Telltale Tattoos: Collecting and Displaying Stories of Tattoos and Memory
10:40 - 11:30 am | undergraduate panel session II
Bertolon Central Classroom Building room 113Students who worked on the "Telltale Tattoos: Tapestries of Memory" project with
faculty mentor Margo Shea will discuss research, interviews, curation, design, and project management.
The project began as a class discussion in Dr. Margo Shea’s Salem State University History course, Introduction to Public History, in the fall semester of 2023. The course explored themes of heritage, memory and the different ways we have of representing the past. We realized, “Tattoos are memorials!” The class decided to reach out to peers and classmates at Salem State and ask them to share their tattoo stories. Students interviewed members of the SSU community about their tattoo stories. We invited people to share specifically how tattoos enable them to connect to the past on their terms.
Our online exhibit, “Telltale Tattoos: A Tapestry of Memory” is the result. Complete with research into the history of tattoos, interpretation of research into tattoos and memorials, and a curated thematic collection of tattoos, the online digital exhibit is available here:
https://ssutelltaletattoos.wordpress.com/
