Russian criminal tattoos as fashion designs

Russia is a country where every third man has either done time or been through the camps during the Soviet era. The "Bosses" and "God-Fathers" in the Kremlin knew the value of free labor. So it's not surprising that some of my own family had been through the Soviet prison system. Its also not surprising that when we went to the beach in Russia, prison tattoos were abundant. I remember looking at the tattoos as a young child, images of religious icons, cathedrals, devils, cats, etc. I was fascinated, I must been like 7 or 8. I didn't even know they were called criminal tattoos. That name didn't come to mind until the Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia came out. In Russian they were called simply, nakolki, a slang word for tattoos.

There was a time not too long ago when the images on these shirts stood for anti-authority, pride, honor and freedom. Freedom in a country where being a sheep was expected from all citizens. In a country where people were told how to live, what to say and what to think. The bodies that bore these images belonged to men and women who wouldn't bow down to the communist machine and decided to live life by their own laws. Be it good or bad, it was a choice they made and most stuck to it for their whole lives. They became wolves instead of sheep and recognized only the law of man (human law). They had their own code and their own courts. Meht

The images in our designs are inspired by old Russian criminal tattoos that were about standing up to the powers that be and baring your teeth, about not selling your soul to the government. These tattoos were also a very diverse system of codes and information that can be read and deciphered by others in the know. With the MIR line, we try to give you a small glimpse into this old Russian sub-culture and understand its meanings and symbolism with the descriptions of each tattoo design.

The stigma of these tattoos has faded over the last 2 decades and this art and its images are slowly disappearing. MIR aims to keep the "Anti" alive for just a bit longer.

That brings me to how MIR came about. After I first saw the books, I knew that T-shirts and apparel with the tattoos is not too far away. The images are just too powerful and rebellious. A few years passed and I was working in a tattoo shop and started noticing more and more people were coming in with the Encyclopaedia and asking to get an image from the books. We turned them away mostly, because the shop was owned by Russians and we didn't think it was a good idea to tattoo most of the stuff from the books on someone that knows close to nothing about that world and sub-culture. At that time I thought it would be cool if I could offer those people a T-shirt with the image as a sort of "consolation prize." Plus a part of me also wanted to spread this fascinating Russian underground art to more people. A way for people to share their appreciation for this art with others. So I grabbed my friend Val who had a t-shirt line at the time and knew the ins and outs, and we started MIR with 10 designs and under 100 t-shirts. We have grown over the past few years but have a lot more in store.

DISCLAIMER: ALL THE TATTOOS THAT ARE USED ON THE SHIRTS ARE FROM 50'S AND 60'S AND DO NOT PROCLAIM U TO HAVE ANY ASSOCIATION WITH, RANK, OR STATUS IN ANY CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION OR CODE. SOME OF THE SHIRTS ARE HUMOROUS AND SOME ARE COMMEMORATIONS OF AN ERA THAT HAS GONE BY, BUT IS NOT FORGOTTEN. SO DON'T WORRY, YOU'LL BE SAFE =).

Eyes-On-Knees-1

Full of Love. The eyes tattoo has various meanings. It can mean that the wearer has an extra pair of eyes watching out. It can also mean that he/she has eyes ON her all the time, like in a prison for instance. The words under the eyes translate to "Full of Love".

Mir-Eagle

German eagle MIR logo. The German eagle has been around for centuries. The eagle is one of my favorite symbols and it stands for strength, power and anti-establishment. In Russian prison subculture, German symbolism was usually meant to show disdain for the system and the government and I believe that in some societies it is still valid today. The eagle conveys the message "Strike first, Don't wait for them to hit you!" MIR is a Russian word for "world". But its an acronym for "Menya Ispravit Rastrel" meaning "Execution will Reform Me".

Top-Hat-Owl

Safe Cracker Owl. The Owl design was first tattooed around the early 40's and usually meant that u were a burglar or a safe-cracker (hence the owl sitting on a crowbar). Kat. is an abbreviation of the Russian word "Katorzhnik" which means "sentenced to hard-labor", though "hard" was probably a soft word for it. If you made it through one of those camps and lived then you were one tough, resilient s.o.b. It was first applied back in the Tzarist Camps (1800-1917). The combination of the two may have been tattooed in memory of those who died in those camps or simply just to scare others.

