Tattoos as a means of body communication in boxers : investigating numerical and aesthetic tattooing in the Maltese boxing community

Abstract

This dissertation draws from my own experience in sports photography and aims to address the diverse significations of tattoos in sports. More specifically, I shall here be looking at tattooed individuals in the Maltese boxing scene. To achieve this, this study first contextualises and conjoins the diverse strands at stake here—tattooing, boxing, and Malta—and moves into a qualitative approach, looking at the hermeneutic and aesthetic significations of tattoos as the boxers themselves understand them. This research leads to a project based around portrait photography, where boxers are represented in two different contexts in order for the audience to engage with the diverse significations of tattooing on different levels.