WEBVTT

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- Kacie Lucchini Butcher:
In 1907,

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a young Norwegian sailor
was shipwrecked in Canada,

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but instead of going back
to Norway,

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he decided to stay in Canada.

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That decision
would have a huge impact

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on the history
of American popular art.

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The sailor's name
was Amund Dietzel.

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Soon after that shipwreck,

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he began working as a tattoo
artist, and within a few years,

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he settled in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin.

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There, he became one of the
most important people

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in tattoo history.

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As someone who loves
the history of tattoos,

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I had to talk to a tattoo
historian in Milwaukee

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to learn more.

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[upbeat music]

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Take us back to the beginning.

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What is a tattoo?

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- Amelia Klem Osterud: A tattoo
is a graphic representation.

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It is a picture that someone

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who is a trained professional
of some type

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puts into your skin.

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So, the ink is put into a layer
of your skin with a needle.

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It is then permanent.

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The basic is a needle
or a sharp stick or a thorn,

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some sort of sharpened object

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that gets dipped in ink and
literally tapped into the skin.

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The tattoo machine was invented
and patented

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in the late 19th century,
and so by the 19-teens, 1920s,

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there were a lot more people
who could get their hands on

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an essentially an easier way
to tattoo

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and a quicker way to tattoo.

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- Tattoos have been around
for thousands of years.

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Some of the oldest tattoos
found on mummified remains

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date back over 5,000 years ago.

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But how do we know about this
deep history?

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Can you talk a little bit about
how we know about tattooing

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from the past?
- In lots of ways.

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So, there are definitely some
tattooed mummies out there

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from various time periods,

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but there are lots
of representations

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of humans with artwork on them
that now, looking at them,

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we can interpret as tattoos.

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There is evidence
of Greek tattoos in, like,

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representations of people
on Greek pottery.

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- For some people, tattoos hold
religious meaning.

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For some, tattoos have been done
as a health practice.

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Some people get tattoos because
they're beautiful or cool.

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With so much history,
it's not surprising to learn

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that cultures all over the world
have practiced tattooing

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for different reasons.

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- Sergio González:
What are we looking at?

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- Amelia: We are looking at some
really beautiful flash

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drawn by the Master
of Milwaukee, Amund Dietzel.

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- Flash art sheets
are an important part

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of tattooing history.

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These sheets display designs

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that were available
from a tattoo artist.

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But why are these designs
called flash?

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Some historians think it comes
from tattooing's connection

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to the circus.

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Tattoo artists would display
their flash sheets

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in a "flashy manner"
to attract the attention

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of potential customers.

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Other historians think the word
comes from how easy it is

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to select a design.

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You can choose it in a flash.

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Whatever the term's origins,
today,

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flash is how we refer
to pre-drawn designs

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that tattoo artists make
available to their customers.

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How does a Norwegian man end up
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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tattooing for a living?
- Great question.

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So, Dietzel was born in Norway
in 1891,

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and his father died
when he was a teenager,

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and he became a sailor to help
supplement family income.

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And he actually ended up
shipwrecked in Canada

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and sort of stranded,

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and then made his way
to the United States.

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He was a tattoo artist
who worked in Milwaukee

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from 1912 to 1967.

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He had learned to tattoo
onboard ship as, again,

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something one does as one passes
the time on a ship

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for months at a time.

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And he was very good.

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He was, I think, if you look at
images of tattoos in the past,

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sometimes you look at--
I look at tattoos and go,

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"Oh, that's not very good."
[Kacie laughs]

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But Dietzel's tattoos were very,
they were well done.

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He was obviously a very,
very talented artist.

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But he was also someone who
continually practiced his art.

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So, he took art classes.

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He took painting classes.

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And he tattooed thousands

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and thousands and thousands
of people in Milwaukee,

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especially during World War I
and World War II.

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He also traveled in the 19-teens
with carnivals and circuses

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as a tattooist.

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So, he both performed
as a tattooed man

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and he also tattooed
as part of his job.

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So, he would take flash places
and display it.

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And he also then displayed
this flash in his store

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to attract customers
in Milwaukee.

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- Starting in the 1870s
and 1880s,

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there were heavily tattooed
people

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who toured as a part
of circus side shows.

