The full story behind this tattoo can be found here. In short, Damian Niolet wanted to both commemorate his departure from the U.S. Air Force after 10 years and showcase his newfound allegiance to peace. In order to achieve both objectives, he turned the U.S. Air Force logo upside-down and placed it on his back. The gesture is not meant to disparage military personnel, but it is intended to cast aspersions on the military branches themselves. However, ultimately, the tattoo is meant to call attention to the mechanisms which created and perpetuate their existences. Damian has a robust plan for undermining each and we'll all simply have to stay tuned to his blog for its gradual unfurling.
NOTE: Our website is in a proof-of-concept phase. We will be updating it in due time with robust features that allow you to conduct searches for your preferred tattoos. Damian's upside-down Air Force logo tattoo is simply meant to serve as a placeholder. The logos of the various military branches will NOT be offered here in Inked for Peace's "flashfolio." All of the squares on the main "Tattoos" page will eventually be filled with tattoo designs meant to bring peace to various issues in our world, such as bullying, domestic abuse, police brutality, etc. How we will fill those spaces is by holding tattoo design competitions. Anyone (though tattooists tend to know best what works on skin) will be able to submit a design for the competition and the winning design, after being chosen by votes, will be offered as a 100% FREE peace-inspiring tattoo. The designer will also be featured in their own square on the "Artists" page. We are currently holding just such a competition for bullying and already have peopled ready to "wear" it proudly. We know we're not the only worth-while organization out there promoting peace, so we'll also offer the logos of nonprofits, such as Veterans for Peace, Coexist, Peace One Day, etc. We have to work out agreements with those organizations before they will appear in our "flashfolio." You certainly don't have to wait for our "flashfolio" to grow before requesting a FREE tattoo. Make as many requests as you like right now. You'll be entered into the queue and we'll do our best to fulfill your request. You will, however, have to wait a bit longer if you have custom tattoo requests as we will not be able to offer the crowdsourcing service until we have a cadre of tattoo artists at the ready.
