IN PICTURES: Tel Aviv tattoo convention draws thousands from across the globe

Body-modification has generally been stereotyped as taboo in Judaism, with most believing that it disqualifies them from being buried in a Jewish cemetery upon death.

Third Annual Tel Aviv Tattoo Convention (photo credit: JACK GUEZ / AFP)
Third Annual Tel Aviv Tattoo Convention
(photo credit: JACK GUEZ / AFP)
Thousands of people from all over the world flocked to Tel Aviv's third annual tattoo convention Friday to participate in a two-day fair celebrating body-modification in the holy land.
(Third Annual Tel Aviv Tattoo Convention. Photo By: Jack Guez/ AFP)
Nearly 140 local artists were in attendance at the Tel Aviv Convention Center, where visitors from as far as Australia, Poland, Russia and the Netherlands were treated to live music and a unique art spectacle.
The popularity of tattoos in Israel, and specifically Tel Aviv- the country's cultural epicenter- has grown steadily over the past decade.
(Third Annual Tel Aviv Tattoo Convention. Photo By: Jack Guez/ AFP)
Body-modification has generally been stereotyped as taboo in Judaism, with most believing that it disqualifies them from being buried in a Jewish cemetery upon death.
(Third Annual Tel Aviv Tattoo Convention. Photo By: Jack Guez/ AFP)
The specter of the Holocaust has also played a part in the country's general antipathy towards tattooing, with victims having their prison camp numbers forcibly etched onto the skin.
(Third Annual Tel Aviv Tattoo Convention. Photo By: Jack Guez/ AFP)
But as technology and communication continues to shrink the world around us, and religion occupying less of a role in society as Israel rapidly modernizes, more and more of the city's millennial generation are indulging in the practice than ever before.
(Third Annual Tel Aviv Tattoo Convention. Photo By: Jack Guez/ AFP)
(Third Annual Tel Aviv Tattoo Convention. Photo By: Jack Guez/ AFP)