Capped-Cat

Cat. The cat has been a symbol in Russian criminal tattoo culture since the beginning, partly because the cat abides by it's own rules. There are many variations of the cat tattoo. The cat symbolizes a thief that is good at what he does. This tattoo can show a man's or woman's connection with the criminal world. The word CAT or "KOT" (in Russian)is an acronym as are many other normal words that are tattooed. KOT stands for "Korenoi Obitatel' Tyurmi" or "Native occupant of Jail" as in Jail is my second home. This particular cat tattoo was also an anti-Soviet symbol and meant that the wearer disliked the current administration and the Soviet authorities as a whole. Mainly it was to show that the wearer, much like this cat, was a baaaad mother....shut your mouth=)))

Cat-Lock

Pussy Lock. The Pussy Lock is a woman's tattoo that was usually worn below the belly button and is self-explanatory.

Proud-Drunkard

Hooligan. This was a tattoo of a man who was convicted twice in the 1930's of penal code 74, which is disorderly conduct/public intoxication or as they say in Russian, hooliganism.

Lenin-Bop

Lenin BOP tattoo. A popular anti-authority tattoo but it has double meaning as do many other tattoos from that era. The letters underneath Lenin spell VOR, the Russian word for thief (which Lenin definitely was). But the letters are also an acronym that stand for Leader of October Revolution. So if an inmate was hassled by administration, he could always state that he was just really patriotic.

The Antisocial Network. This is a tattoo worn by prisoners from the "antisocial" group, indicating absolute indifference to everything that is happening. The text is an iconic saying in Russian slang that translates roughly to "I couldn't give a damn". The light bulb makes up the last word. This expression was in use by criminals as well as regular Soviet population. Basically it can be for "anti-anything and everything".

See more designs at MIR.

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norskamerikansk

Yes, the Russian mob is admirable and cool.
http://gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Russia.htm

How about new line of hip human trafficking t-shirts?
Anonymous

“They became wolves instead of sheep and recognized only the law of man (human law). They had their own code and their own courts.”

how very romantic.
Anonymous

http://www.deseretnews.com/photos/4295133a.jpg

This guy then must be a _real_ freedom-loving nonconformist, then!
Anonymous

These would make great stencils…
Anonymous

I was walking around East London yesterday and spotted a Russian Tatoo exhibition consisting of sketches and photographs. Free entry I think (I didn’t have time to go in).

Details here: http://www.fuel-design.com/index.php?menu=5&tattoo=1
taghag

i saw these designs on etsy a while ago and was somewhat surprised because i have the russian criminal tattoo book and found it very honest, brutal and sad. i understand where you’re coming from, but to wear one of these prints would make me feel super middle class, i’m afraid.
Anonymous

>The German eagle has been around for centuries

the imperial eagle is not of german origin, It was in the coat of arms of the Roman Empire

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vexilloid_of_the_Roman_Empire.svg
Anonymous

Can you explain Pussy Lock?

It is not self-evident to geeks.
- Cruxx
  
  Doesn’t everyone know that Russian cats wear barbed-wire collars with padlocks instead of nametags?
Anonymous

Amazing!
jaypee

I love the designs for their own sake, but this just seems like a bad idea.
enkiv2

While the use of wordplay in the tattoos here is interesting, the use of sms-speak made it difficult to get through this article. Would not read again.
cowtown

Maybe I’m getting old, but I’m still pretty eeshed out about the idea of wearing Nazi iconography, even couched in multiple layers of irony.
Dave Faris

Kinda pricey. $50 for a t-shirt?
sickstep

I do not understand whether this is editorial content or advertising.
- Mark Frauenfelder
  
  sickstep: Not an ad. I asked Roman to write about his company for Boing Boing. That is all.
LeFunk

S.U. population (in ’30) >= 150 000 000
one third = at least 50 million people in prisons.

Although, by Wikipedia:
Biggest population of the camps – 1,7 million (in 1953).
Total number of prisoners in the world (in 2003) – 8.75 million
- M.I.R
  
  50 million? Easily. Between the 1920-50.
  
  1.7 million at one time, maybe. But i dont think thats an accurate number, because the highest rate of arrest and imprisonment was in the 30′s. Stalin died in 1953, so there was a lot of amnesty and people being released who had shorter sentences, so that number u quoted is 99% wrong. In that year theres no way it could of been the highest camp population.
  
  U also have to remember that the Gulag was a death conveyer, its a revolving door. Tens of Thousands if not more, were killed or died everyday, they killed people just because they needed fresh, healthy workers, or because there was orders from NKVD to kill a certain number per day. Or just for recreation.
  
  Then you have to also count the people that never made it to the camps, the ones that were shot inside NKVD offices or out in the street or in the fields. They were arrested too, right?
  
