Body Painting

Body painting as applied by the
Nuba (Sudan, Africa)

Although it is impossible to know for certain, it seems likely that ancient peoples were painting there faces and bodies far before the first tattoos or piercings were innovated. By some, body painting is considered the most early form of art. The question of how many hundreds of thousands of years our ancestors may have decorated their bodies with simple paints over countless generations of hunters and gatherers is lost to the ages.

Body painting with natural pigments such as clay existed in most tribal communities such as the indigenous people of New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. In India and the Middle East, body painting is known as Mehndi. Mehndi is a form of body painting that uses dyes made from Henna. It is typically applied on brides.

Body and face painting were used for various reasons:

• Ceremonial
• Camouflage during hunting or war
• Religious

Here in the modern world, contemporary body painting has become an established media of fine art during the course of the last couple of decades. Temporary tattoo artists have broken into the world of contemporary art through the use of full body painting that became progressively more refined. The words body painting are used for large scale body art, while smaller kinds of temporary body art is referred to as temporary tattoo.

Today's top body artists use airbrush tattoos to create meaningful works of art in which the body serves as both the medium and the message that is larger than the sum of its parts. The New Zealand body painter called Joanne Gair (aka Kiwi Jo) is considered one of the world's leading body paint artist. Her art appeared in the Swimsuit Issues from Sports Illustrated from 1999 to 2009. One of her most famous works is her Disappearing Model:

The purpose of less formal body painting and face painting is often just to have some fun with one's body and enjoy a temporary change from their usual skin. The uses of informal body painting can range from face painting at the county fair to henna tattoos for young adults to full body art that looks like clothing.