1/16/2003: Dead man's tattoos

Y'know, after I'm dead, I don't really care what happens to me. I'm gone, you know. My brain won't be there to pass judgement on what the living do with me, or whether they give a damn at all; it won't matter to me one bit. While I'm alive I can at least tell my loved ones to, as Woody Allen once put it, "cast my remains to the four winds... and get back the deposit on the urn."

Such was not the case with Barry Whittaker, however. Upon learning that he had terminal cancer in 1999, he decided to get some large tattoos. And then he instructed his son Carl that he would like the tattoos to be saved after his death.

And the son, out of respect, did exactly that. He found a taxidermist who was willing to remove the tats, and a tanning company that was willing to tan the skin. And so, there are dad's remains, framed and typically hung up in the living room.

I"m astounded that this is legal. Wasn't there a big flack in England about some artist perserving the body of a friend of his as art?

Not familiar with anyone in England, but it is similar to an artist who "stole" body parts in Germany. This page somewhat covers that issue, but they seem to address it legally as just a matter of theft versus ownership.
"Today, lawful possession of a dead body usually goes to the next of kin..."
http://www.channel4.com/science/micr...ethics1_t.html

Morticians Ink

He might have saved a lot more money and time if he'd just bought a camera!

Reprints are never as valuable as the original.

Like all great art.. death brings value.

Who will be the bearer of the value the artist or the X-wearer.?

"and here next to the picture of my kids is my fathers tattoos."

I'm leaving my heirs a bag of toenail clippings.

I'm just going to leave some DNA behind so that the Raelians can clone me. Future generations are in a shitload of trouble.

When I was in college, one of the charter pilots had to take someone up to dump some remains out over a field. He was flying a 172, and the passenger (doing the dumping) managed to get ashes all over the inside of the plane since it came back in the window. It never seemed to affect how the plane flew, though.

I would like to be around 50 years from now for the Antique Roadshow when one of the grandkids brings that in.

I'm trying to figure out what is on the shirt of junior. Looks like some kind of flags.