The Archer: time with Chris Wednesday

I was once young; my skin had become storytelling, marking milestones, confirming relationships, affirming identity.

Our contributor, Sarah Kay explores what changes and what stays the same when you get tattooed by the same artists years apart…

I met Chris Wednesday when I was young – blonde – and making decisions about my career that would define who I am. I do not know how to properly celebrate without a tattoo; so I asked Chris, a young, blonde, Michigan transplant to work on some script for me. One of those sentences he tattooed was from singer Scott Hutchison; at the time, I didn’t know how foreboding it would be.

Scott’s death was both predictable and unexpected, and I’ve mourned his loss for months and months. Chris’ script, on the inside of my left arm, is a testament to the job that I perform, day in, day out, the commitment I made, the work I would never stop conducting, the leadership position I wanted to be in at the time – and am now. He created two pieces: “all is not lost”, from Pedestrian Verse, the story of a woman surviving both her environment and mental illness; and “combat rock”, an ode to the Clash, to being boots on the ground. I was fighting against male dominance in my work, trying to define my role within an evolving legal landscape, and being a woman, my own, with her shortcomings and insecurities. Tattooing was how I expressed myself, and how I let others create on the canvas that I allowed myself to be.

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It took me seven years to go back to Chris, and with the wonderful gift that is hindsight, it was a painful mistake to wait that long.

Chris Wednesday now works three days a week out of Gnostic Tattoo in Bushwick; he lives in my old building; and we found each other where we left off. I am trying to understand, comprehend and tie together what happened to me in this time span, see what’s similar and what’s different. Location: the same. Bushwick was formative, so being tattooed there was comforting, relaxing, lowering my heart rate. Hair: vastly different. I navigated chemotherapy, several war zones, post traumatic stress disorder, sexual assault, and tattooing at various pain levels, all over the world. Ushering in this new decade back to where it all started for me felt cathartic. I have a mentor, I’m heading toward continuous education. I feel grown. My identity is solid; my relationships, formative and lasting; my record as a worker, uncontested and praised. I still have imposter syndrome and felt the need to rally around what felt familiar and strong: what supported me, what got me through tough times, what empowered me to continue. Chris performed two of the strongest tattoos I had. At a time when I was shaking off a belief system and reconstructed myself, I found my way back.

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Gnostic Tattoo, located at the heart of Bushwick, is a relaxing, home-like place covered in plants in the windows, Tibetan flags, incense, and a sense of knowledge of the human body. Warm, welcoming, and strange enough not to feel in the beaten path or an industrial-sized walk-in tattoo shop in trendy Brooklyn, it feels like entering a space almost womb-like, where creativity sprouts like the spores of the plants. I worked with Chris on a tattoo of moon phases, deciding over an hour whether I wanted to have several ones or the traditional pagan “maiden, mother and crone”. Even though I’ll never be either of those three, the symbolism in the three phases of a woman’s life can find its expression in other forms – innocence, adulthood, and wisdom – that Chris translated with single needle outlines, dot work on the dark faces, and a realistic full moon in the middle: the moon on which we landed, both scientifically rendered and captivating by its distance. It felt like the phase I was in. He dotted the top of my wrist to complete the piece, at the end of a full sleeve, with comfort, revised placement, all of it without a single drop of coffee.

If Chris Wednesday is more widely known for his traditional style, he spends the days he’s not tattooing painting and working on ideas in his busy brain of his. Capable of alternating between detailed, realistic colour pieces and single needle, projected black and grey work, Chris has an eye for drawn-on script, feels challenged by gap fillers and includes bold lines and vivid colours. It adapts to the bodies of his clients in a large spectrum of gender, identities, and comfort. Chris works with the canvas he’s given and smiles, laughs and runs wild through the ideas he’s handed by either appointments or walk-ins. A transplant from Michigan, a former mechanic and still a traveling salesman in tattooing, Chris is incredible at adapting, fitting beauty into oddly placed curves, colouring a wide array of skin tones, embracing the complexity of the human body, in its transformative, painful, physical, physiological and psychological aspect of tattooing. A journey that can be exciting and extremely positive can turn into a permanent reminder of a disturbing fall-out, as our founder Alice Snape has recently discussed. I told Chris about pieces conducted on me that were so vastly different from what I discussed – some rushed, others representing values I know the artist doesn’t share and made me feel uncomfortable about what my work as a human rights lawyer means in other settings.

