tattooing kit

unrecorded Hawazma artist, artist

tattooing kit, 1983–1984

Where object was made: Kurdufān (present-day Southern Kordofan), Sudan

Material/technique: ceramic; metal; bile; wood; lampblack

Dimensions:
Object Height/Diameter (Height x Diameter): c) 4 x 6 cm
Object Height/Diameter (Height x Diameter): 1 9/16 x 2 3/8 in

Credit line: Museum purchase: KUEA Funds

Accession number: 2007.0250.a,b,c

Not on display

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This tattooing kit consists of 24 needles bound with string, a small wooden stirring stick, and a white ceramic cup. The Hawazma peoples of the Sudan region in Africa used these items to tattoo the lips of young girls. The tattooer would pierce the girl’s lip with the needles, dispersing the ink into the skin through the small needle punctures. The ink was made from lampblack (black pigment made from soot) mixed with animal bile (an alkaline liquid secreted by the liver). Tattooing likely developed from a long-standing tradition of female scarification. Today, elder Hawazma women have scars, while the young bear tattoos.