This project examines the human body not only as a surface for inscription but also as a fundamental site where writing, materiality, and identity converge.

Among the diverse materials historically used for the written artefacts, the human body represents a fundamentally distinct category of inscribed space. Unlike conventional, inanimate writing support, this biological canvas is inherently dynamic; inscription is applied directly to a living, changing organism. Within the broader practice of tattooing, script tattoos represent a particular form of textuality based on established writing systems. In this context, these embodied inscriptions operate at the vital intersection of text, materiality, and human identity.

Tattooing spans more than five millennia, fulfilling a vast array of social, cultural, and individual functions. Varying widely across historical periods, geographical regions, and cultures. These practices include instances where tattoos operated as expressions of personal identity, social affiliation, or religious devotion, as well as cases of institutional enforcement, such as the punitive marking of criminals and the identification of enslaved individuals. Although the practice is ancient, its systematic scholarly investigation only began to mature over the past two centuries. Early nineteenth-century foundations laid by scholars such as Henry Ling Roth, Wilhelm Joest, and Alexandre Lacassagne examined tattooing from their distinct disciplinary perspective, paving the way for subsequent research across sociology, psychology, medicine, the humanities, and beyond.

Even with this growing body of research, script tattoos have rarely been examined within a unified, interdisciplinary framework that treats them specifically as written artefacts. Addressing this gap, this project investigates script tattoos as embodied writing that transcends literal semantics. It examines how textual meanings unfolds at the intersection of text, the body, and lived experience.

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People

Project Lead:

• Thomas Jacobsen

Research Associate:

• Selina Weiler
• Okan Aytekin

Duration

• 2026–2029