When did you get your first tattoo? At 16. I had ‘TBY’ on my left forearm. This was ‘Team Beverley Yamaha’, my first race team. At 17 I had a heart on my right forearm with a girl’s name under it. She was my first girlfriend. Stupid kids, haha. What attracts you to tattoos? I definitely feel I express my emotions through body art. I have body art through my heart’s desire, good or bad emotionally. Did you notice a difference in how you felt about your body when you became more heavily tattooed? I felt power and emotional. By this time I was 58 and had a tattoo on my lower right leg wh ..read more

What was your first tattoo and how would you describe the experience? My first tattoo is a tattoo saying "Tunnel 52". With the tram you went through tunnel number 52 to my street where I grew up. I wanted to have something with some kind of meaning, nothing special really but still nothing I would regret. Something maybe a bit abstract for others. To suddenly have a mark on your body was strange. It takes time until it becomes part of you and your skin. When you started getting tattoos, did this coincide with any other changes or developments in your life? I was 18. I had moved away from h ..read more

When did you get your first tattoo? I was 24 and it was right after a heartbreak that changed my mind about life completely. I tattooed the intimate nickname of my first love. It had two main meanings: what the relationship had started for me (it was the first time I was able to feel deep connection), and what it ended for me as I re-birthed into a whole new human being internally, and obviously a whole new image externally too. I never thought anything would be meaningful enough to have permanently tattooed before that, but I couldn't let go and move on without commemorating what that exp ..read more

I came across Nikki in an unexpected place: a video about a death metal yoga class in Athens. She was the yoga instructor, and while the subject of the video was undeniably interesting, my tattoo radar zoned in on the unique bunny decorating Nikki's arm. I wanted to find out more about it so I arranged a photo shoot during a trip to my hometown Athens, Greece, where Nikki lives. Bunny tattoo by Vasso When did you realise you wanted to get tattoos? Is it something you took a while to decide or was it more impulsive? I always loved tattoos. Since I was child. A naked body was a little bit ..read more

Hazel kept her first tattoo a secret for almost a year. When she finally revealed it to her mum, she was met with a roaring response. But Hazel was determined to follow her own path and tattoos helped secure this independence. Keep reading to find out how ... What originally drew you to tattoos? It started in my teenage days. It's so cliche to say this, but it was seeing art on a walking skin. Back in those days, not a lot of people had them, or if they did it would usually be hidden. So whenever I would see people with unusual body modifications I'd say "someday, I'm gonna be like that ..read more

When I worked at the British Film Institute I had a lot of love for many of my colleagues. Jane Giles was a special kind of cool, though. Fierce, intelligent and knowledgable - she was so impressive to me. This summer I got the chance to spend time with her outside of corporate confines and talk to her about her tattoos. Among other fascinating exchanges, she showed me a book she created when she was 16 (!) in which she critiques tattoo culture. Scroll down to see it. When did you first become aware of tattoos? It was in 1980 when I was just 16 and wanted to be an art student. I started to ..read more

What was happening in your life when you decided to get your first tattoo? ​ I was in a relationship back then for a year or a bit more. At that time I came back from UK to Korea to prepare for my transfer to another uni. Basically doing portfolio again. I was lost in both my life and work. I don’t know why but felt really lost with no answer or no solution. Then I met a really good friend and his sister was a tattoo artist just starting her career. One day she showed me a drawing of a cute naked girl and in that second I knew I must get it. How did you feel after you got the tattoo? ​ I fe ..read more

When did you first take an interest in tattoos? I have been interested in tattoos for a long time before I got one. It was a certain kind of tattoo: big and flowy, where the tattoo seemed to be a natural part of the body. They were the work of a Danish tattoo artist, Erik Reime. He was inspired by the styles of the iron and viking age. It was a far cry from the tattoos I had seen before; small and faded. I have since discovered other artist from the 1980s, like Leo Zulueta, where the tattoo and the body became one. How old were you when you got your first tattoo? I at last found the cou ..read more

When I look at Tati Compton's body of work as a tattoo artist, it's a similar experience to when I pour through the portfolio of a photographer or filmmaker I admire. Her pieces are iconic and contain an interior world full of vitality and imagination. Her creations are almost cinematic - I can picture them as scenes in the kind of movie that would make it into a film studies course. To say that I was excited to meet Tati would be an understatement. Here's what she had to say about life as a tattoo artist. Dragon by Mimifats Can you tell me a bit about your journey in becoming a tatt ..read more

Imma is a sublime artist of many mediums: dance, performance, art direction. You might think, therefore, that her tattoos are an aesthetic choice - part of a ‘look’ - but as she explains in our interview below, tattoos are a way of releasing life’s pressures and finding clarity. As someone transitioning, she illuminated facets of gender identity and the tattooed body that I hadn't considered before. I highly recommend reading and reflecting on her words. What drew you to tattoos? I started getting tattoos in May 2008 in Atlanta, Georgia. My first tattoo was behind my ear. At that time my ..read more