[L I F E] C U L T U R E
Henna
Connection through culture By Erin Ratigan Photos by Farida Degani
More Than Art
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Without negative space, there is no design. Henna artist and owner of Stratus Boutique, Farida Degani casually makes this observation describing how the undyed skin beneath the ink allows henna’s beauty to show through. But then her words feel deeper — more poignant. “The negative space differs with different kinds of people … Without the negative space, how would the design be?” she observes rhetorically. Henna is an art form with more than 9,000 years of history. Though most Westerners probably know it as an Indian wedding tradition, henna tattoos have cultural ties to many other West Asian countries including Egypt, Morocco and Pakistan. She says some of the earliest uses for henna were dying silk and pottery. That was during the Bronze Age — approximately 3300 to 1200 BC. She says the practice of applying henna topically traces back at least to the ancient Egyptians, who dyed pharaohs’ nails with henna before burial. It is said Cleopatra also used henna to dye her nails and hair — albeit for more fashionable purposes. Henna tattoos are applied in a paste composed of crushed leaves from the henna plant Lawsonia inermis. They last up to three weeks, often darkening slightly over time. Farida says the deepening color is part of why henna is popular for weddings in India — that a bride’s changing henna is considered symbolic of her new husband’s and in-laws’ growing affection.
