EnglishRussia, which previously brought us the bizarro entry on a very odd tattooed bodybuilder, today posted an entry with a large series of portraits of tattooed criminals (I’m not sure where webpark.ru plagiarized this from; if someone knows the real source, please feel free to post it). Click through for the whole set.
Comments
26 responses to ““Russian Criminal Tattoos””
Eastern Promises comes to mind.
Awesome photos.
There is two conventions coming up in Moscow that I’d love to attend.
those are some really nice photos.
the photos are really interesting i cant remember if it was on the history channel or National geographic channel where they talked about prison tattoos, it was probably on Taboo on NGC, any way the hip bone and around pubic area tattoo in prison is given to you forcefully and means your someone’s bitch and you got raped.
The photos are great…it strikes me as strangely beautiful however that criminals that look so hardened are in such feminine and relaxed poses.
The meanings of the symbols (these links) are fascinating.
Laurel, I totally agree.
It really struck me that very often these men were in “sexy” poses. I like what that added to the photos…
Roo, thanks for the meanings… relly interesting. I’ll never view an of those tattoos the same way again. 🙂
striking portraits of these men, very interesting
I’m stunned by these photos by how beautiful they are. Amazing.
I’m actually surprised no one’s found these guys hot yet 😉
Like others already said, a very interesting post. Seeing how almost all online articles about body art/ tattoos have the same opening lines about tattoos being once something for people living outside the society, it’s good to be aware of this aspect of body art. I like that whenever I come across some older guys with not that good tattoos, done probably in the army or in prison, we check ourselves out and I bet they have a hard time to figure what I’m actually after with my tattoos.
This is apropos: http://www.markofcainfilm.com/
Very poignant and beautiful photographs.
Can someone explain why one of the photos on EnglishRussia has lego men? 🙂
very interesting photos indeed. very down and dirty and real., even if the quality isn’t that spectacular it still has a lot of energy that envokes respect and appreciation.
Although I will say with current Russian Tattoo Artists and the documentation of pass Russian tattoo conventions…The Russian’s are definitely putting out some amazing detailed tattoos lately.
awesome photos!
i have always been interested in russian culture,i find it amazing personally, and i like a lot this photos.thank you for posting this ;D
the photos are by donald weber
http://www.donaldweber.com/2007
http://www.fuel-design.com/index.php?menu=3&pic=265&detail=1
Interesting.
http://pwedverniusuk.blogspot.com/2007/11/russian-mafia-tattoo-sergue-vassiliev.html
I’m not sure if this is his work or not, but.
wow thanks Kelli
that was so intriguing to see
tattooed women like that 🙂
@ms:
thanks for the link,i love his photography.that site is awesome.
amazing work!
greats portraits
Striking portraits and interesting site.
Haha #14 noticed too!! They’re all so dark and artsy and then there’s random lego men! With accessories even!
wow! haven’t seen that in a while. i’m a russian myself and i know a couple of guys that went to prisons. people on this pictures are the ones that rub the prisons. notice that most of the tattoos are religious. this is high rank tattoo.
Thank you Shannon. I’m fascinated by Russian prison tattoos!