Mark of prestige: exhibition to explore culture and history of tattoos

A full-sleeve tattoo is displayed at the exhibition Tattoo. Art on the Skin at CaixaForum in Barcelona, Spain. Photograph: Alejandro García/EPA

After decades of negative associations with marginal or even criminal lifestyles, tattoos are having a cultural revival in the west. But for centuries, they were a mark of prestige in the east and among the peoples of the Pacific.

Now the history of this ancient art is on display in the exhibition Tattoo: Art Under the Skin at the CaixaForum in Barcelona.