Day 20: Wearing your heart...

There is something about popular Aussie culture that I'm still trying to get my head around. It is not something totally new to me, rather it is the fervour with which people subscribe to it that still astounds me. Yes, I am talking about the art of tattoos. Again. I have a friend who once told me: if something is important, just repeat it again and again until people get it. Anyone who's been to Queensland will KNOW the importance of tattoos here. It has to be the region worldwide with the highest number of tattoos per capita.

Now, curious as I tend to be about things I don't understand, I started giving this special demographical group special attention. Apart from a disconcerting desire to show contempt for pain, what are these people trying to convey? What message from the Other side are they trying to bring?

After days of wrestling with these questions and getting no closer to any answers (apart from coming to the conclusion that The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo would not be that extraordinary here), a sliver of light finally shone on my ignorance.

We were seated next to Mr Diamond on a plane to Sydney. For the first flight in a long time, we didn't need any of our valued electronic devices for onboard entertainment. We were treated to a live show of flex-my-chest-muscles, and an equally entertaining display of fine needlework in text and graphics.

A picture of a curvy woman in a bikini, interspersed with diamonds and currency symbols, placed around a dedication to 'Mamma & Papa' filled up one arm. The other, confoundingly, covered in scrolls containing verses from Revelations. Some thought must have gone into these, even if these same thoughts in my head would never manifest themselves on my arms. Or any other body parts, for that matter.

It is then that the thought crossed my mind: maybe some people see their bodies as a canvas for the expression of their thoughts. Maybe... it is simply a very extreme form of the age-old expression: To wear your heart on your sleave.

Or any part you still have open!