Embracing female tattoo culture
Italian born and London based artist Alessandro Gallo creates sculptures that explore the the ways that animals and humans are both the same and interchangeable. His work takes a humorous look at animals and humans within city environments and the links between the species…
Turkey Vulture, 2013
We chatted to 28-year-old Lucy Keegan aka Stylicorn about exploring her creativity with a new career venture as a hair stylist and her pastel cute tattoo collection…
Lucy styling at a BMW event
I was 18 when I got my first tattoo. It was a koi carp on my lower back. I’d just rocked up to a local studio with a picture off the internet, it was on a whim and it took me around seven years to get anymore. Although I loved the tattoo at the time, it didn’t age well. I’ve since had it covered with a gorgeous piece by Lucy O’Connell. Using Instagram opened me up to a world of amazing tattoo artists, and I just fell in love. It feels really important to me to have these lasting pieces of artwork, and they have helped me to make my body beautiful. I’ve had a tough few years with the loss of my mum in 2013 and lots of health issues, and I’ve found tattoos give me back a control over my body and my life.
Most of my tattoos are very ‘me’ –girly, colourful and cute. Some have personal meanings, my anchor is linked to a quote ‘hope is the anchor for my soul’ , which Harriet Heath created from a picture I painted for my mum while she was ill, and my match was inspired the by the Paramore song ‘Last Hope’. Others, such as my fan and my jackalope, were designs artists posted on Instagram and I fell in love with. Most are purely for the fun of it, such as my piece of cake and my happy doughnut! I always enjoy the collaboration process between the artist and myself, and knowing that I can email them and ask for ‘a girly, feminist, amazing, sparkly sailor moon tattoo’ and get just that!
I really admire all the amazing female artists out there, and it’s great to see them grow in popularity. Two ladies who are very special to me are Lucy O’Connell and Abbie Williams, because I know they will always create beautiful pieces for me, and they have both tattooed me numerous times. They are also both super lovely ladies! I met Sarah Terry at the Brighton Tattoo Convention in 2013, and have followed her progress as an apprentice since then. Her dedication to the craft is amazing and I was so happy to finally get tattooed by her in January this year.
I am booked in for another tattoo with Lucy in April, and I’m hoping to grab something at Brighton this year too. I’ve got lots of artists on my list for future work, such as Katie Shocrylas, Onnie O’Leary and Shannan Meow.
@lucylucyhorsehead & @charlotte_eleanor88
I was originally a Primary school teacher, but after five years I wanted a new direction. I’m a very creative person, and I felt like teaching was trying to squish me into a tiny box. Plus tattoos are still frowned upon as ‘unprofessional’ in teaching, so I was getting mine in places that couldn’t be seen. I’d always wanted to get into hairdressing, so last year I was brave enough to leave teaching and retrain at the London Hair Academy in Shoreditch. It was an amazing experience and I’ve been taught by such great tutors who are still in the business. My dream is to become a session stylist, and to work on magazine shoots, music videos, film and TV. So although my day job is as an assistant in a salon (Matthew Cross Hairdressing) while I complete my training, I take on freelance styling work, such as a recent event for BMW. Hairdressing is not 9-5, I spend evenings and my days off doing hair for friends and family, but I love every second of it. Countless people have told me how happy I look, and although its hard work starting from the bottom, I’m excited about the journey ahead.
Red carpet hair- I won 1st place in my college competition and have now been nominated for Level 2 British Hairdressing Student of the Year
There is no dress code at my salon, and lots of stylists have tattoos so I don’t worry about them being on show. Most of mine you will only see if I’m wearing a dress or a skirt, so it’s funny when people notice them for the first time. To be honest I get more comments about my hair, which is my little pony colours!
ninety nine percent of the reactions I’ve got have been positive. People always comment on how girly and colourful they are, and like to ask about what they mean. I like how engaging having tattoos can be, and it always creates a conversation. The only real negative I feel is when people don’t respect your boundaries if you are tattooed. I’ve had a couple of men pull at the back of my dress and stare at my back tattoo while in bars or at work, which makes me really angry. I don’t mind showing my tattoos if I’m asked, but nobody has the right to touch you without your permission.