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At this time,
it would have been really rare

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to see a person covered
in tattoos.

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These performers traveled across
the United States and Europe,

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displaying their tattooed bodies
before paying audiences.

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Some of these tattooed people
were also tattoo artists,

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and so part of the act
would be enticing customers

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to come get a tattoo
after the show.

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While many circus performers
in side shows found community,

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good-paying jobs,
and independence,

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many were poorly treated
by circus owners.

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And while displaying
tattooed people

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introduced audiences
to this cultural practice,

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it didn't normalize
that practice,

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meaning that these shows
didn't fight negative beliefs

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around tattoos.

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And for a long time, this is
what prevented historians

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from taking tattoo history
seriously.

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Can you talk about the American
traditional tattoo style

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and what that means today?

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- Sure, so what we now call old
school or American traditional

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is a very distinct style
of tattooing.

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It is tattoos that have
generally uniform line outlines,

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limited color palette.

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So, green, yellow, red, blue,
very flat colors,

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not a lot of shading, and using
what we would think of

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as traditional, like,
early American,

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late 19th century imagery.

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Seen in, say, visual culture in
your home, in magazine drawings,

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decorations on furniture,
decorations on paper.

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They were images that they were
surrounded by in daily life

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in the end of the 19th century,
early into the 20th century.

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They became part of tattooing

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because they were
popular images.

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- What makes it American?

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Why did it develop here
in this country?

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- During World War I,
during World War II,

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obviously lots of Americans
were going off to war.

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They were getting these
commemorative tattoos,

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and tattooers were, they were
doing a lot of business.

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They were doing
a lot of tattoos,

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and so the images got simpler.

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They got quicker because if
you've got a line of people

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out the door, you've got to get
them all tattooed

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and back to their military base.

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- Amund Dietzel was a key figure

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in the American traditional
tattoo style.

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Like Amelia said, this was
originally based on images

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from popular sources like
magazines and decorative arts.

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The designs were then simplified
for speed during wartime years,

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when thousands of new soldiers

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came to tattoo shops
like Dietzel's for a tattoo.

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Dietzel's art spread through
more than just his images.

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He also trained
other tattoo artists

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who became famous
in their own right.

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This relationship between a
teacher and a student

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is an important part of how
tattooing style is maintained

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and developed over decades,
and is continued today.

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- Wait a minute, Kacie,

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that one looks a lot like one
you have on your arm.

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Did you choose that specific
tattoo?

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- I did.

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So, I've always loved
American traditional tattooing

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because of its connection
to history,

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and because I'm from Wisconsin
and I love Wisconsin so much,

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the minute that I learned
about Dietzel,

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I knew that
I wanted a Dietzel girl.

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In modern American culture,

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tattoos were historically
stigmatized.

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That means they were
looked down on

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or thought of as a lesser
art form not worthy of study.

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Sometimes that stigma got so bad
that tattooing was outlawed.

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In Milwaukee,
tattooing was made illegal

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from 1967 all the way
until the late 1990s.

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So, we're standing here
in front of this flash sheet,

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and, you know, we keep talking
about how this is art,

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and someone was thoughtful
enough to save this.

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But I think when people hear
"art,"

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they think of art in museums
and paintings,

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so why wouldn't
something like this

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have been thought of
in the same way?

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- This is art.

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These are original,
hand-drawn creations,

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but there is definitely
still a stigma.

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But I would also say that there
is a lot of art out in the world

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that isn't in museums,
and that doesn't make it less.

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That just makes it
art not in museums.

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- Tattooing is one of humanity's
oldest art forms,

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but for a long time,
historians ignored them

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or stigmatized them.

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They're an example
of how bias can get in the way

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of studying
and understanding history.

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In American visual culture,
tattoos are essential

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for understanding many
of our common symbols.

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Flags, ships, anchors all owe
something to tattoo artists

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like Milwaukee's Amund Dietzel.

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But there are still lots
of topics that need more study.

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What are some topics
you're passionate about

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that you think more people
should study?

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Maybe you can become the expert.

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- Producer: And show them off
in style.

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[Amelia laughs]

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- I have no idea what to do.

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- I know, I'm like, I've never
been asked to do that.

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- Yeah.

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[Sergio laughs]
- I forgot how normalized...

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- Did you do arms today before?