Russian criminals' tattoos : Art in hell
(via Eye magazine)
If you haven’t yet familiarized yourself with the inner-most workings of the Russian criminal underground, then take a look at Danzig Baldayev’s encyclopedia that chronicles his experience with Russian prison tattoos. Baldayev spent over 30 years documenting and translating some 3,600 tattoos while working as a prison guard in the notorious St. Petersburg Kresty prison. Leather-bound tome, aptly titled Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopedia, will go great next to your collection of Italian, Colombian and Mexican mafia books.
Rougher and less defined than the clean lines and vibrant colors found in western commercial tattooing, Russian prison tattoos vary greatly even from their American criminal counterparts. That’s because in prison ink is in short supply, so inmates melt tires or the soles of their shoes to make due. Still practiced today, and even in some U.S. prisons, the melted rubber is mixed with urine to produce the end result.
The genesis of much of the tradition dates back over 70 years, when Russia’s involvement in WWII required its leader, Joseph Stalin, to use every resource at his disposal to battle the Axis powers. Sometime around 1942, Stalin promised freedom to prison inmates across the Soviet empire in return for military service. When the newly commissioned soldiers fulfilled their obligation, they were sent back to the prison system to face those they had betrayed.
Known as the Thieves World, this was a well-established network of prisoners and they didn’t take kindly to traitors. These returning traitors were called "Suki"{, the Russian word for "Bitch". The bitches (although I would hesitate use to a dreadfully word as such) banded together, but also formed tight bonds with the prison staff, all of whom were veterans of the Soviet military themselves. This is probably how Baldayev was able to gain access to the far reaches of this criminal undercurrent and to the secret meanings of their elaborate tattoos. One of the rules of the Thieves World code of conduct is that you do not cooperate with the government. Baldayev was obviously an extension of that government.
Had Stalin not created this rift in the Russian criminal underground, we wouldn’t know the meanings of these ink-soaked images.