I think it’s really important to consider your career when you get a tattoo, and also think about the fact that you might change your career in the future. As a teacher, it was not acceptable for me to have tattoos on show, so I always had mine covered up. Now my job is accepting of tattoos, but I have yet to take the plunge and have any really visible ones. You don’t have to have tattoos on show to enjoy them, as for me that’s not what they are about. Although tattoos are much more common, especially on girls, they are still seen negatively by society in a lot of ways. I always advise people to think carefully about any tattoo before they get it, because it’s a lifetime commitment.
Our columnist Natalie McCreesh aka Pearl, is a fashion lecturer, freelance writer and creator of Fashion Pearls of Wisdom. In this post she’ll be talking about the perception that all tattooed people are criminals…
My boyfriend and I jumped into a taxi, on our way out for a few drinks. He starts telling me a story of what had happened to him earlier in the day involving a community officer giving him a telling off for putting an empty can into someone’s refuse bin which was out in the street. Needless to say, knowing James, this debate went on for about half an hour ending with him taking the can back out of the bin and telling the bloke what a jobs-worth he was. I’m crying with laughter by this point as I know how stubborn he can be in proving a point, when the taxi driver pipes up: ‘No way, I thought you were gonna say you smacked the guy one’, we both look at each other, ‘with all those tattoos and your clearly ripped’ (it was a tight t-shirt and biceps kind of day) ‘when you walked up to the car, I thought bloody hell you know’!
We didn’t know, that was the first time I’d ever really thought about other people’s perceptions of us. The taxi driver was just having a laugh with us and nobody took offence, but it’s easy to forget how stereotypes still exist around tattooed people. Have we really not moved on from the image of the bad guy with tattoos? It reminded me of my guilty pleasure Australian soap Neighbours who always chose a greasy haired, leather jacket clad tattooed bloke to signify a new character who was inevitably up to no good. Australia has been in the news with reports of changes to the law under Queensland VLAD (Vicious Lawless Association Disestablishment Bill 2013) part of which would see all new tattoos photographed and recorded to create a new database of tattooed people – because only criminals have tattoos right?
Our Italian contributor Ilaria Pauletti chatted to 24-year-old Arianna Fusini who works out of Soul Shop Tattoo in Rimini about how her parent’s holiday home in the mountains inspired her tattoo career. Arianna fell in love with those old illustrated gardening manuals, and her passion for subjects like insects, hands and birds can now be seen in her work…
When did you begin tattooing? What drew you to this form of art?
I’m actually at the very beginning of my tattoo journey, I’ve only been tattooing for a year and a half, so I still have a lot to learn. When I was at high school, I used to buy alternative music magazines, and I would doodle on my friends arms with the designs I saw in those magazines. I was in arts high school so that kind of background helped a lot.
Later, during my university years, I began drawing more frequently, so that I could find a style that I loved. I put them all in a big book, it was full of sketches, and that portfolio was the reason why I got an apprenticeship in a tattoo studio.
How would you define your style?
Giving my style a definition is hard, some characteristics come from the traditional, but I also love those thin lines and details, the dotty shadings rather than the classical ones.
Who/What inspires you daily?
A lot of artists and tattoo artists I follow, those I know personally and those I hope to meet soon! I can compare myself to some of them and it helps. I often look at books illustrations, old advertising from the 1800s. I love scientific, botanical and Victorian illustrations and classic tattoo flash.
Do you prefer to work in black and white? Does this come from a personal choice or from the customer’s request?
I have always sketched in black and white and consequently I’ve always focused on using black in my work. Clients have asked to see my pre-drawn flash and it is all in black line work, I prefer the effect of the lone black ink on the skin, it creates a contrast that remains in the course of time.
When working with clients do you prefer having free reign or as many details as possible?
The optimal solution resides in the middle, too much freedom disables me sometimes! Having a subject or a reference and knowing I can interpret it as I want makes me really happy. It’s beautiful when the customer trusts me. I always try to direct people to what I like the most, not because I want to decide for them, but because I know I can guarantee a better result if I work on something I find inspirational.
