Since the beginning of the current decade, the tattoo world has known days of excellence as it never knew. If in the distant past tattoos were considered negative connotations and were attributed to very specific factions in a population such as sailors or gang members, today tattoos are an integral part of mainstream culture and are considered a popular artistic stream for all intents and purposes.

An article published several months ago in several American newspapers claimed that one in four Americans ages 18 to 50 carries at least one tattoo on his body.

Tattoo artists are so named because they create paintings that stay forever.

The question of whether a particular tattoo is an artist or just a professional is primarily related to the quality of work and the illustrative ability of each tattoo. It is important to understand, most tattoos are done within boundary lines and filled in colors within these lines - not fundamentally different from children's paintings though which requires a much more gentle and precise technique. The number of tattoos painted in a style called free hand is zero, and most are simply unwilling to take the risk. Therefore, for most tattoos and for this article, tattooing people is not an art but a skill.

Although tattoos are more common today than they ever were, Israeli society is ready to accept them only within the boundaries of good taste.

Until the early 1980s, there was a negative image in Israel and this concept also contributed to the halakhic prohibition on body tattooing, and perhaps even the role of tattoos in the Holocaust. In a gradual process, tattoos have become an integral part of world and local culture and today they are a common sight, of all ages and of all strata of the population. Is it really in our favor?

The good taste, according to the average Israeli, is tattooing in an area that is easily covered and concealed (ie not a tattoo in the neck, wrist or other hard-to-hide body part). This unwritten code book states that small-scale tattooing in a hidden area is acceptable and socially acceptable, especially for women, but still carries significant negative connotations when it is abnormal in size or appears in some visible body (in both women and men). Such tattoos have a significant impact on the tattooist's employability and image on the Israeli street.

You will always remember your first tattoo, the loss of this virginity when the needle pierces your skin thousands of times.

Any such tattoo signifies for you as it does.

The ones on my body tell me a lot of what brought me to enact them.

And there's always the thought of what the next tattoo will be.

Shimi Cohen