  Anyway, u keep quoting your wikepedia, i know thats the best source on Russian gulag and Stalins terror statistics and all that.
  
  Anyway, who cares? 1/3, 1/4, 1/5? Does that make it any better or easier?
  
  I read 1/3 in a few different sources, that number seemed accurate to me. Because my granfather did 10 in the 30′s, i had a few friends with the same in their families. So u do the math.
  
  But really, is it that important if it was 1/3 or 1/6? Still people right? Not mice or rats?
autark

I recently drove through Siberia on my way to Mongolia and stopped in Krasnoyarsk for some badly needed car repairs. We found this garage that was, among other things able to grind Russian brake pads to fit our Fiat and rebuild a blown out & bent strut (two services I doubt would ever be done in the US, not for lack of skill but for fear of liability).

Anyway… the mechanic, Uri, was sporting a silver smile and a slew of impressive prison tats, including two cats with bow ties on his chest. I didn’t know what they meant at the time, all I knew was they were from prison (he was fascinated by my much more colorful sleeve of Tibetan art). Our communication was pretty limited to mechanical terms, and joking around about his welding machine named Sputnik, but it’s interesting now to know the origin of those tattoos.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/autarken/sets/72157625428149542/
- Anniecargirl
  
  I love a real mechanic. Someone who doesn’t just know how to swap one factory part for another, but can actually machine and rebuild different parts to fit what you need.
  
  By the way, you’re extremely hot. ;)
- zio_donnie
  
  You crossed Siberia in a Punto? Wow.
  - autark
    
    just barely… if we had not repaired the strut in Krasnoyarsk there is no way we could have survived the road to Irkutsk: brutal.
    
    Siberia is just as remote and harsh as you think it is… still. I can’t imagine what the first exiles who lived there must have survived through. Camping out in the middle of summer and temps still reached freezing at night.
    
    after that fix up we dared crossing the south Gobi in Mongolia and that did us in (exhaust and oil pan were bashed), Punto went on the back of a Russian truck to UB, we hitched a ride with the aid org we were raising money for.
    
    http://rally.roamgreen.org/2010/08/31/gobi-breakdown/
    - zio_donnie
      
      Lol yeah i imagine. I had a punto that was considerably better than yours and tho’ a nice city car and all, it struggled in some perfectly laid dirt roads in Tuscany. I can hardly believe it even started in the Gobi desert. Next time you should drive an old school panda (preferably the 4×4 version).
      
      Also i am envious of your road trip, it must have been totally awesome.
Matt Staggs

It takes balls to get that monkey tattoo on the front page…
Beelzebuddy

I love the sound of Russian. So iconic. Just as any random string of German comes out sounding like someone barking an order, so Russian is the language of grizzled prison inmates and scratchy PA systems.
dimiro

MIR (ÐœÐ˜Ð ) actually has two meanings: “World” or “Peace”. E.g. the book of Leo Tolstoy can be also translated as “War and Peace”.
- dimiro
  
  I mean, “War and World”
  - Chentzilla
    
    Ah, but many tattoo bearing seemingly innocent words are actually abbreviations, so ÐœÐ˜Ð stands for “ÐœÐµÐ½Ñ Ð¸ÑÐ¿Ñ€Ð°Ð²Ð¸Ñ‚ Ñ€Ð°ÑÑÑ‚Ñ€ÐµÐ»”, or “only execution will change me”.
Nawel

Interesting. I didn’t know “mir” had two meanings (I always thought it was “peace”). I wonder, could someone get into trouble if he/she is wearing this t-shirts and enters the wrong kind of place? Like, someone been offended by the meaning of the tattoo?
LeFunk

“There was a time not too long ago when the images on these shirts stood for anti-authority, pride, honour and freedom. Freedom in a country where being a sheep was expected from all citizens.”

Not to get too carried away though – Soviet system considered political prisoners and intellectuals a much bigger threat than the rabble that enjoyed it’s pariah status with their tattoos and whatnot.

This is why a false word from a writer or (sometimes imaginary) western influence in art or music could make someone an outcast for decades, while a picture of a Nazi cat on someone’s belly didn’t make the wearer’s life significantly better or worse.

Still, interesting tattoos.
Anonymous

The lettering on the bottle almost looks like it says “STALIN”.

