A different shade of catharsis

The local tattoo convention is something that has eluded me now for several years in a row. For various reasons - pandemic, travel, different priorities, but there was always that voice at the back of my head wanting to go. Well, looks like I finally made it.

I was fifteen when I learned that in Romania, it was legal to get tattooed at sixteen, provided you had parental approval. What followed was a long episode of incessant badgering and, I believe, a tremendous stroke of luck, but eventually, when I was about 16 and a half, I got my first tattoo, and fell in love instantly.

With the tattooist. One of the singularly most gorgeous men I've ever met. Only half kidding. I also fell in love with the sensation. Not that I felt much. I was lucky enough that, although I chose a traditionally painful spot for my first ink (ribcage), I was so anxious, the pain hardly registered. About a year or so later, I inked the other side of my ribs. Anxiety by then had worn off, and what was left was a substantial amount of pain.

Long story short, I'm a tattoo person all the way. There's such an incredible level of liberation and catharsis in tattooing. And, as I found out at this convention, it's for good reason. Although for the longest time in history, tattooing bore an unpleasant stigma (often being used to brand slaves and criminals), it turns out that before that, it was actually a healing practice. According to fairly recent discoveries such as Otzi the Iceman, tattoos could be traced on the individual's body in places that corresponded with Chinese pressure points, and also with (still visible) wounds. It was thought that the act of tattooing held a special power, perhaps even held sway with the powers that be, and could make the difference between life and death.

It was also believed by some tribes, such as the Pazyryk tribe in modern-day Siberia, that tattoos carried over into the afterlife, and would allow tribesmen to recognize one another. Frankly, that's one of the coolest things I've ever heard.

It was, of course, the healing bit that intrigued me, and it's partly why I did not leave the convention unaltered. :)

I also found the convention an excellent opportunity to be inspired, and expand my artistic horizons. Although I initially went out of simple love for tattoos, the two days I spent at the convention offered beautiful insight into the artist's mind. I met loads of people with interesting stories to tell, and a fresh approach to being themselves. More importantly, I found a space and a collective that allowed and encouraged them to be as they were. It came as a tremendous experience.

I also encountered and watched several artists - tattooists, photographers, painters - at work. There's a Romanian saying about "stealing a trade", and I certainly feel that's what this weekend was about, in part.

I came home so inspired. Filled with ideas of what I want to do next, art-wise, but also content. I took the opportunity, and spent today shooting around the convention. It was daunting, being around professionals, but also great fun. I pursued my own little project which you can see here, about faces of tattooing. I shot both artists, and clients, in an attempt to capture the infinitely broad and exciting spectrum of emotions one goes through under the gun.

Don't you just love how happy and chill this guy is?

For this post, I'm sticking to shots of people being tattooed, as I kept the artist shots in color. So they may surface...eventually. I keep seeing the #monomad challenge around, but given all the fantastic entries, I've always been too daunted to enter. Well, I guess this convention gave me a little courage. So, this is my entry for the #monomad challenge.