As Chris laid a pillow on his table for my comfort and asked if I needed a second one – I had recently gotten work on my stomach – he mentioned those are more frequent than I expected, and he was fully aware, at every moment, of the responsibility he holds not just as a creative, but as one who permanently alters bodies: that the experience should be as smooth as possible, the design as sophisticated as the client deserves and the placement, fitting for the body the client has – whatever shape it is. I met Chris when we were both in our mid-twenties, both blonde (although that wasn’t natural for me) and I thought my body lent itself to tattooing and other forms of adornment more than I do now. Discussing the anxiety I have about removing an article of clothing disappeared immediately, and we were back to being the same people we once were.

I thought I had so much to prove seven years ago; I was still working my way up professionally, entering debates to have my voice heard, and wanted, more than anything else, to assert my place in the law world. I had worked to hammer the point that my brain came with my body, even if it made traditional and patriarchal systems skeptical. I don’t regret any of the tattoos Chris gave me then, as they remind me I have come so far, even with stops and gaps in the meantime. Those gave me the luxury – there is no other word – to be myself fully, instead of reducing my appearance or presence for others. I am still working and improving, but with more stability, more recognition, and a smaller social circle that provides me with the encouragement I need. Chris’ tattoos on me this trip – moon phases, a lavender twig, and a song commemorating a break up – are the mature version of who I was then. They also represent his own, coming from guesting, co-owning, then being a permanent feature of Brooklyn. We have grown, yet we are still the same. In that, I want my body to represent this one full moon I am in.

Chris Wednesday tattoos at Gnostic Tattoo in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

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Sarah Kay is a very, very tattooed international human rights lawyer living between Paris and New York. Originally from Belfast, Northern Ireland, Sarah has kept its taste for cold rain and the rewards that come from sitting still under pressure. You’ll probably find her in London drinking wine.

Black & Grey tattoos – Denis Torikashvili

Denis Torikashvili (TDAN)  has been tattooing since 1997, he currently tattoos at Vatican Studios in Lake Forest, California. We chat to Denis about what inspires his realism tattoos and how he got started in the industry…

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The first time I saw artistic looking tattoos was in American movies in the 90s, before that I had only seen military or old prison tattoos. These weren’t interested to me and didn’t really affect me, but I was encouraged by what I have seen in movies, it was like a glimpse into the future. I was so impressed I began sketching.

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Speaking of drawing, from an early age I was interested in art and everything to do with it. Art was something exciting and new for me, of course I would always get carried away by my sketching. My friends found out what I had been doing and talked me into giving them tattoos, those guys were my first customers. In those years I didn’t have a professional tattoo machine, so I made one out of materials and things I found at home. In 1997 I bought my first tattoo machine, a Micky Sharpz and one thing led to another. In 2005 I took part in the St. Petersburg tattoo convention for the first time and in 2006 I won a prize. I worked in some tattoo shops in Rostov on Don and then I opened my own tattoo shop.

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I work in different tattoo styles. I used to make some Japanese tattoos that weren’t bad, as well as ornamental, American traditional tattoos and realism. This continued until 2014, when I moved to Moscow. After that my tattoo career really started taking off. I had a lot of trips working as a guest artist, attended loads of tattoo conventions, got some trophies, met wonderful artists, who also became my friends and whose advice has helped me many a time. In 2017 I got asked to work in London at NR studio, where I lived and worked for two years and I formed a serious client base. I didn’t want to leave but in July 2019 my temporary visa expired, after that I’ve decided to try my luck in America. I’m very fortunate to be here, at Vatican Tattoo Studio headed by great man and amazing artist Franco Vescovi.

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I work in black&grey realism style. I’m always trying to think outside the box and ask customers to believe in me and leave the tattoos and design in my hands.

Those who haven’t been afraid to trust me have never regretted it because I’m always about elegance and beautiful harmony when it comes to design.

I get my inspiration from movies, music and art photography. Everyone says I would have made a good photographer.

