This paper focuses on the culture of tattooing through human history and how it reflected in various aspects of human society. Holistic way of researching has enabled an interdisciplinary approach to the subject. Since the beginning of time, man as a thinking being has had a need to leave messages for other people, either in the form of cave paintings, statues or imprint on his own skin. How will the message be transmitted, how it will look in the eyes of the recipient and whether they want to accept it as such at the moment, one cannot know. Because of this, human culture and individual himself later encounters with condemnation of the practice of body modification, in this case of tattooing. The work covers the practice of tattooing, from the very beginning until today, with an overview of the development of tools necessary for the mere act of tattooing. Through a review of the main tattoo cultures and their features in the work, we get an insight into the human population on that specific area of the world. This paper also includes a brief review on other forms of body modification, which are often closely related to the tattoo industry. Part of this paper deals with the issue of problems in the tattoo culture, such as aesthetics, trend, kitsch and authenticity of tattoos. The paper also covers the reasons of decorating the human body, from the psychological side, and how science looks at it - as the self-destruction or the art of modern times. In its latest form, tattooing is an artistic endeavor where the author uses the human body as canvas. Guided by this thought artists around the world in the past few years have been incorporating tattoo culture in their art.