Who are your reference artists and on which newbies would you bet?
In England there are certainly many of my favourite artists to which I refer to, the list is long two of them are Kelly Violet and Scott Move.
I have to say that every person I meet in this environment has something to teach me because of my lack of experience, so I try to keep my eyes open and learn from everyone.
In my first year of tattooing I met a lot of talented tattoo artists of my age or a little older, around conventions and studios from which I got tattooed and I’m sure many of them will come a long way in the next few years!
What are the subjects you prefer to tattoo?
I love birds, insects, flowers! When I was little I always stared at those illustrated gardening manuals that my parents used to preserve in our holiday house among the mountains. I think it all started there.I also love hands and blades, they are the best! Sometimes it’s funny to find out how some subjects you never really thought about before shown them by a client, become your favourite ones!
What do you think about the reaction of today’s society to tattoos and tattooed people?
Tattoos are increasingly fashionable so that’s pretty obvious that society is adapting. They have become a mass phenomenon. Maybe they’re killing the tattoo spirit as well, though I’m too young to make a real comparison with the past, in which tattoos were part of a really niche culture. Surely social media helped a lot everything.
And how did your family react to your decision to become a tattoo artist?
My mom was hoping that I would never want to pursue this career seriously, she hoped it was a passing phase, but now, seeing how I work hard and how it makes me so happy, she has calmed down.
My dad has always told me to try to pursue my dreams! I tattooed him twice (a wolf’s head and a classic super eagle).
They are both very supportive and I thank them very much. On the other hand, I’m not very sure that my grandparents understand what my job is all about.
Would you define yourself a tattoo collector? Who has tattooed you and who is on your wish list?
I definitely try to collect pieces by artists that I admire a lot, getting a tattoo is one of the best ways to learn. For now I have got tattoos by Michele l’Abbate, Guy le tatooer, Giacomo Seidita, Marlen Mckey, and many others. I got various tattoos by Elia Landi and Michele Ianni, who are very young but with a very strong style! In my wishlist there are, no doubts, Alessando Lemme, Cassandra Frances, Wolfspit and Slowerblack.
What are your future guest spots and conventions? Anything in England?
This month I will be spending two days in Milan and in April I will join, along with my tattoo studio, the Tattoo Expo in Bologna.
For now I do not have any guest spots scheduled abroad, but I would love to! One of the most beautiful sides of this job is being able to travel and I look forward to start doing it.
I lived for a while in London so, for me, England is a very important country where I would love to work in the future.
Our columnist Natalie McCreesh aka Pearl, is a fashion lecturer, freelance writer and creator of Fashion Pearls of Wisdom. In this post she’ll be talking about how she misses seeing tattooed people in winter…
Jumper and jeans, jumper and jeans, jumper and jeans… That’s been my staple wardrobe for the past few months. Three near identical pairs of skinny jeans, three near identical black shirts and three crazy vintage 80s mohair jumpers, my unfaltering uniform of warm semi-smart winter work wear. Replaced on the weekend by a less smart pair of baggy boyfriend jeans and a plaid shirt with a stray hole in the back. For someone who works in fashion you’d think I might be more creative but in winter I just long for comfort. I’m not alone, for the most part everyone you see walking around is wrapped up, in coats, hats, scarves, gloves.
As we shield our skin from the elements however in doing so we also conceal our tattoos. It’s almost like becoming invisible, no funny looks, no rude comments, no sneaky stares – well maybe the odd one at the novelty jumpers. It’s made me notice how much I miss seeing tattooed people. The vibrant, colourful bodies of the summer replaced with a sea of grey coats and black umbrellas. When I’m sat on the train I look out for a tattoo peeping out from a cuff, or a little one tucked behind the ear, call it commuters eye-spy. Myself, I find a ripped jean knee or turned up ankle cuff the only way my tattoos can be on show and it makes me realise that I do very much enjoy being tattooed. Not to show them off to other people, but seeing my roosters claw slipping out from an ankle gaps just gives me a reassuring pleasure that this is my skin.