THE EVOLUTION OF TATTOOS AS A FORM OF SELF-EXPRESSION IN POST-SOVIET CULTURE

Lanbina Sofia Konstantinovna

Tattooing has been a subject of study for specialists in the field of traditional cultures since the advent of anthropology and ethnography. In Modern Western culture, tattoos become markers for sailors, military personnel, travelers, and criminals. In post-Soviet culture, under the influence of the protest movements of Western culture in the 70s and 80s of the 20th century, as well as the popularization of Eastern cultures, tattooing first spread as a visual socio-cultural code of belonging to new subcultures (rockers, hippies, goths, EMO and others). Since the beginning of the 21st century, the tattoo industry has been expanding through tattoo parlors, and tattoo culture has been institutionalized at national and international festivals. Today, Russian tattooing is not only a trend in popular culture that influences fashion. Tattooing claims to be an art that responds to the personal aesthetic needs of the 21st century man associated with the ongoing discourse of corporeal (homo somatikos).

Keywords:tattooing, post-Soviet culture, visual socio-cultural code, the discourse of corporeal.