By KAHLA PRESTON
Let us introduce you to Vladimir Franz.
He’s a Czech opera composer and painter, tattooed from head to toe in vibrant, warrior-like designs. A creative type with tattoos – well, that’s just part of the territory, isn’t it? It’s not like he’s the President or something.
Well, actually, he almost was.
Earlier this month, this colourful character polled fifth out of nine candidates in the first round of the Czech presidential elections. It seems his radical appearance was far from problematic.
From the Guardian:
“Personally, I wouldn’t vote for him – but [the tattoos] are not a problem at all,” said Tomas Pistora, a 33-year-old IT specialist from Prague. “The young people prefer him because they don’t have a better choice.”
Many Czechs, especially in the capital, are not shocked with Franz’s appearance simply because the 53-year-old professor at Prague’s Academy of Performing Arts has been around for years.
Franz says his tattoos are simply body art and that the election is not a beauty contest. “A tattoo is a sign of a free will and that does not harm the freedom of anyone else,” he said.”
But is the rest of the world as understanding as Jakub Fisera? Perhaps not.
Because when it comes to job suitability, whether rightly or wrongly, aesthetics matter.
Clean clothing, a fresh face, tidy hair, and polite professional conduct are obvious boxes that any person going for a new job knows they need to tick.
So what of visible tattoos?
News reports in Australia and abroad indicate that many employers and industries are unwilling to tolerate such obvious displays of self-expression.