Synopses & Reviews
Sacred tattoos, called sak yant in Thailand, have been around Southeast Asia for centuries and afford protection from accident, misfortune, and crime. Young women get tattooed with love charms in order to attract better partners, while adolescent men use the protective power of their yants in fights with rival youth gangs. For most though, the tattoos serve as reminders to follow a moral code-endorsing positive behavior. At the time of the application of a sak yant, the tattoo master establishes a series of rules that his tattooed disciples will have to follow for the rest of their lives, usually starting with Buddhism's first five precepts. Failure to observe the guru's instructions will cause the sak yant to lose their power. Yet there is more to this than the written word. It goes deeper. This book serves as an introduction to the sak yant, Thailand's spirit tattoos, and the men and women who make them come alive on their skin.
Review
By Andrew Marshall Monday, May 23, 2011 - TIME Magazine (Asia Edition)
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2071020,00.html#ixzz1MpMZ1QpH
The introduction to Sacred Skin, Tom Vater and Aroon Thaewchatturat's new tribute to Thailand's sak yant, or sacred tattoos, begins with an agonized exclamation: "Uaaahh!" So it should. While modern tattoos are efficiently (though not exactly painlessly) applied with an electric machine, sak yant are hand-hammered into your wincing body with a long needle.
But no pain, no gain — and, if you believe the enthusiasts, the rewards are out of this world. Devotees credit sak yant with warding off sickness, attracting lovers and helping them emerge unscathed from car crashes. A housewife caught in last year's crackdown on antigovernment protesters in Bangkok tells the authors, "People around me got shot but my tattoo protected me."
Sak yant are etched onto both soul and skin, as Thai photographer Aroon's portraits record in hypnotic detail. The mostly monochromatic designs borrow from Buddhist and Hindu mythologies, and the space between them is often overlaid with an ancient Khmer script that German writer Vater likens to "mysterious instructions." Designs are executed by priestlike figures who have their own secret ink recipes and recite prayers while they work. Their customers see themselves as disciples, bound for life to their master and feeling a kinship with all those bearing his designs. Some disciples are also in thrall to the tattoo's spirit. That introductory "Uaaahh!" emanated from a man who believed he was possessed by the spirit of the tiger tattooed on his torso. Vater describes him careering around a Buddhist temple near Bangkok in a trance so violent that it took five soldiers to subdue him.
Prominent among sak yant enthusiasts are police, soldiers and gangsters, who claim bullets bounce off their magical second skin. Many Thais still associate tattoos — even sacred ones — with lowly or violent professions, but there are two things wrong with this view. First, explains Vater, many devotees give up lives of crime after getting sak yant, believing the tattoos' potency depends upon their living decent lives. Second, the appeal of sak yant is broadening, not just among trendy young Thais but also foreigners, partly thanks to Angelina Jolie, who has a tiger sak yant on her back. With its stunning photos and exuberant writing, Sacred Skin will further popularize a centuries-old tradition. In Thailand, sak yant have survived decades of economic development and Western influence. After warding off these modern forces, bad luck and bullets should be easy.
Review
Sacred Skin Thailand s Spirit Tattoos, the new two-hundred page, eight-by-ten-inch guide to sak yant protection tattoos by Tom Vater, with color photography by Aroon Thaewchatturat, is a beautifully organized, visual treat for both tattoo artists and collectors. Divided into easily navigable sections (Sak Yant, Master and Devotees, Sacred Images, Wai Khru the annual day of respect held in central Thailand and a helpful Glossary), this clearly-written, entertaining treatise is packed with fascinating facts and descriptions of every aspect of this time-honored art form. But it s the photos that steal the show. Page after page of both full-body and detailed images showcase the work of leading traditional sak yant masters. Available at $32.95 from amazon.com, this is the perfect handbook, for those of us who have long been intrigued by the magical hand-poked designs that protect the wearer from the dangers of an ever-encroaching world.ReviewTattooRoadTrip.comBob Baxter, editor-in-chief TattooRoadTrip.com and past editor-in-chief of the award-winning tattoo magazine Skin & Ink
Review
Aroon Thaewchatturat's extraordinary pictures do more than capture the tattoos, they capture their wearers' personalities, and perhaps even theenergy invested in them by the designs.Bangkok Post,Sunday July 31.Brunch Magazine.http://www.bangkokpost.com/arts-and-culture/book/249574/skin-deep
About the Author
Tom Vater is a writer working in southern and Southeast Asia. He writes both in English and German. His articles have appeared in a wide variety of publications including the Asia Wall Street Journal, the South China Morning Post, Marie Claire, Penthouse, and many others. His books on South Asian themes include a novel, several nonfiction titles, travel guides, and photo books. His travels have led him (on foot) across the Himalayas, and given him the opportunity to dive with hundreds of sharks in the Philippines. On his journeys, he has joined sea gypsies and nomads, pilgrims and soldiers, secret agents, pirates, hippies, policemen, and prophets. Aroon Thaewchatturat has been shooting assignment and stock photography since 2004. Her features have appeared in magazines such as GEO and The Far Eastern Economic Review, while her stock imagery has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Time magazine, The Financial Times, Lonely Planet, MERIAN, Spiegel-Online and many other publications.