I Ink therefore i am

It came as a great surprise to me, that the person that coined the throw-away term 'metrosexual', was also capable of such deep ...



It came as a great surprise to me, that the person that coined the throw-away term 'metrosexual', was also capable of such deep and dark insight. Mark Simpson wrote the following about a subject of great interest to me, in his biography of Saint Morrissey, titled: "A portrait of This Charming Man by an Alarming fan".


“Tattoos, after all, are a passionate, usually doomed assertion of mastery of your own destiny, or at least a defiant embrace of one that you cannot control.” 



A painting I did of Jaz and his tattoos, as a woman, back as an engineer in Australia

I love tattoos. I love the parameters enforced on the art, due to the nature of the canvas. I love the wild and eccentric culture that surrounds and inspires it. I love the passion behind the stories of the wearers.

I love my tattoo


I 'rediscovered' my tattoo a short time ago and it made me wonder: Does it mean the same thing to me it once did? Has it shaped the way i live my life and the way i make my decisions?

Yes, but not as much as i had hoped.

Talking to an old friend, I was alarmed to discover that i had started the preliminary sketches for this art in my first year of university, 8 years ago. Over time, the lines moved and the subject refined, but the message remained unchanged.  I spent a year searching for the right artist, and finally on 21st of august 2011 I had Carly Baggins run her ink through me.

Carly Baggins, making her mark

Sat between the flesh of my waist and my thick, faded, grey leather belt, i wear a matched pair of feathers. Generally all that is visible of them is a flick of the end of the plume on my hips. The two are identical aside from a coloured leather strap and beads on the base of the right one.

At their simplest, the feathers are symbolic of flight, and the liberty that it suggests. I consider my incredibly free life the combination of hard work, perception and luck. I'm lucky to have had the opportunity to become who i am and I am both aware and thankful for that.


The feather to my left, is in fact a quill. It is a stamp symbolic of my love of art and literature and the pleasure i get in the production of it.

The plume and tether to my right is part of a dream catcher. It can be hard to look internally and pigeon-hole yourself. I guess i finally came to the realisation that my mother was right when she labeled me a dreamer. It's not a bad thing. This 'wing' reminds me to continue be a dreamer, but to also stay grounded, to take those dreams and do something with them.

http://fucute.deviantart.com/art/Dream-Catcher-339116585

I guess these ideals still run true with my and suit current philosophy of travel. Simpsons view on tattoos is pessimistic and absolute. I am an existentialist, I am not religious and i don't believe in fate. The reason I have not been on Australian soil for 15 months is because I have made the choice not to, and to put into action the mechanism that has allowed me to travel.

The dream was to travel, the liberty has allowed me to spread my wings, the awareness has led me to make it a reality...

... and I guess the creativity forced me to document it.



You Might Also Like

0 comments

Powered by Blogger.