Tattoos

I have always loved tattoos. I remember going to a museum in Sydney many moons ago and when I was under 18, it showcased the history of tattoos. What I remember the most is the traditional way that Maori people get their tribal tattoos alongside the meanings behind each design.

Mr Cartoon is one of my favourite tattoo designers, he brings the art of the streets: graffiti to the human skin. His characters work is similar to mine, it is colourful and always has an outline.

The first tattoo I drew was for myself is a combination of my star signs as I am born on the cusp. It was on New Years Day in 1997 in Byron Bay that I would have my first tattoo inked into my flesh. As a skater chick I got it under my arm - a very uncommon place to get them back then.

Years later whilst driving to Mullumbimby in 2003, and all of a sudden, a thought came to me of a new tattoo, the words: passion and pain. Two feelings artists would relate to, oh the joys of being a tortured artist. I started designing the tattoo playing with letters, I wanted it black and to go under my other arm. I played and scribbled with letters and wanted it to be difficult to understand, an influence from my time in Sydney's hip-hop scene... letter manipulation. My tattoo design style slowly developed, it looks like hieroglyphics, yet I have no idea how I came up with this style. I suppose this is called flow...

I finished my design and was happy with my tattoo and flew to Sydney to have it etched in my skin. Allowing a very attractive man to inflict pain on me was a sensation in itself. I was already thinking about my next one ;)

When getting this tattoo, I was at university and working at both the Middle Pub, Mullumbimby and the 24/7, a convenience store in Byron Bay. I already had an underarm tattoo from 1997 which didn't get much attention and I was not prepared for the amount of attention my large underarm tattoo would get. Almost every customer in the convenience store commented on my tattoo. They all wanted to know what it was and each time I outlined the letters and then the penny would drop with them. The meaning of the tattoo was very personal, I was not comfortable with so many people asking. It became annoying. So, I decided to get another one under my other arm, incorporating my first tattoo. I wanted to distract people from my passion... and my pain.

It's a Tattoo, inked under my arm. Can you work it out? The I is at the top. My first tattoo is also depicted here right near my armpit - a combination of the cancer and gemini start signs. The cap I'm wearing is a print of the cherry tattoo painting shown below - available for purchase in my store.

Once again I made my design and flew to Sydney. This time I expected people to ask what it was and so the questions began. When someone asked asked I replied IT'S A TATTOO. They looked at me bewildered, thought I was taking the piss out of them (to which I kind of was but not how they thought). I would point out the letters and show them that it literally spelt; IT'S A TATTOO. Yes, I inked myself to play with people who commented on my tattoo. My shifts were long... I needed some light entertainment, and it was entertaining and light-hearted for me and the person who enquired.

My tattoos are completely original and people are very curious about them. I entered the Northern Rivers Tattoo Convention competition for my designs in 2005. I ended up winning!

After uni I went to Melbourne to forge my corporate career.

Circa 2006 the corporate world wasn't a fan of tattoos, at this time professionals were to look a certain way, have no personality in their attire and wear the same suits - both women and men. Heck, I even had a boss have a word to me because I had big boobs...that's a blog for another day. I recall a linkedin post of a man saying he would never hire a person with a tattoo, how his company missed out on creativity and innovation. The book, Nice Girls Don't Get The Corner Office, has an entire chapter on how bad tattoos are in the corporate game and will hinder one getting the 'corner office' aka to be taken seriously or get a promotion. This was the message being given out. Like many narratives, I called bullshit. I have tattoos galore and well, I did get promoted to the top and I also got the corner office - the best office in the building.

During my stint in Melbourne many people enquired about my designs and commissioned their own unique designs. One woman commissioned me to design her name and her two children’s names for her husband. They wanted a large one that went all the way down his torso.

The request for this tattoo was to the draw the names: Lisa, Ashton, Lola. After playing around with lettering and design, the final product was drawn (see drawings and final tattoo below). Not every letter is the same, it all depends on the aesthetics and how I need to put letters together to disguise them. Below shows the journey to get to the end result.

Later in Melbourne, my girlfriend was learning to be a tattoo artist, as a die-hard fan of artistic expression, I told her she could use my body to practice. I wanted a tiny heart with wings... exactly like this one in the LUST IS THE DRUG collection. She ended up doing a massive green zombie Hello Kitty on my back... do I like Hello Kitty, when I was 12, am I into zombies... no. But as usual, I got carried away in all the creativity. It is big and took a few sittings. I'll never forget being in the studio in Prahran, Melbourne and her mentor told her the needle was upside down... thirty minutes into getting inked! I can't see the tattoo but it does take a good portion of my back. On a side note, after the ending of my 10 year relationship. and upon returning to Byron, I did end up getting the heart with wings. There's nothing like replacing emotional pain with physical pain!

These days I still have words tattooed on my body yet I use my own hand-writing. Fear Or Love and Hold Fast are inked into my fingers in my own hand-writing. Both are very significant. Fear or Love came from a popular book in the 90s called Conversations with God. The concept is, all feelings and thoughts come from two places, fear or love. This reminds me to check myself if I am swinging to unpleasant thoughts or feelings. I ask myself; is this coming from fear or love.

The second is HOLD FAST. Meaning to stand my ground, symbolises to not succumb to violating my values, ethics, intuition and intellect. It means not to succumb to group think, to not hide or duck and weave when the pressure is on or I am a target. To walk through the storms with my head always held high. I am a woman who has very strong values and ethics, HOLD FAST enables me to not give up, believe in myself and to not backdown from my truth.

My body of work; FRINGE DWELLERS has paintings of well known tattoos that are very old and traditional, tattoos that signified the rebel. The meaning of the above tattoos: the anchor, the eight-ball and the cherries are written in the paintings write up, see the swallow also.

Motorhead's song Ace of Spades... with 11 year old Lemmy, my cat, in the background... yes, I'm a big fan!

In 2023 I again got more tattoos; IF YOU LIKE TO GAMBLE. It is a commemorative inking dedicated to two men that physically left the earth that year. My dad and my friend of 20 years Matt. Both men were gamblers. My father loved the pokies and spent a lot of time pushing those buttons, he also loved bridge and his trophies all had the ACE OF SPADES (the highest card in the deck) on them. Matty gambled with life. After he nursed my through my father’s death, Matt left in July. With all the things I have been through, 2023 has been the hardest year of my life, my world simply turned upside down.

Tattoos are very common now, it is unusual to meet someone without one. I remember the time when they shifted from being the sign of a criminal and became a given for artists and creative people. Today they are a dime a dozen.

Today, I do not have the lust for tattoos that I once did, however the art of inking skin has been a major part of my creative journey, through inking myself and others, alongside playing a role in the body of work Fringe Dwellers and admiring the amazing art form.

If you are interested in a custom piece of lettering please email me with your number and we can have a chat to design your own unique tattoo that will be admired by many.

~ atuk~