When a person chooses to have his or her body painted it is known as nude body painting and is unlike tattooing since it is a temporary event and is painted on the human skin to last for several hours or in some cases, for a few weeks. Traditional body painting began with clay and natural pigments and were generally found in most indigenous cultures and used for rituals and still survives among the aborigines of Australia and in the Pacific Islands as well as in tribes of Africa.
In India, there is a semi-permanent form of body painting known as Mehndi that makes use of dyes made of henna and is practiced for painting brides in India as well as in the Middle East. The recent recognition of Mehndi has grown since the late 1990s and is now much sought after by young women in the Western world. Also, body painting is extensively used in dramatics with actors and also, clowns having their faces as also their bodies painted.
Nude body painting has seen a resurgence ever since the 1960s and this may be attributed to the more permissiveness of social mores with regard to nudity and debates rage hotly about whether nude body painting is legitimate art form or not.
It may be understood to have been revived around 1933 when Max Factor body-painted a famous model with their new make-up formula that targeted Hollywood films, primarily.
There is nothing however to insist on that body painting need be only performed on nude bodies as it may also be concentrated to small designs on a certain area of the body.
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