Body art is a form of expression that a person uses to express themselves. This expression can be used in many forms. These forms include but are not limited to tattoos, face painting, body painting, costumes, elaborate jewelry, henna tattoos, hair coloring, piercings, dermal implants, breast and butt implants, make up, scarification, ect. Almost any way that a person can decorate themselves can be considered body art.

Some forms of body art are excepted in the public eye more than others are. Scarification for example is looked upon as a person having a problem with cutting on themselves are burning themselves. This is more of a taboo kind of body art. Tattoos are becoming increasingly popular and are becoming more accepted in society and applying makeup is completely accepted.

Body art is a form of expression and a lot of people use it to make themselves feel better and to tell a story. Tattoos are widely used to show a persons story of spirituality, hardships, preferences, and their growth in academics or career choice.

Body art is also considered body modification. Some people get dermal implants, like a stud in the skin to replicate Marilyn Monroe's beauty mark and some people get implants under the skin to change the appearance of their body. This is expressed in making the breast or the buttocks bigger, making the forehead look as if there are horns starting to grow, or even giving the appearance of higher cheekbones.

A non permanent form of body art is face painting, henna tattoos, temporary tattoos and body glitter tattoos. These are used a lot when it comes to children. Children love dress up and changing their appearance into something else and so many birthdays and fairs include these. When a person is on vacation they often see another form of body art which is hair wrapping. This is when a person has there normal strands of hair wrapped with thread or ribbon and then accessorized with jewelry.

Another expression of body art is used often at Halloween, in photo shoots or in movies. This form is costumes. Most everybody loves to dress up as their favorite characters and pretend they are not themselves. This is why cosplay has become popular. Cosplay is when a person dresses as their favorite video game character or comic book character and goes to conventions to show their works of art and compete in a competition.

As a society we should not shy away from those who have body art because many of us have or have used some sort of body art. We get our ears pierced, play dress up, and have put on makeup to enhance our features. Body art is expressed in a personal way and I believe we will see more and more body art come to light and in various forms.