SPECIAL GUEST

MAURIZIO FIORINI
Maurizio Fiorini was born in 1929 in Montelupo, a a medieval village near Florence.

Just twelve sees his first tattoo on the arm of an Ambrogiana  prisoner and remains deeply affected. During his military service, when twenty years old, Maurizio had his first tattoo and since then until today ... his skin speaks for itself.

He was interviewed and photographed by numerous magazines and has participated in various  TV shows like Maurizio Costanzo Show and more.

During thirty years as a tattoo artist (and tattooed) has won many awards for his career.

His tattoo's shop in Florence, has always been a real sea port, where for years, many young people have passed with the desire to learn this art and, with his great satisfaction, they mostly have done it. .

Maurizio is author of THE SIGN OF COURAGE

Dr. Dario Piombino-Mascali
Biography: Dr. Dario Piombino-Mascali, anthropologist and essayist, he was trained at the Universities of Leicester and Pisa. He is currently senior researcher at the EURAC in Bolzano, where he does his research on the scientific study of human mummies from various sources. Cooperate, as science writer, with some of the most prestigious national and international newspapers. His book, "The Master of Eternal Sleep" (2009), centered on the embalmer Palermo Alfredo Salafia, is now at its third edition..

SPEAKING PRESENTATIONS:
November 6th -7th:THE MUMMY OF SIMILAUN AND HIS TATTOOS.
The mummy of Similaun, known as the Iceman, is a finding of fundamental scientific importance, and allowed to get a glimpse of prehistoric life through a series of careful archaeological and anthropological studies. In the summer of 2007, Bolzano EURAC has launched a new scientific Institute to study the scientific evidence produced after the discovery in 1991 until today. It was also possible to start research projects for a better understanding of this unique discovery. The intervention focuses on the latest scientific findings related to Iceman, and, specifically, his many tattoos. 

"LARS KRUTAK"
Biography: Dr. Lars Krutak is a cultural anthropologist, photographer, and writer who has travelled the indigenous world for over ten years documenting the vanishing traditions of tribal tattooing.
Krutak first discovered his passion for tattooing as a graduate student at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks where he studied the 2000-year-old tradition of St. Lawrence Island Yupik tattoo amongst the last generation of practitioners for his Master's thesis.
Since then, he has appeared on three National Geographic television documentaries, hosted the 10-part Discovery Channel television series Tattoo Hunter: Global Ink, and was a co-recipient of the 2003 American Book Award in Literature. Today, he works in the Department of Anthropology at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.   

In his continued effort to understand how tattoos and other forms of body modification ‘make’ the people who wear them, Lars has acquired many traditional tattoos including hand-tapped work from the Iban of Borneo, Kalinga of the Philippines, Mentawai of Indonesia;  hand-poked tattoo art from Theravada Buddhist monks in Thailand; and hand-pricked designs from the Kayabi of the Brazilian Amazon. He also wears approximately one thousand razor and knife-cut scars across his body received from other groups like the Kaningara of Papua New Guinea, the Bétamarribé of Benin,the Hamar of Ethiopia, and the Makonde of Mozambique.

Krutak's tattoo research is regularly published internationally in TätowierMagazin (Germany), Skin Deep (UK), and Skin & Ink Magazine (USA) as well as online media outlets like www.vanishingtattoo.com and his personal website www.larskrutak.com.

SPEAKING PRESENTATIONS
November 5th. Dr. Krutak will screen select episodes of Discovery Channel’s Tattoo Hunter: Global Ink and follow with a question and answer period to discuss the making and results of the series.

November 6th. Dr. Krutak will present a lecture on the origins and history of tribal tattooing from the 7000-year-old tattoos of the Chinchorro people of South America, to the 5500-year-old Iceman and more contemporary forms of indigenous tattooing.

November 7th. Dr. Krutak will present an illustrated lecture on the spiritual and magical meanings of tribal tattooing drawn from 15 years of field research. Lars will also speak about his recent 2010 expedition to Nagaland, India, where he documented many new forms of tattoos amongst the last generation of Naga tattoo bearers, many of which were former headhunters.

BOOK BOOTH
Lars will have a book booth at the Convention ,with his publisher Matthias Reuss. He will be offering for sale signed copies of THE TATTOOING ARTS OF TRIBAL WOMEN (2007) which is the first book to focus on the indelible traditions and artistry of tribal women worldwide. This lavishly illustrated account (300+ images) of the vanishing art of women's tribal tattooing spans five continents and examines the history and significance of ethnic tattoos and tattooing rituals. Designs from around the globe offer enthusiasts many new design ideas and artistic concepts.

Krutak will also offer signed copies of his new book KALINGA TATTOO ART (2010). This photographic masterwork (600+ illustrations) explores the vanishing art of Kalinga tribal tattooing in the remote mountains of the northern Philippines. Combining the visionary talents of numerous international photographers and the words and stories of nearly fifty Kalinga elders, Kalinga Tattoo Art is the first book to tell the story of this incredibly rich tradition of indigenous body art that is believed to be 1000 years old.