Gang Tattoos.

A fatalistic world view / quotes:

Tattoos are also used to express gang members' often fatalist

philosophy of life. One popular tattoo is a depiction of the smiling

and crying comedy and tragedy masks, meaning, "play now and pay

later," or "my happy life, my sad life."

Comments

[Rach (Heart of Rachel)]

Interesting choice of quotes.

[Mario]

The quotes are fatalistic and but the actual tattoos might depict; and at the same time (I think) are telling us that sometimes in there are happy and there are sad times.

Great portraits.

[Zhu]

There is a lot of "fate" in these quotes. Funny, considering the life of gangs' members... it's almost like they didn't choose their destiny.

I'm sure a lot of them didn't though.

[Lizza]

Awesome ink art, I wonder why one of them is inquiring after Judas, though.

[Ashish Sidapara]

The first tattoo is impressive, superb series, as always!

[Doris]

So only god can judge them, then i wonder how they ended up in jail :-)

[Share]

"Only God can judge me"

That's pretty darn right!

[Charles Ravndal]

The series is real as it gets. I am loving it but looking at the pictures somewhat lessens my interest in getting a tattoo for myself. It looks somewhat painful

[bw]

pretty fatalistic indeed. most of these folks have probably given up on life.

[luna miranda]

Only God Can Judge Me---indeed! it's also a song by Tupac Shakur, an ex-con and murder victim.

[pieterbie]

Wow that first tattoo is awesome.
Love the way these guys smile for the photo.

[jms]

L'aspect définitif du tatouage, empêche aussi de changer d'avis... faut pas l'oublier...

[estan]

these tattoos are very interesting. the text really evokes that hope.

One thing that struck me is the tattoo that reads: In loving memory ... cashman. is he family?

[Photo Cache]

Sidney have you featured or taken a shot of an older gentleman who's got wrinkled skin with tattoo? I just want to see how the tattoes fare when the skin get wrinkled. Just asking. Still enjoying this series.

[Manila Photojournalism]

This entire series is far more in-depth than I've expected, Sidney. Impressive!

[dennis villegas]

"Only God can Judge me"...yeah right...cool line...beautiful tattoo...

[kimmy]

"Only God can judge me" - I love this line, but not enough to have it tattooed on me.

[Still]

Les trouvailles des humains sont pleines d'imagination. Certaines de ces images prêtent à sourire tandis que d'autres, nombreuses parlent d'angoisse et de désespoir.

[Laetirature]

Intéressant de rebondir et de mettre en scène sur sa peau le comique et le tragique de l'existence. Tes modèles apprécient ton regard sur eux :)

[mimi]

calligraphy!!!
i hope they have an art program for the inmates...

maybe they can create artworks using other mediums too...