Tattoos can be silly or meaningful, big or small, but every tattoo can make for a good story. Students said they love their tattoos for daily reminders, paying homage to a personal anecdote or just for making good conversation with others.
Senior Courtney Wisniewski has six tattoos, which she said range from having direct correlations to her life experiences to having no meaning at all. She said she got her first three during various trips to Argentina.
Wisniewski said her first tattoo has a special tie to her uncle, who gave her a bracelet when she was younger — the bracelet had a symbol from a tribe that displayed a repeating pattern of a sun facing up and down. She said it represents the idea that the sun will always rise and always set as it is a constant in everyone’s life.
“If you’re angry or had a bad day, you still have the blessing that you have another chance — every day is a new chance at life,” Wisniewski said.
Wisniewski also has a tattoo of a phrase that serves as a daily reminder in her life. While studying abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina, she got a tattoo of the word “tranquila” across the back of her arm. Wisniewski described the phrase as a term Argentines use for everything, essentially meaning “take it easy.”
“They say it to everything, and it’s such a way of life there,” Wisniewski said. “Nothing is that serious to them — they don’t take their situation too seriously, they just take it easy.”
Similar to Wisniewski, first-year Tabitha Vanderhost also got a tattoo while spending time outside the United States. Out of her four tattoos, Vanderhost said the one from Spain during her gap year is one of her favorites.
“It’s super meaningful to me, even though it’s just a smiley face on my middle finger,” Vanderhost said. “It was a stick and poke done by my host sister, who is now a tattoo artist, so it’s a cool memory of Spain and my host sister.”
Senior Isabella Joiner has three tattoos, having gotten her first one in the summer of 2022. Her first tattoo is a cracked vase full of flowers, which she said has a dual meaning — the vase is representative of Isaiah 64:8, while the flowers have a more personal meaning, Joiner said.
“The flowers are for growth,” Joiner said. “I got through a really hard year, and it’s kind of when I grew the most in my faith and as a person.”
Joiner had the idea for this tattoo for a while but waited until her sophomore year — which she viewed as the perfect time — to get it.
“I wanted to get something that symbolized that despite all the hardships I had gone through, I was able to persevere,” Joiner said. “It serves as a reminder of that and as a reminder of what my faith has meant to me and has done for me.”
Vanderhost also has a tattoo of flowers, which she said is her favorite and most meaningful one. She got this tattoo in October 2022, and the drawing includes six flowers, each of which was drawn by her family members.
“I gave them each a piece of paper and told them to draw a flower,” Vanderhost said. “So, I had my artist piece them together into one bouquet, and it’s so special to me.”
Joiner also has a tattoo representative of her family members. In December, Joiner decided to pay homage to her parents through a new tattoo.
“The hummingbird is for my mom because they’re her favorite bird,” Joiner said. “And, every time I’ve gone through something hard, I’ve always seemed to see a hummingbird outside.”
Joiner’s tattoo depicts a postage stamp with the outline of a hummingbird in the middle, with the number 67 as the price in the bottom left corner. She said the 67 is representative of her dad’s birth year.
Vanderhost said there is something to be said about the stigma of tattoos and believes that it is ultimately one’s own choice to do with their body what they please.
“Your body is a place where you get to be creative with it and make it your own,” Vanderhost said. “Tattoos are such a good opportunity to represent who you are and what’s meaningful to you.”
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Contact Amanda Monahan via email: amanda.monahan@pepperdine.edu
