Neko Case's New Tattoos: What They Mean

• I think I might be able to shed some light on Neko's tattoos and why she might have chosen them - but this is just my personal opinion. In the mid to late 1800's much of the west coast was settled by Europeans for the sole intent of logging the vast, massive forests. They did this with ruthless efficiency and by Carr's time much of the ancient forests had already been logged. Most of the time they just logged everything but occasionally trees that were deemed unfit were left because they weren't valuable enough. This was the tree that Carr painted - it was 'scorned' as a source of timber, but by leaving it and cutting the other trees down it flourished due to the extra light. Neko Case has been very outspoken about being made to feel worthless by her family and the public school system as a child and I have a feeling she relates to the tree and idea in Carr's painting. It should also be noted that Emily Carr was also overlooked because she was a woman and despite being held in high regard by her male peers she  was never offered the opportunities that they were. Emily Carr, like Neko, never married and did not have any children but amassed a large menagerie of pet animals and was considered an eccentric cat lady and by the time of her death her importance as an artist had been forgotten. My father remembers seeing Carr around Victoria when he was a young boy and they were told she was crazy and to avoid her. It's gratifying to see Neko honoring her.

TotalComments: 1