I also work with a fellow who’s parents met in a gulag. His father helped his mother survive. They all had to leave the USSR. Needless to say he has nothing good to say about the Communists.
lostculture

If you have not already seen it, rent “Eastern Promises” and don’t forget to watch the extras about the tattoos.
Anonymous

It’s interesting that so many more people were killed under Lenin and Stalin than Hitler, yet soviet iconography is kitsch while nazi is taboo.
emdubya

So what kind of tattoos do the crooks who run Russia today wear (Putin, Medvedev) and how do they distinguish themselves from the lesser criminals who directly handle the murder and intimidation of anti-establishment journalists?
AT203

I worry that you’ll run across some Russian gangster who will kick your ass for cheapening the meaning of one of these icons. I don’t know how seriously they take this stuff, but it stands to reason they’d be at least as protective of their iconography as street gangs (bloods / crips), or biker gangs (patches, badges, etc.)
Anonymous

Nice tattoos, but the hat worn by the cat is so disturbingly similar to that of a SS Totenkopf officer.

http://www.ww2incolor.com/modern/totcap.html
Anonymous

By coincidence I just finished reading the novel The Holy Thief, by William Ryan about a detective in 1930s Stalinist Moscow. It contained a fair amount about the “Thieves” and their tattoos. It seemed well researched and included a bibliography relevant to that time period of about 20 references.
M.I.R

Yeah, they have Baldaevs actual drawings and Pultserz pictures of Thieves. Its interesting stuff. His drawings are not just tattoos, he has a picture book type thing about the Gulag and the repression era that he compiled from his own experience as a guard and friends and other peoples accounts. Its interesting but one of the hardest books I’ve ever seen. Definitely not for the faint-hearted. I mean I though I knew some things about that time and what was going on, but what he describes is beyond the beyonds. Its also published by Fuel, its called Drawings from the Gulag:

http://www.amazon.com/Danzig-Baldaev-Drawings-Damon-Murray/dp/0956356249

Maybe theyll come to NYC with the exhibition.
Anonymous

I have gone over that Russian Tattoo book for hours at a time, and I would never appropriate some of these designs for anything, except to describe them as the encyclopedia had. If I appropriated US prison iconography and started wearing it on the street, I should expect trouble when it is recognized either by the people whose icon I’m using or the enemies of those who use the icon to ID themselves.
Almost all of the Russian iconography spells out the convicts criminal background and rank, or lack of it, as those who were victimized in prison camps by other convicts were tattooed to ID their status as victims to be preyed upon or left alone because they were claimed by another higher- ranking convict.
I live in Los Angeles, and there are enough Russian ex-pats that I would feel uncomfortable rolling around with that iconography on me, the same way I would feel if I was rolling with a Hell’s Angel Patch on my leathers. The chances are good you would be called out for it. Ignorance in those instances will be no excuse. Ask any vet about people who appropriate military iconography they have no rights to because they are not part of that experience. All you trendy folks ought to keep to the icons made by your tribe for your tribe.
pato pal ur

“Russia is a country where every third man has either done time or been through the camps during the Soviet era.”

This bogus statement is when you started to lose your credibility to me.
- M.I.R
  
  You should do some research before you open your mouth.
  
  Between the 30′s and 50′s, every third man in the Soviet Union did time in a Gulag or some kinda camp. Thats not even the worst of it. It probably went beyond the 50′s but the period of Stalin, during the cult, its a fact. Most were political or enemies of the people, or class enemies.
  How many people you know that were in Russian prisons?
  
  Anon,
  In Russian prison subculture, German symbolism was usually meant to show disdain for the system and the government and I believe that in some societies it is still valid today.
  
  Try reading.
  
  Anyway, thats all you gonna get out of me. On these blogs, theres always ones who like to talk a lot of sh*t, maybe to show that youre smarter than the next guy. IT really doesnt matter that much to me.
  
  Basically, u dont like it, dont buy it.
  
  We have a saying in Russian,
  
  Ne znaesh, ne pizdi!
  
  All the Best,
  Roman
  
  Posilayu vseh nahuy!!
  - pato pal ur
    
    Sorry but your argument doesn’t make any sense. The statement:
    Russia is a country where every third man has either done time or been through the camps during the Soviet era.
    is about a present condition. (verb tense: present perfect)
    
    The statement:
    Between the 30′s and 50′s, every third man in the Soviet Union did time in a Gulag or some kinda camp.
    is about a past condition. (verb tense: simple past)
    
    The two are not the same. Think about this statement:
    Most Americans have worked on a farm. (While this was probably true in 1900, it is certainly not true of Americans today.)
    
