A semicolon tattoo craze that has nothing to do with grammar has taken off worldwide, but is yet to hit Kiwi shores.
Social media is awash with users' photos of a small semicolon tattooed on an ankle, wrist, finger or neck to signify an important step in the person's life.
Youth from all over the globe are getting the symbol tattooed – some permanently and others with felt pen – then posting photos to social media to dispel taboos around mental health.
I got my first tattoo. #semicolonproject #mylifeisntover pic.twitter.com/2Iywq1R6K9
— eeeeeee (@7ebee) July 2, 2015
The tiny tattoos are inspired by Project Semicolon, a faith-based non-profit movement in the United States aimed at combatting depression.
The project itself was founded in 2013 by Amy Bleuel, who wanted to honour her father after he committed suicide.
A statement on the project's website reads:
"A semicolon is used when an author could've chosen to end their sentence, but chose not to. The author is you and the sentence is your life."
However in the past month, the craze has really taken off – and the group's Facebook likes have ramped up steeply in the last week alone, with 47,000 likes to date.
"A semicolon represents a sentence the author could've ended but chose not to." @SemiColonProj http://t.co/e4BLwDFrvw pic.twitter.com/fus9AIXn4j
— Heather Martino (@HeatherSaidTHAT) June 25, 2015
In New Zealand, it seems the project is just beginning to take hold.
Rawinia Judson of Auckland told 3 News she got a semicolon tattoo just over a year ago, on April 16, which is Semicolon Day. She says she also has an ellipsis on her wrist, "meaning 'to be continued', another tattoo symbolic of my personal journey with depression".
"I'm a mental health advocate, and my tattoos are only a small part of what I do in an attempt to reduce the stigma of mental health in New Zealand," she says.
Another New Zealander, Tayla Cave, told 3 News she got the tattoo around a year ago.
"I got it because I suffer from anxiety and depression and thought it was a cool way to remind myself to keep going. I absolutely love the idea."
Keryn Chapman says the tattoo is "the most special tattoo I have on my body, so I never forget how far I've come and how much I want to help others".
"To me I look at it and it represents strength, how far I've come. I don't do community work but I do speak to people who are where I was once, telling them of my experience. Everyone thinks people with depression and suicidal thoughts are 'freaks' or 'attention seekers', which is definitely not the case."
Keryn Chapman's semicolon tattoo
Kiwi Christina Reid got her tattoo at the beginning of 2013, after a 10-year struggle with mental illness.
"I had wanted to get something to commemorate all the years I had lost to my mental illness, and I saw a photo someone posted on the internet of their own semicolon tattoo and the reasons behind it - about the way a semicolon signifies that a sentence could have ended but didn't - and felt it was perfect."
Ms Reid's semicolon tattoo
When asked, the Mental Health Foundation said they had not heard of it, while Youthline was aware of the project, but had not heard of any young people using its service who had got a semicolon tattoo.
In the United Kingdom, 30-year-old Emma Richards from Llandudno, told the Daily Mirror she read about the project online and was so inspired she went out and got the tattoo on her little finger on Wednesday.
She told the Mirror she suffers from depression anxiety, brought on by post-traumatic stress from her sons' diagnoses of cerebral palsy, epilepsy and autism.
If you have a semicolon tattoo, we'd love to hear about it. Email us at noles@tv3.co.nz
3 News
source: newshub archive
