Embracing female tattoo culture
We’re feeling pretty peckish in the office today so here’s some of our favourite food related tattoos!
Sushi by Sadee Johnston
Pineapple by Clare Hampshire
Pizza Slice by Alexandr Kargapolov
Sweet and Sour Fruits by Elizabeth Huxley
Ice Cream by Sam Whitehead
Guacamole by Kane Berry
Cake Lady by Hollie West
Fortune Cookie by Sophie Adamson
We’d love to see your food inspired tattoos!
Friday 13th Tattoos at Scratchline Tattoo, London with Susanna, Mister Paterson and Texxx
People started queuing at 7am to choose a design from the specially drawn flash sheets and then book in.
We arrived at Scratchline Tattoo in Kentish Town towards the end of a very long day; each tattooist had done 10 or more designs one after the other.
Jack, 23 from Toronto got his first tattoo and we quizzed him on his experience. I like to think, that along with the lovely and chatting Susanna, we kept his mind off the pain.
The pain turned out to be pretty much what he expected and the small black line design didn’t take long.
Jack chose the broken bottle design as he’s “been drinking a lot on this trip, it stuck out”; no one needs any other reason than that they like it! He chose to get tattooed on Friday 13th as it was a “pretty sweet opportunity on the last few days of my trip”.
He’s already planning more and is even considering following up an apprenticeship when he returns to Canada.
On seeing his freshly inked tattoo “that’s fucking dope, I love it!” I’m guessing he enjoyed the after tattoo buzz!
Did you get a Friday 13th Tattoo? We’d love to see it!
Schön Magazine!‘s online editorial Pure Grace celebrates the ageless quality of beauty by featuring tattooed forty-one year old model Ree Ja Kim.
In this video, Doctor Matt Lodder explains how his interest in tattoos, body modification and the representation of the body came about. Matt is currently working on a history of tattooing in Britain and how the perceptions of tattoos have changed over time. He also explains how art history students should challenge themselves and ‘make themselves uncomfortable’ in order to uncover and learn more.
There’s also a cheeky shot of The Art Issue of Things&Ink at the end of the video…
To find out more about art history at Essex go to: essex.ac.uk/arthistory
Matt Lodder on his research and studying art history at Essex from University of Essex on Vimeo.
Facial tattoos are bold and unflinching, they cannot be hidden – perhaps this is why they still sometimes provoke fear and prejudice. Mark Leaver’s photographic project tackles this issue and tries to dispel some of the myths that exist about this niche within a subculture.
These are two brand-new, unseen portraits in Mark Leaver’s beautiful (and much talked about) series of portrait photographs. (previously blogged about here, and also featured in The Identity Issue of Things&Ink). This time Mark photographs a couple of our friends, Duncan X and Blue from Into You, London.
Duncan X, 48 years old, Tattoo Artist
Duncan was 21 when he got his first tattoo. Duncan was in a band for 7 years until he began working at Into You as a receptionist at 30 years old. He did an apprenticeship in Soho with Dennis Cockell. Duncan’s first facial tattoo was by Curley Moore (when Curly worked at Into You). Duncan doesn’t intend on getting any more facial work.
Blue, 50 years old, office manager at Into You, London
Blue was 18 when she started getting tattooed and it wasn’t until her mid 30s that she decided to move to her face. For her, the hands and neck were a bigger deal to get tattooed than her face. Blue has been at Into You for 20 years and she wants more facial work, but not for a while – maybe at 70!
A word from the photographer Mark:
It seems oddly timed that the project has had so much publicity and attention right after I’ve graduated from university! To get the series published by the Daily Mail is an amazing (and unexpected) progression of the project. This marks a new audience which is amazing for much a niche subject – before the series was only really viewed by people from the tattoo community, for it to be in a tabloid paper is incredible.
The project is nowhere near over, I’m still shooting. I shot these portraits last week of Duncan and Blue. And I actually shot two more today and will be doing two more tomorrow. There’s still a few big names/characters I’d like to have in the project before I put it to rest.
We will continue to keep you updated on Mark Leaver’s progression with this project. His work can be viewed at www.mdleaver.com