Eclectic crime fiction & informed, irreverent non-fiction from Asia & beyond
“I tried to capture not just the devotees’ tattoos but who they were. My models were rather shy at first. Most of them were male and taking their clothes off for a female photographer was definitely a challenge for them. But after I had taken a few shots, their confidence increased and they conveyed a […]
Continue ReadingAdvanced reading copies from Exhibit A Books. Chuffed. Quite moved. Quite indescribable feeling… Detective Maier is on his way…. into hell and back….and a book shop near you!!!
Continue ReadingLast month, we had a visit from veteran tattooist Bruce Bart and his wife Jennifer. They were on an Asian road trip and were looking for a tattoo master in Thailand. Their search, quite an adventure, eventually led them to Sacred Skin and to the house I share with my wife, photographer Aroon Thaewchatturat. This […]
Continue ReadingSacred Skin receives a great review from Danny Keens, Producer of 60 Minutes, on Amazon. Wonderful!!! When I stumbled upon this print collaboration between author Tom Vater and photographer Aroon Thaewchatturat I was taken completely by surprised and totally mesmerized. You see, I’m not the sort of person who would have considered a tattoo and […]
Continue ReadingThe Orissa Post in India has rerun my very first story on Thailand’s sacred tattoos. The Illustrated Kill Convention originally ran in The Fortean Times (amazingly that story is still online but the first paragraphs are missing, eating by time or digital weasels, one assumes) in the UK in 2003 and subsequently in, dare I […]
Continue ReadingDen CityTrip Angkor Wat gibt es bei Amazon. Alle Bilder, inklusive diesem hier, von Aroon Thaewchatturat. Excellent promo shot by Aroon Thaewchatturat!!! who also took the pictures in this guide to the Khmer ruins. Published in November 2012.
Continue ReadingTaiwan’s tattoo magazine Extreme Tattoo featured an 8 page spread on Sacred Skin in its December Issue!!! The spread includes many images from the book and an interview with photographer Aroon Thaewchatturat. Sacred tattoos, called sak yant in Thailand, have been around Southeast Asia for centuries and afford protection from accident, misfortune, and crime. Young […]
Continue ReadingSacred Skin, the first English language book on Thailand’s spirit tattoos continues to sell well. Photographed by Aroon Thaewchatturat and written by myself, the book was originally published in July 2011. Copies of the book’s second edition, hot off the press, are out now, as Australian journalist Flip Prior noticed while out shopping in Bangkok […]
Continue ReadingIn ein thailändisches Kloster, ins Wat Bang Phra, kommen Gläubige, um sich tätowieren zu lassen. Buddhistische Mönche übertragen mit den heiligen Tätowierungen spirituelle Kräfte. Dem Volksglauben nach mobilisieren diese magischen Tatoos verborgene Energien. Ernst Weber besuchte vor einigen Jahren das Kloster mit dem deutschen Schriftsteller Tom Vater und dessen Frau Aroon. Aroon Thaewchatturat ist Ethnobotanikerin […]
Continue ReadingBangkok 101, the Thai capital’s city magazine features Sacred Skin in its December issue. 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. The result was Sacred Skin: a 200-page book packed with over 170 colour photos and insightful text. […]
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