Sacred Skin – Thailand’s Spirit Tattoos, photographed last week at Suvarnaphumi International Airport in Bangkok, where it is still selling very well, has had another couple of positive mentions in the media.
Books about Thailand had this to say:
An interesting read is this book about the sak yant, Thailand’s religious tattoo tradition. Besides describing the history and religious meanings, there are also lots of interviews with people with these tattoos that will ward off evil if the owners follow the lifestyle rules of the tattoo master. The accompanying photos are beautiful.
And Bangkok’s best city magazine Bangkok 101 which made Sacred Skin its cover story back in July 2011 now recommends our book on its reading page:
Writer Tom Vater and photographer Aroon Thaewchatturat spent a year researching the history and practices behind sak yant, Thailand’s centuries-old sacred tattoo tradition, and the result was Sacred Skin: a 200-page book packed with over 170 colour photos and insightful text. Thaewchatturat’s stark studio shots compellingly capture these arcane scrawls of Khmer script, geometric forms and obscure creatures. And Vater’s words are just as revealing, delineating the origins of sak yant, and beliefs of those who wear them. Sacred Skin’s most lasting contribution to the tradition, though, will likely be its dispelling of a modern myth: that they appeal only to wayward criminals. Devotees who wear them are given a set of rules by their masters, Vater explains, which they must follow if the tattoo is to work. Or, as one devotee puts it in this remarkable book, “the sak yant is a powerful reminder for us to stay on the right path.”
