Tats with Traditions

By Brooklyn Brown, Art Editor

Jada Rumbaoa, 11

Junior Jada Rumbaoa’s snake tattoo is not meant to look as threatening as the actual reptile.

For Rumbaoa, it holds a cultural importance to their grandparent’s Filipino culture.

“In Indiana you can’t exactly connect with Filipino culture, so I thought it’d be a nice way for me to connect with a part of my heritage,” Rumbaoa said, “[The tattoo] is done in tribal [style], specifically Filipino tribal.”

The Filipino national flower, the Sampaguita, completes the snake tattoo. Rumbaoa designed the tattoo, solidifying its importance.

“It makes me really happy that something I designed, something that’s so personal to me, is well-liked by other people,” Rumbaoa said.

Rumbaoa’s second tattoo equally celebrates family, by commemorating their mother’s favorite insect, a dragonfly.

“We got it together,” Rumbaoa said. “It was like a birthday gift.”

To match, their mother got a ladybug tattooed in the same place in honor of Rumbaoa’s childhood nickname, ‘Jada Bug’.

Gavin Raff, 12

“Usually when you say you got a tattoo in Vegas, it’s bad, but the second tattoo I ever got was in Vegas,” senior Gavin Raff said. Although it was driven by spontaneity, it actually turned out to be one of his favorite tattoos.

That wasn’t his only tattoo that required a bit of traveling, Raff has been tattooed in multiple states.

“Most of [my tattoos] I get when I go somewhere. I’ve gotten one in Nevada, a couple in Utah, one in Colorado,” Raff said. “So it’s kind of like a memory for that place, too.”

Raff has a total of 13 tattoos, most of them being on his legs.

“Most of the [tattoos] on my legs are just from personal experiences or like struggles I’ve been through and are a reminder,” Raff said.

He also honors his sister with a tattoo of her birth date on his chest and brings awareness to the issue of suicide with another tattoo on his wrist.

“I have a semi-colon on my wrist,” Raff said “I’ve had family members commit suicide so it’s very personal there.”

Rather than worrying about the permanency of the decision to get tattooed, Raff appreciates it.

“It is just important to me because it’s permanent and it holds meaning,” Raff said.

Jordan Potter, 12

“For my first tattoo the build up to actually getting it was pretty nerve-racking,” senior Jordan Potter said.

She didn’t let her nerves stop her though, and has gotten four more tattoos since.

All of her tattoos hold serious meanings, two of them being dedicated to her sisters. Her tattoos truly tell a story.

“My first tattoo is a lion with flowers surrounding half the face on the inside of my forearm,” Potter said. “A few months later I then decided to continue that tattoo’s story on the other side of my forearm.”

The concluding side of the story includes a sun and moon design, her younger sister’s birth date, and a Leo constellation. Another of her tattoos was even given to her by a friend, reading “it’s okay” with the letter “o” being made to look like a flower.

“I think getting a tattoo is a very personal and vulnerable experience and no one, besides you, should be able to have an opinion of what gets done or put on your body,” Potter said.

Trinity Dodd, 12

Senior Trinity Dodd has four tattoos, and plans to get many more.

“I love getting tattoos,” Dodd said. “I got my first when I was 16 and got the rest over the past year. The experience was amazing; my tattoo artist is super chill and fun to talk to.”

Making the experience all the more special, every time Dodd receives a tattoo, so does her mother.

“It’s also just good quality time for us,” Dodd said.

Dodd’s first tattoo was particularly special, being in honor of her late friend Harrison Hunn.

“The ocean was always something that reminded me of him as he loved to travel and his eyes were bright blue,” Dodd said.

For Dodd, the placement of tattoos can mean just as much as the artwork itself.

“The butterflies behind my ear symbolize growth,” Dodd said, “They’re hidden because although growth may not always be seen, it’s still there.”

Dodd’s tattoos all have deep meaning to her, and she hates the stigma that implies she might regret them as she ages.

“First, this implies that I’m not mature enough to make rash decisions about my body,” Dodd said. “Also, if all I have to regret when I’m older is tattoos, I lived a really good life.”