    You don’t give a source for either of these claims. This is understandable for the second one, since any such official statistic for incarceration rates under the Soviet era (especially under Stalin) would automatically be suspect as inaccurate. As I’m sure you know, official statistics in the USSR were regularly and systematically falsified, if they existed at all.
    
    For example, no one can really say for sure how many people were killed by the Soviets as a result of forcing farmers into collective farms (Russian: ÐºÐ¾Ð»Ñ…Ð¾Ð·) in the 1920s and 1930s. 5 million? 10 million? I’ve seen scholars estimate that as many as 20 million people were killed (i.e. about as many as died in WWII in the USSR), but perhaps it was far more than that. Who knows? You think they kept track of that stuff?
    
    Also your statements seem to assume that everyone who entered a Russian work camp later went on to live their lives afterwards, although certainly huge numbers of people (most?) who entered those camps died in them. My wife’s grandfather was one who survived three years in a Siberian gulag in the 40s and lived to come home, but no doubt a huge percentage of others did not.
    
    For the record, I don’t have a problem with your line of work. If you want to glorify idiotic gangsters and thugs with your products, go right ahead. It’s a free country after all. But you make yourself and your company look bad when you make up bogus claims that are clearly not based in fact.
Anonymous

Commercialization of anti-establishment iconography. Cool, brah.
- osmo
  
  Heh just what I thought. “Sale! Everything must go”
  
  But that is capitalist logic I suppose. It is without value if you can’t sell it to someone.
lectroid

Ed Hardy approved.
Anonymous

“Russia is a country where every third man has either done time or been through the camps during the Soviet era”. Sorry to disappoint you, but this is, well, epic BS.
Shane

Given what this is glorifying, I’d side w/ those who are skeptical of this editorial choice.

Would loved to have read an article on Russian prison life/tattoos, but not one on how to turn such misery into fun and profit.

Its like when you see cultures in Asia glorifying Hitler or nazis and we’re all WTF?

Maybe we can take a KKK hood an make it ironic w/ a Che Guevera emblem, then further the irony by selling it for $80! BOOYAH

que sera
irksome

“In Soviet Russia, tattoo get YOU.”

Sorry. It seemed appropriate. As always, “Think before you ink.”
Marshall

Sounds like the next wave of Ed Hardy tees to me.
Kosmoid

Give this guy a break. He’s telling an interesting story.

The use of iconic images from the downtrodden and repressed for T-shirts as a fashion meme is well-established. At this point, it’s funny. Me, I have an allergy to this stuff.

FYI, I would not wear this stuff anywhere from Bensonhurst to Brighton Beach in Brooklyn.

Maybe Make magazine could have an issue dedicated to items you can improvise in prison.
Anonymous

Autark, was your mechanic actually arc-welding without goggles ore a helmet? It sure looks that way in the photos. Not so good for his eyes – or yours, shooting the photo, either.
Anonymous

“The eagle … stands for …. anti-establishment.”

I think you’re quite wrong there… The eagle is a fascist symbol and stands for predation.
M.I.R

Big spasibo(thnax) to everyone who showed some support or had something good to say. We really do appreciate it.

This is something that we love doing. I, myself enjoy very much, sharing this old Russian sub-culture with others and always had a connection and appreciation for this Art and what it stands for.

To those that dont share my views and think that I devalue the meaning and commercialize this Art, well maybe I am, but I have my reasons, and I think if you read the actual post, you might see 1 or 2 there. I think its better that we(Russians) do it then Americans, who by the way tried and did it all wrong and failed.

I think we’re doing a good job at presenting the art and letting people share it with others.
I’ll tell u this though, if I was doing it just for money, I would have of closed shop a long time ago.

In all honesty, I dont have to explain myself to anyone except the people who wear these tattoos. That, I already did, in a way. These tattoos and what they stood for, has changed into something else, something that doesnt carry much meaning anymore. That a whole different, long story though.

Anyway, I just felt I had to say something, because this MIR, its like my baby that I watched grow from something very small into what it is now, and the potential of what it can be and peoples appreciation and kind words, gives more reason to keep doing it. So when someone disrespects it or tries to devalue it, I feel I have to defend it.

Roman
http://www.RussianCriminalTattoos.com

P.S. Anon, youre are right. Its an Imerial Roman eagle that the Nazis appropriated for themselves. Much like they did with most of their symbols. I think it says that in a few listings, where the eagle is one of the designs.
Anonymous

http://www.documentariestv.net/crime/the-mark-of-cain-video_26877ced9.html