Facing the stigma around tattoos
In the year 2019, tattoos are beginning to lose the stigma surrounding them and are starting to become more of an art form. With the people giving tattoos being called tattoos artists, the people looking to get a tattoo are looking at it as getting a permanent, meaningful reminder placed on their body.
For some, a tattoo can symbolize something of great importance. For one mother, her three arrows represent her and her two children always climbing “onwards and upwards.”
“I got my hand tattooed because I knew tattooing is what I wanted to do,” said Kyle Rogers. “ I’m fully committed.” Rogers said it took him a while to finally get his hand tattooed. After building a sleeve on both of his arms and deciding that he wanted to become a tattoo artist.
Every time one tattoo artist catches himself in the mirror he will forever be reminded of the career path he has chosen to take. Danny Steele did not even have to think about getting his face tattoo. “Tattoos really are art,” said Steele.
A new trend in the tattoo community is doing tattoos for people who have had their breasts removed due to cancer. Elaborate designs are down up by the tattoo artist and then inked on the client’s chest. One tattoo shop called Bare Ink Tattoo even does it for free.
“For us, it isn’t about the money. It’s about seeing the clients reaction when they see the finished tattoo. It usually makes them cry happy tears,” said Trish Williams, a tattoo artist from Bare Ink Tattoo. “These tattoos mean so much to them.”
Williams herself also has a very meaningful tattoo. When her father passed away in January she did not want to get just any old memorial tattoo. Williams found out that ashes are sterile and incorporated them into her ink. Now, Williams always has her father wherever she goes.
“Tattoos aren’t just some status symbol any more,” said Williams. Williams says that now tattoos can have sentimental meaning.
” I never felt comfortable in my own skin until I started getting tattoos,” said Jillian Bree, a tattoo artist at Bare Ink Tattoo. Her tattoos represent pieces of art and make her feel more at home in her own skin.
For others, their tattoos tell a story. Such as Joey Stewart who has been on the sea his whole life and is now a fisherman. All of his tattoos have to do with the ocean. Stewart put careful consideration into the placement of his tattoo. He realized that his line of work would be accepting of it so he went ahead with the tattoo idea he had in his head for months.
“It’s 2019. We’re starting to accept a lot of things. Why can’t hand tattoos be one of those things,” said Stewart.
