are larger than they appear. As children, people often look to the sky and question, and as young adults, they look to the sky for guidance or out of sadness, out of curiosity or for gratefulness. Whatever the reason, cars idle on the sides of roads across the country, bodies stretched across the roofs or hoods, and eyes glued to the burning points billions of miles away. A star tattoo is much bigger than itself, and both personal meanings and universal meanings make it a culturally-significant and socially-permanent fixture on skin around the world.