#AlexOLoughlin ’s Tattoos (Part 3) – The Evolution

I love the outward expression, but there was a period when I was judged, because they weren’t part of popular culture, like they are now. Back then, tattoos meant you’d either been in prison or you were in some sort of gang. I had that conversation with so many girlfriends’ parents, explaining that I wasn’t a felon or a Hell’s Angel!

—  Alex O’Loughlin GQ Australia, November 2011

The Evolution:

The question that remains is how these tattoos evolved from what we see on Jack in Oyster Farmer to what we see on Alex today?

When and where did it all begin:

We don’t really know when and where it all started. It must have been a while before Alex, the public figure appeared. We don’t even know if some started out as other smaller works of art and are now covered with what we see and know today.

The earliest picture I could find that shows any tattoos, were from the 2003 year-end report of NIDA. The picture depicts a very youthful Alex starring in the play of the final year students, Country Music, in July 2002.

Not a very clear photo, but we get the picture, don’t we? It looked like he already had all his arm tattoos by then.

Let’s take a closer look at each tattoo and see how they have evolved over the years and specifically what they looked like in his movies Oyster Farmer, FEED, The Invisible and Whiteout respectively, to end up at what we see today.

(We apologize for the poor quality of these pictures – it is from  footage of his work and he was moving around so quickly and not posing for them. That makes it difficult to capture the images)

(1) The tattoo on the left bicep – We call it “The Lotus Flower”:

The general appearance of this tattoo seems to stay the same over the years. The only changes I could pick up was some colours that were re-touched and some sort of writing added in the middle section, sometime during mid-year 2011.

We add this comment from Kristy from our comments below – remember this is NOT an official explanation from Alex of what it means to him, but the comments from a very knowledgeable fan:

 Kristy (@Buffalobabe723)

August 16, 2012 at 06:39Edit

The writing on the “lotus tattoo” is Sanskrit – it’s a mantra, the mantra of compassion and one of protection – OHM MANI PADME HUNG; roughly translates as ‘the jewel is in the lotus”. It is a Buddhist mantra/prayer and it means we all have the buddha nature within us – roughly. I have the mantra on my left shoulder blade 🙂

(2) The right bicep tattoo – We call it “The Geiger”:

Taking a closer look, we can see that in Oyster Farmer (Filmed 2003) and FEED (filmed in 2005) this tattoo has got clean lines and it is smaller than the one on the left bicep.

Then in The Invisible (Filmed end 2005) we see that some work has been done around the edges and the tattoo appears to be of similar size to the left arm. It also looks like some colours have been added.

(3 & 4) The tattoos above each nipple:

We call the right tattoo “The Gecko” and left tattoo “Sunrise” (or eyelash, or my teeth marks 😀 ) :

The Gecko  is the only tattoo that seems unchanged over the years but as you can see Sunrise doesn’t make its appearance before The Invisible (Filmed  end 2005).

My guess is that it was added at the same time when enhancements were made to the right bicep.

As you can see all the tattoos that are visible today have been on display since

The Invisible was filmed at the end of 2005.

(5) The tattoo on the lower back:

This was my favorite tattoo, but now I am not so sure about my feelings towards it anymore. The tattoo was enhanced and enlarged during the course of early 2011, to cover the lower back and wrap around to the front and down the side of the legs.

I would really like to see the entire tattoo first, before I cast my vote on it. Are there any volunteers to start a petition to see this tattoo in full?

Jack in Oyster Farmer, looking for some hidden treasure lost fortune.

The Forearm Tattoos:

Jack working hard in Oyster Farmer.

It is not really clear to me what the right forearm tattoo was about, but it covered nearly the entire forearm. It looked a bit blurry in Oyster Farmer. In later years it seems to be touched up again and then somewhere during 2010 it started to fade away and at the moment it seems to be all gone.

Kevin standing around in The Shield.

The left forearm tattoo looked small in comparison to the right arm. It looked like a lace band wrapped around the arm.

It seems to be treated the same way as the right arm, touched up at some stage and now totally faded away.

Kevin sharing his thought in The Shield

(I hope you all remembered that these images were about the forearm tattoos and only that. :razz:)

On this 2012 interview, Alex’s forearms are visible. To me it seems as if the traces of these old forearm tattoos are reduced quite substantially.

HNN Interview at Season 3 Blessing Ceremony – 9 July 2012

This is Neropatti and FOYeur signing off from our very first research project. Hope you all enjoyed this instalment of our closer look at Alex and specifically his tattoos, just as much as we did compiling it. It is always a pleasure to search for anything on this beautiful body, isn’t it? 😉

Goodbye Sweetie….till next time!!

Goodbye girls….

We would like  to dedicate this first research project to our dear online friend Justine. You have been our inspiration on many an occasion to find all the hard evidence and to see the bigger picture. We truly appreciate your friendship!!