The Man With Intense Scarification On His Body (Topossa)

The Man With Intense Scarification On His Body (Topossa)

Scarification, which is also known as cicatrisation in European works, is sometimes included within the category of

tattooing, due to both practices creating marks with pigment underneath and textures or pigments on the surface of the skin.

In Africa, European colonial governments and European Christian missionaries criminalized and stigmatized the cultural practices of tattooing and scarification; consequently, the practices underwent decline, ended, or continued to be performed as acts of resistance

Traditionally, in tribes around the world, scarification was used to mark important moments in a person's life, like marriage or puberty. Nowadays in Europe and America, at least—it tends to be more about aesthetics, but can of course be prompted by anything, and represent whatever the recipient wants it to represent.

In Africa, scarification has served as an important element of the culture of different groups.

Scarification involves placing superficial incisions on the skin using stones, glass, knives, or other tools to create meaningful pictures, words, or designs. This permanent body modification can communicate a plethora of cultural expressions. From Ethiopia to Papua New Guinea, scarification produces scars of different sizes, shapes, and positions to show clan identity, status within a community, passage into adulthood.