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‘The Pain of the Tattoo Was a Relief’: Advancing a Theory of Embodied Pain in a Study of Memorial Tattoos
Deborah Davidson
Refereed Article, 2018
Cadell, S., Lambert, M. R., Macdonald, M. E., Davidson, D., O’gorman, M., & Baljko, M. (2018). ‘The pain of the tattoo was a relief’: Advancing a theory of embodied pain in a study of memorial tattoos. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 56(6), Article e31.
Tattoos involve piercing the skin with needles to embed the ink in a design; this experience can be deeply painful. Memorial tattoos are intended to honour a person who has died. As with the tattooing act, grief often involves intense pain. The objective of our research is to investigate the meaning of memorial tattoos through photo documentation and narrative analysis. This presentation focuses on how the pain of loss is affected by the tattoo process.