Years before Adrienne Rich would write in Of Woman Born that ”
[women] need to imagine a world in which every woman is the
presiding genuis of her own body,” 19th century Western women
began exploring skin modification through the art of tattoo.
Margot Mifflin’s recently reissued Bodies of Subversion is more
than just a photographic history of this deep subculture. It is
a close study of women during a period of historic limitations
and social mobility, beginning to break barriers by exploring
alternative ideas of beauty and self expression. Originally
released in 1997, Bodies of Subversion was the only account of
the origins of female tattoo art in Western culture, providing a
fascinating journey into a subculture from 19th century with
many never-before-seen photos of tattooed women. Mifflin
recounts the lives of early women tattooists, as well as
presents extensive research exploring tattoo over the 20th
century, drawing parallels between the increase in tattoo and
social and cultural trends in the women’s