After the Islamic Republic fired on protesters during the nationwide uprising of December 1404 in Iran, filling streets, hospitals, and cold storage facilities with the wounded and the dead, perhaps it managed to silence the streets, but protest and opposition have found a new battlefield: the body.

Across Iran, a new trend has emerged: political memory, national identity, and dissent are being permanently etched onto skin.

Accounts from more than a dozen tattoo artists, protesters, relatives of the killed, former political prisoners, and other sources in Iran point to a striking change after the bloody crackdown of December: an increase in tattoos related to protest, mourning, and national identity, including among people who are getting tattooed for the first time; more people have decided to record these messages permanently on their bodies, in places that are increasingly visible.

These tattoos are also being placed more than ever on parts of the body that can be seen.

Read this report by Azadeh Akbari on the Iran International website.