http://www.theafricareport.com/North-Africa/trend-hunter-a-tattoo-in-cairo.html

Posted on Friday, 17 July 2015 15:34

Trend hunter: A tattoo in Cairo

By Sophie Anmuth in Cairo

Photo©Razan Alzayani/AP/SIPA

Although tattoos have long been popular among Copts – a small cross on the palm or wrist is common – they are still frowned upon by conservative Muslims. "Three years ago I used to tattoo only four or five people a week," says Orne Gil from her living-room-cum-tattoo-parlour in Cairo. "Now it's around twenty a week."

One on my back which is a big dreamcatcher, and a lion face shaped like Africa on my leg

The 27-year old Venezuelan opened her salon, Nowhereland, in the upscale cosmopolitan neigh- bourhood of Zamalek after starting with an underground studio in Mohandessin.
In its laid-back atmosphere clients ogle tattoo posters and listen to Nirvana and The Clash.
"The tattoo culture is still very new here," says Gil, who held a convention last year to show off the art form, and plans to host another in November.
Although tattoos have long been popular among Copts – a small cross on the palm or wrist is common – they are still frowned upon by conservative Muslims.
The Egyptian fatwa house takes no clear position on the subject, say Mony Helal and Alia Fadaly, co-owners of The Ink Shop, also in Zamalek.
But for Cairo urbanites tattoos are becoming a cool trend: well-travelled, well-spoken yuppies request designs of stars and butterflies, their children's names or inspirational quotes.
Hala al Boghdadi, the 34-year-old owner of a dog hotel, got her two tattoos in the past year: "One on my back which is a big dreamcatcher, and a lion face shaped like Africa on my leg."
Gil's Swedish business partner Kitty, better known as the 'Piercing Doctor', says: "Most of the clients come wanting a tattoo but not knowing what. Orne has to play the shrink to know what they really want."
The number of practitioners is growing apace, which Gil finds "worrying, as there are hardly any regulations in this country".
But her growing list of professional clients suggests Egyptian body art is no longer
something to hide. ● Sophie Anmuth in Cairo