BY: SAMANTHA TAPP It’s almost more rare to find someone without a tattoo than with one these days. We spend money, time, thought and endure a bit of pain to keep these images on our bodies forever. But, until now…
Meet the neo-hippie communist bringing body art to Cuba—where tattooing is still illegal
BY: CAROLINE ROLF While he might look like your everyday hipster, Che Alejandro Pando Napoles, or Che for short, would describe himself as more of a “neo-hippie communist.” Despite having to constantly dodge government closures of his shop by…
This tattoo trend will literally leave a deceased loved one under your skin
BY: CAROLINE ROLF After the loss of a loved one, it’s common to keep a belonging of theirs to cherish the departed forever. Some choose to express their sympathy with a memorial tattoo. Dedicating a piece of ink to the…
Freedom or Death in The Granite State: Youth voters are tattooing themselves with Bernie’s face
BY: M. TOMOSKI The alarm began to chime and rattle against the end table on the morning after Super Bowl 50 with the thin light of dawn peeking through my hotel room window. “Where the hell am I?” I thought.…
Designer suits, inked skin and amputated fingers—inside the Yakuza, the world’s largest crime syndicate
BY: CONNOR BRIAN | Photos by: Anton Kusters The Yakuza are known for their ruthlessness, full-body tattoos, and a strict code of honour, that if broken has a tradition of punishing you by cutting off your fingers one at a time.…
A Brazilian tattoo artist is helping victims of domestic violence by turning their scars into tattoos
BY: STEFANIE PHILLIPS In the city of Curitiba, at the southern tip of Brazil, Flavia Carvalho tattoos several pink cherry blossoms up the side of a client’s back – each one shaded a vibrant pink colour. They are a symbol…
Russian tattoo artist turns childhood fears into permanent works of art
BY: SHAY ANSARI Skulls, snakes and ravens are not usually the first thing you think of when choosing a tattoo. However, Russian tattoo artist, Alexander Grim, takes these dark images and turns them into breathtaking pieces of art that will…
Tattoo and street art giants gather at Denmark’s biggest underground art convention
BY: LEAH HANSEN Photos by: Galleri Grisk and Aarhus Art Convention His hands are speckled with colour from the spray of the can he’s been using for the past two days. What isn’t on his hands has made it onto…
Tattooed seniors answer the question, “but what will you look like when you’re old and grey?” (Photos)
Tattoos look stylish when you’re young, but they also come with the age-old argument of “what happens when you get old?” Will the tattoos disintegrate into a wrinkled and ugly representation of lost youth—or will they give you the weathered…
The reason for this ex-lawyer’s extreme body modification will empower you (photos)
Meet María José Cristerna, also known as “The Vampire Woman.” Don’t let her appearances deceive you though, María is a former lawyer, survivor of domestic abuse, and a mother of four now working as a tattoo artist. Cristerna grew up…
This tattoo plays music when you scan it
BY: AYA TSINTZIRAS Want to combine music with your body art? Now it’s possible, thanks to a Moscow-based artist. Dmitry Morozov, who describes himself as a “media-artist, musician and engineer of strange-sounding mechanisms,” has created a machine that plays music…
From behind bars to behind the needle: Portraits of Mexican criminals turned tattoo artists.
BY: JONATHAN MAY Riddled with bullet holes, cocaine hangovers, and wrinkle inducing prison sentences, a past life is not always a destiny foretold. Out of the furnace and onto the black tarmac ascended eight Mexican tattoo artists who united together…
Why did it take so long for the American mainstream to embrace tattoos?
BY: TYLER FYFE Tattooing has been practiced by various cultures for at least 8000 years. From New Zealand’s Maori, to Siberia’s Pazyryk nomads, little has changed in the very natural desire to modify the human body. So why did it…