#DieselReboot

*London

Soviet prisoners: criminal tattoo as "secret code language"

I posted about Russian Criminal Tattoo encyclopaedia and related small exhibit of photographs "Bodies As Text" in London.

The photo above I spotted recently in Saatchi gallery (London) as part of broader exhibit of Russian (ex-Soviet) art.

More about the author Sergei Vasiliev here: "Taken between 1989 and 1993, Sergei Vasiliev’s photographs of Soviet prisoners document the secret code language of criminals in the USSR, evidence of a gritty spirit of picaresque resistance within a violently repressive culture."

Yerevan Diaries: Tattoo man

*Cafesjian Museum of Modern Art

Letters @ Unzipped: Experience at Yerevan cafe

[...] There's some really interesting things happening in Yerevan in terms of gay and lesbian culture, issues, and rights. Your blog has been a HUGE help for me in understanding things. I am in Yerevan for the first time and I felt totally lost, but your thoughts give me a pretty good navigation of things. 

Also, in terms of the "there are no gays in Yerevan" discourse, I had a really interesting experience at a cafe one morning. I have tattoos all over my body and the waiter came up to me and started to ask me about them. I said that I try to hide them as much as I can (which is hard because it's so hot here!) and he said that people here have them too but they hide them. They hide a lot of things. Then he leaned in really close and said "There's a lot of gays in Armenia but they keep it secret." I have been stuck on the affect of this moment for a couple of weeks now. I keep thinking about it. Why did he tell me this? Did he read me as queer and so decided I was a safe person to talk to about it? Was it his way of coming out to me? Was he just picking up on my sexuality and wanted to let me know that there were people like me here? I'm still rather confused. I talked to my father about it, who lived in Yerevan years ago, and he says that if I look different, my tattoos, piercings, etc., then I most likely also gay. But I don't buy into that. 

I don't know what it was about that moment but I cannot get past it. Any thoughts? [...]

T.S.

Very different Ricky Martin - in nude and arty...

This is a video made back in 2007. Back then, few years ago, I wanted to post it on my blog, but it was almost instantly taken out from the all main video sharing websites, like YouTube etc. I have saved this as a draft so that one day, when it re-appears again, I'd post it. The day has come :) Couple of days ago, Ricky Martin tweeted a link to this video, which re-emerged after he came out. Many news outlets confused this as a new video, but it is not. It was made in 2007 for Ricky Martin's "Black and White Tour", directed by singer's friend Dago Gonzales.

I really liked this video. Hope you'll enjoy it too. I am posting this with the same title as I saved in draft in 2007.

Boris Moiseev - Tattoo

Russian Criminal Tattoos

Time Out's review (below) of this small photo exhibition (9 photos only) was more exciting than the exhibition itself. Still, was interesting, and did not know that there is Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopedia. (more on the Encyclopedia - Unzipped)

"Subtitled Bodies as Text, this exhibition consists of black and white photographs by Sergei Vasiliev taken to accompany thousands of drawings of prisoners' tattoos compiled between 1948 and 2005 by ethnographer and fellow prison warden Danzig Baldaev. The tattoos, coded symbols and illustrations created with inks made from soot, sugar, ashes and urine, are sometimes are applied forcibly by one inmate to another. They denote the prisoners' crimes and political allegiances and their rank in the prison hierarchy and, recognising the usefulness of Baldaev's research, the KGB supported its supplementation and authentication by Vasiliev's pictures. The illustrations and photographs have been compiled by publisher Fuel in the Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopedia."

French-Armenian designer Charles Anastase at London Fashion Week

BBC: An eclectic show by London-based French-Armenian designer Charles Anastase ranged from rock-star leather to Pierrot-style make-up, with painted tattoos somewhere in between. (picture above - AP, via BBC)

Guardian (AP): "Anastase's autumn/winter collection was one of the day's hottest tickets. The French/Armenian designer who is based in London, showed eclectic ideas which included leather jackets, soft pastel draping and a top with drawn-on lips and the slogan "I'm in training don't kiss me". One model wore Pierrot-style make-up with a whitened face, another was painted with tattoos while some had bare faces except for a smudge of silver lipstick."

Grazia London writes about Charles Anastase's punk fashion statement: "Il Bottacio was heavy with fashion heavy-weights and hipsters to see what Charles Anastase, the French Armenian who decamped to London from Paris last season, would do next. Turns out he really arrived. Daisy Lowe, Pixie Geldof and an assortment of hip Parisian girls with almost chic dark circles under their eyes lined the runway. From the moment the first model stomped out in Marc Bolan T-Rex (or if you were born post 1985) platform boots, skinny legs encased in purple denim, you knew this was gonna be cool. And so it came to pass.

The collection was inspired by the idea that a bunch of cool, rebellious (French) teenagers had broken into a crumbling French Chateau and squatted it. While there they mixed their purple jeans, striped leggings, defaced biker jackets, cardigans and said muddied platform boots and trend-blended it with the contents of the Chateau’s wardrobes, as well as with curtains and blankets from the various bed-chambers. The result was a crazy clash of styles. [...]"

July stars provides some interesting bio details: "London born Charles Anastase was schooled at the French Lycée in South Kensington and is of French/Armenian roots. He credits his family for the success he has achieved and has stated that they are the most important thing in his life. Family and friends are apparently involved in everything he does. [...] He began his career as an illustrator despite having studied political science. [...] His army of fans include Alexa Chung, Yasmin Sewell, Beth Ditto and Kylie Minogue among many others. [...]"

*photo of Charles Anastase - via London Fashion Week

"The biggest SOAD fan" tattooed Serj Tankian's entire poem on her body

She is the winner of the "biggest SOAD fan" contest, as reported by the SOAD blog: "In addition to the pogo mushroom tattoo on her wrist and the SOAD posters all over her room, she has the ENTIRE Serj Tankian poem "Misunderstood Rose" tattooed on the side of her body!"