Tattoos

I like tattoos. For me they have personal, decorative and even ritualistic importance.

The pleasure of tattooing for me happens on many different levels: I love the aesthetic look of "inked skin" - the way a well designed and executed piece can trace the musculature and emphasise the beauty of the body that wears it; I love the strength and individuality that wearing ink can give a person - a visual reminder of their strength of Will to pursue their idea of beauty, regardless of what others may think; I love being a part of an exclusive club: of those that have faced the needle and allowed themselves to be transformed by it... Hell, in some ways I even enjoy the process of tattooing: the build up of apprehension and excitement before hand... the still, quiet mental focus required to sit through 2 hours of the needle... the intensity of the tattooist's gaze as they work the design into your skin - your flesh their canvas as they help transform you into a walking work of art...

Most of all, I love being able to wear my own art on my skin - of having my symbolic life etched into my very body - of being "inked" rather than merely "pink"

Over the next few pages I hope to give you some idea about my own tattoos - what symbolic importance my designs have to me, and a little idea of the work involved when getting a large piece.

Enjoy!

• What tattoos might have meant in the past
  
• What tattoos mean to me
  
• Details of the Greenman back-piece by Ian of Reading and Jo Harrison from Modern Body Art, Birmingham (now completed)
  
• "Air and water": the first of two "Elemental" sleeve designs by Jo Harrison. (now completed)
  
• "Fire and earth": the second "Elemental" sleeve design by Jo Harrison.
  
• Geoff's page - detailing the work on his Tribal left sleeve by Jo (now completed)
  
• Geoff's 2nd page - covering Jo's work on geoff's Dragon sleeve for his right arm.