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For anyone who wants to become a tattooist artist, I would advise them in the beginning to visit a major tattoo convention and see how highly skilled artists work, choose your favorite and get a tattoo from them and take advantage of this by asking them questions. The ideal outcome would be to find an artist who would then agree to take them as an apprentice

I came to the USA seven months ago and it is still too early to judge which country’s tattoo scene is better. The tattoo scenes in Russia and in the USA are generally very similar, but there are some key differences. The profession of the tattoo artist is not listed on state registries in Russia, our existence is denied, which doesn’t prevent us from working, while in America tattoo studios operate under the State supervision. Russia is filled with tattoo artists, who will do whatever is necessary to get to the top of this business. Tattooing is a very competitive sector.

Getting a sternum tattoo – at a convention?

Lucy Edwards writes about what it’s like to get tattooed in a sensitive place while at a tattoo convention… would you?

Body confidence is something I feel I have never truly had. For as long as I can remember, I have been very critical about the way my body looks and it’s only now, after a good few months working with a fantastic therapist, that I have slowly started to experience the odd uplifting day where I don’t think about my body image at all.

Last year however, I went through a lot of emotional distress because of my lack of body confidence. That summer I continued to wear long sleeves and trousers throughout the hottest of days because the thought of exposing any part of my body was absolutely terrifying.

Little did I know that one particular experience from last summer would be my catalyst for learning to appreciate my body that autumn. It was a moment when my passion for tattoos spontaneously interrupted my fear of exposing my body. I had (without thinking it through) went ahead and booked in to have my sternum tattooed at, of all places, a tattoo convention.

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Anyone who’s been to a tattoo convention knows that they are public. You are basically being tattooed in front of potentially hundreds of passers-by and while it may be no big deal for some, for people like me it can feel really intimidating.

I booked a floral piece with @battag82 from @tattoosatdabs to be done at Tattoo Tea Party in Manchester. What I had failed to realise was that I would essentially be topless in front of lots of people. What I had done, was convinced myself that there would be a curtain for me to be tattooed behind and that once it was done, I would emerge, exhilarated from the new-tattoo buzz and ready to enjoy the rest of the convention.

It wasn’t until the start of my appointment that I realised there was no curtain and that the table was smack bang next to a walkway near the entrance to the whole convention. It was happening very quickly and before I knew it, I was being handed kitchen roll and tape to cover my boobs. As I walked to the toilets, I felt a wave of fear overcome me and my face started to get hot, what on earth had I done? So many people were going to see an area of my body that I wanted to keep private, how was I going to deal with this?

In a daze, I headed back to where Tag had set up. We began the process of stencilling and it was at this point that I realised I was very lucky. Tag was extremely kind, he acknowledged that I had unknowingly chosen to do something a little scary and made every effort to make me laugh and feel relaxed. If it wasn’t for his professional and relaxed attitude, the experience may well have become a horrible one, but instead, it was one of the most empowering moments of my life.

As I got comfortable on the bed and we started the tattoo, I noticed many people came to watch the process happen. People smiled at me and gave me a thumbs up, I even had a lady tell me how brave I was and that the tattoo looked great. They were welcome comments from kind strangers and I had never felt more weirdly at ease. Tag joked that I must have felt like I was sunbathing at a carboot sale, It made me laugh, this was the only sunbathing I’d ever experienced and it was teaching me that more people are kinder than we may first think.

When my tattoo was done, I was left with a stronger case of post-tattoo buzz than I’d ever felt before. Sure, I felt a little bit of post-panic shakiness, but I also realised that the happy emotion I was feeling, was actually empowerment. I had for an hour and a half, kicked my anxiety and body image issues to the curb.

Thanks to an amazing tattoo artist, I’d been able to feel positive about my body for the first time in forever and I realised that there was a possibility for my negative mindset about my body to change. I gained the confidence to attend therapy and I had a permanent reminder over my heart – a little bunch of flowers that let me know every day that appreciating myself, as I am, is possible.

Words: Lucy Edwards, a 20-year-old tattooed university student, cat mum and trying-new-things enthusiast. You’ll most likely find Lucy posting about mental health awareness and self-acceptance on her Instagram.

Apprentice love: Amy Riot

We love finding new apprentices, it’s always so exciting to see new artists growning and finding their place in the tattoo world. Tattoo apprentice Amy Riot tattoos out of Legacy tattoo studio, in North Devon, under the watchful eye of her mentor Lee Howell…

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How long have been apprenticing and how did you get one? I’ve studied art up to degree level, and have had a couple of indie brands, and a vintage shop since finishing.

I’ve always wanted to get into tattooing but it was never the right time or situation for me.

