Painting |
| Body painting can transform a person into a spirit, a work of art, another gender or even a map of a sacred place. It can emphasize visual appeal, express allegiance or provide a protective and empowering coating. Protective body paints often feature in initiation rituals, weddings and funerals -- all occasions of transition and of spiritual danger. People everywhere adorn the living, and some also treat the dead, with body paint. To make body paint, pigments composed of plant extracts or mineral clays and powders can be mixed with vegetable oil or animal fat. Throughout history, the substances used for body paint have been important trade items. Ochre, camwood, cinnebar, and kaolin were traded throughout Asia, Africa and Europe.
Of all the forms of body art, body painting is the most temporary. Many designs painted on the body are specific to a certain event, or are used to mark a particular occasion. Temporary transformation allows an individual to create a different short term identity, whereas more permanent forms of body art, such as tattooing and scarification mark a person forever (or are at least costly and difficult to remove).
|
Henna,
used as a temporary skin dye, was widely traded in the Muslim world
along with patterns and designs used to apply it. Commercially manufactured
body paints, now available in a wider palette, may be adopted for
their visual appeal but they rarely take on the symbolic significance
of natural paints and dyes.