Was stabbed a thousand times at bohemen
Was stabbed a thousand times at bohemen
“Happy with the result!“
The art of tattooing stetches back about a hundred thousand years, but in Ås it is considered significantly younger. A tattoo has as many uses as it has wearers. In some cultures, it has a status-enhancing role, the ink can provide spiritual protection and group integration. Is it the spiritual guidance that lures the Ås students to Bohemen at ungodly times, or is it perhaps the prospect of integration into a greater whole and clan. In this edition, Tuntreet has been given exclusive meetings with some of those who have gone under the needle.
Journalist: Anna Gjems French
Photographer: Thale Jensen Hevrøy
Translator: Hanna Pilskog
Those who became a part of something bigger.
In some cults, tattoos, branding and physical carvings are used to signify group affiliation. In the Ås culture, members crawl to Bohemen to get their mark. Around four o’clock after the semester kick-off, student and choir singer Ragnhild Aksetøy stumbled up the long stairs to Bohemen to get her mark. At that point, being an active part of the student community was under her skin, and now the girls’ choir IVAR was to be immortalized in her skin. On her ribs, described as one of the most painful tattoo locations, she got an IVARflower. It is not only Ragnhild who has let the tattoo offer at Ås become an arena for group branding, Vincent Kollbotn wandered to the terrace at Bohemen one early morning at three o’clock. He wanted everyone to know that it was he who was the leader of the Robotnik association at NMBU. He placed his trust in the association with the Robotnik-logo on his arm in the moment that took his ink-ginity. Last but not least, Tuntreet’s Synne Louise Stromme showed her group affiliation by tattooing Tuntreet’s well known “T” behind her ear – a tattoo that represents Tuntreet itself, Ås as a branch, as well as unity and free press.
Courageous animals.
On any bodega night, you can feel the animalistic tendencies of the Ås students in your bones. At Bohemen nach, the body is also popularly decorated with animals. In her own home, Lærke-trotter Helene Sylvarnes got a roaring tattoo. The inside of Helene’s finger says: “RAWR” and she wasn’t born that way. Far less common than RAWR is the combination of shrimp and cat that Ragne Anette Bjerva has on her ancle. At the time of the crime, the tattooed was very drunk and in her YOLO phase, sitting at the middle of the table at Bohemen. She herself describes that there is not much meaning behind the tattoo – thus the tattoo does not describe the dichotomy between sea life and land animals that lives in every biology student. Down south in Fredrikstad, the Ås animals have also been allowed to tun free. Pernille Høili Øhrn, humorously got a tattoo of- you guessed it – an eagle. She got the tattoo together with her sister, but little did she know then that she is studying with an equal. Hauk Øren, like Øhrn, humorously got a tattoo of a hawk on their arm, not with their sister, but with their sisters linework!
Aesthetics and spiritual protection.
It is no secret that many tattoos also serve a purely aesthetic purpose. When you are tired, drunk and on a boys’ trip to Turkey, for example, a mid-thigh tattoo of Shreck’s cheeky face appeals strongly to the aesthetic sense – at least that was the case for Håkon Bjørlin Basma. A little further west in Rhodos, Regine Finstad got a tattoo with the meaningful text “YOLO” on the inside of her lower lip. After all, the lower lip is a boring surface, perfect for filling with an artistic masterpiece like Regine’s. Fare mor planned than the aforementioned tattoos is Tuntreets editor Marie Tjelta’s tattoo. She had to go to the tattoo studio a total of four times, in what she describes as “no easy victory, a fight between me and fate itself”. Those who wait for something good rarely wait in vain, and Marie now proudly wears a colourful dandelion – and in the struggle through cancellation and artistic conflict, she shows that she is as strong as the dandelion that grows through everything, reaching for the light.
The man, the myth, the legend .
This article has given an insight into many of the creative tattoos found at Ås. A recurring theme in tattoo stories from Ås is Bohemen, but who is this man who lets students go home from a nach with fresh ink? You see him with a moose on his chest, a moth on his stomach, roses on his hips, four cats, one of which is a ghost (and the list goes on). If you haven’t already guessed it, Ronald Spro Lamarque is the tattoo artist at Bohemen. After being tattooed several times per week by apprentices for a period of time, he picked up a thing or two and made a professional investment that would immediately pay off, both in tattoos on himself and in memorable moments at Bohemen. Many might call Ronald a kind of tattoo shaman or group leader if you will. He is the man to thank for spirit(s)ual guidance, protection and group integration.
