receiving the pe’a — a traditional whole-body tattoo that takes five days to execute. We also learn the story of Omi, whose bold, curving stripes made him look like an art-nouveau zebra. Unemployed after a successful English Army stint in WWI, he opted for work in sideshows. Omi tattooed his entire body and eventually had a veterinarian pierce his nose to accommodate large bones. Included with the narrative are letters from Omi to his tattooist containing amazing details of small-circus life. On tour in France, Omi and his wife suffered gas poisoning from lion urine, for example.
This thorough and entertaining documentation of the ancient and still-evolving art of tattoo makes The Tattoo Historian invaluable for tattoo aficionados and great fun for the merely curious. I’ve
