This is an Apa Tani woman, from northeast India, with wooden disks in her nose and earlobes.
I'm part of the generation that brought body art back into favor in the US, but I have none of it myself. In fact, for the most part I look at my body as an abomination already, and have no interest in getting creative about it. Its job is to support my head, and it does a fine job. Other than that, it generally gets in the way.
What interests me is how people have used body art *forever*. People have always painted themselves, put holes in themselves, changed their look. It also seems to often be a symbol of one's tribe or one's position in society.
That in turn makes me wonder whether there is actually some kind of psycho-biological origin here. Something that makes us want to change our look, or to adopt the look of others.
That in turn makes me wonder how much of our racism and tribalism is actually "built in" -- an instinct to find others that look like us, that we have to actually overcome in order to build better societies.
Your thoughts?
At the same time, I would like to cover this woman's mouth with duck tape and give her the heimlich, so that the wooden things pop out and fly across the room, because that would be funny.
Your thoughts?