Modern-day tattooing is art
KwaThema - Jabu ‘Jay da Artist’ Buthelezi (33) is a tattoo artist and shop owner at Penciled Ideas Tattoos.
“As a township boy growing up I never saw my parents buying a painting or artwork, nor have I bought any artwork myself or seen other artists I grew up with buying artwork from each other,” says Buthelezi.
He says he noticed people in the township don’t have enough disposable income to spend on traditional artworks to hang on the walls and blend in with furniture.
“But people are more than willing to spend money on custom-made artwork which would stay on their bodies forever and they would walk around showing it off,” he explains.
He says people’s attitudes about body art have changed in recent years.
“Tattoos in the 90s were associated with ex-convicts and troubled teenagers.”
Buthelezi says modern-day tattoos are very artistic and are created in a sterile environment for people from all walks of life, from college students to career women and men, for cosmetic and sentimental reasons.
He says, surprisingly, his oldest client was a 49-year-old lady.
But he does not think facial tattoos are either attractive or appropriate.
“As progressive as the society has become, your face is still a sacred space and having tattoos there is still frowned upon.”
“The acronym for Penciled Ideas Group is PIG, which also means swine,” he explains.
“A creative swine is the kind of creative that does anything and everything within his reach – just like a pig eats anything and everything within its reach.”
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