My daughter was just about to start school, and together with being in my early 30s, I had a ‘now or never’ moment. I had a few tattooist friends help me make a portfolio, and In late 2018 I bit the bullet and went into Legacy to show it to Lee.

Luckily the universe was on my side. I couldn’t have found a better place, or better people to be in the company of and learn from.

Do you have any tips for those looking to get into tattooing? Draw lots, in all sorts of styles. Get tattooed by various artist. Hang around shops you like the vibe of.

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What inspired you to become a tattoo apprentice/artist? Being creative is the only thing I’ve ever been good at. I’ve had a couple of indie brands in the past, and still run one as a sideline. But getting into tattooing has always been the dream. I get to combine my love of art together with my love of tattoos.

What has been your favourite tattoo to date, and what would you like to do more of? That’s a hard one?! I love it when people come in and choose a piece of my own artwork from my flash book. It’s a great feeling that someone wants to wear your artwork on their skin for life. I’d like to do more of my own art but I’m happy to try most things whilst I’m an apprentice to vary my skills.

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Where do you see your style going? I’m a big lover of traditional tattoos and would love to hone my style more. Over time I feel my work will evolve naturally. The fun part is getting there, and seeing the change as I progress!

How have you found being a woman in a still very male dominated tattoo industry? So far I haven’t had any issues. There are so many great female tattooist out there that have paved the way, making it easier for girls starting out like me. I’m sure in the future I may experience some negativity, but to me, being male or female doesn’t factor into being a good tattooist.

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What does tattooing and being tattooed mean to you? I feel that being tattooed gives you license to create yourself as an individual, much like clothing, it’s an extension of your personality. Being able to tattoo other people means the same, helping people express themselves is a great feeling!

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We love the pin-up you did of our editor Rosalie, do you take commissions? Yes! As well as my apprenticeship I run my own little indie brand Yesterday’s Youth. I make commission art prints and hand painted jackets, as well as other prints and merch, all designed by myself.

Plant-based living with Bettina

We absolutely adore Bettina Campolucci Bordi, she’s a plant-based/free-from chef who has a wonderful collection of tattoos. We sat down to have a chat with her about her fave meals, post-tattoo treats and the therapeutic buzz of the tattoo needle… 

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Bettina, we adore your Insta feed (check it out @bettinas_kitchen). It provides us with such gorgeous food inspo… What made you fall in love with food and decide to follow it as a career? Food has always been a lifelong passion of mine since I was little. Luckily, I stumbled across hosting retreats and found a way to make my dream of cooking as a career a reality. Everything kinda fell into place and the rest is history. I am very lucky that my passion is my actual job!

We love the little peeks of tattoos in your photos, can you tell us about the designs you have on your body?  I have my butterflies that were done by an artist in Malaga – my “believe” was done in Barcelona for my 27th birthday. I have a big arm tattoo by an amazing Icelandic artist based in Barcelona called Jonpall, and my latest big piece of the Goddess Kali on my left hand-side shoulder is by a Balinese artist! I also have some more smaller hidden ones…

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Are there any that have special significance? Any food related? All of them have significance and were done during transitional periods of my life. Rather than food related, I would say that they are life related

How do you find the tattoo process? I find it therapeutic and almost like going into a zone. I think anyone who gets them can relate. Some of my tattoos took me years to decide and design, and you get into a special head zone, when it comes to having them finally done. The design process, finding the artist, connecting with your piece and then the execution or the creation process is magical. I feel like I go into a trance during, then when it’s done you kind of come out of it. Once the piece is done I go through a bit of honeymoon period with my piece until it becomes part of you and your journey.

Do you have any special meals you eat before?  I wish I could say yes but I tend to eat less. Lots of water, no alcohol and good sleep beforehand.

Or any that aid in the recovery/healing process?  I love little chocolate treats! There are plenty of recipe ideas in my book [Happy Food], great to batch make before and pull out of the freezer when treats are needed!

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What’s your favourite meal? Why? A curry, there is something extremely comforting about a curry. It’s like a warm hug.

What have you got planned for the new year? I am in Costa Rica right now, and will be in Bali soon. I am contemplating getting another tattoo but I am not sure yet! And The 7 Day Vegan Challenge [published by Hardie Grant], my second book, is out now! Exciting.

Bettina’s book is out now