CELEBRATING TWENTY PLUS YEARS OF TATTOOING
I have just arrived back from yet another wonderful tattoo convention, Bristol this time.
As usual the weekend went way too fast. Although I wouldn’t have it any other way, I always feel a pinch for not having enough time to hang out with everyone.
As I rushed about between my booth and the stencil making room three, four, five times navigating the swamp of familiar faces all around, it struck me that I have been doing this thing, tattooing, for twenty plus years now.
Twenty one this July to be exact, but this time last year I was somewhat distracted and forgot to stop and take stock. Twenty years! That’s more than half my lifetime. That’s worth acknowledging and celebrating. Celebrating first my luck in walking into this industry and second the blood, sweat and tears that has taken to keep it up for this long.
As I bump into the usual suspects, sometimes engaging in conversation, sometimes just a quick nod, it gives me a warm feeling knowing that most of these people have been in my life for as long as I can remember. And here we all are still, doing our thing. We might not see each other often, but it sure feels like family.
Tattoo conventions are an opportunity to put us all together under the same roof in the midst of everyone’s very busy schedules and give us a chance to catch up or simply be there, enjoying this tattoo bubble. A yearly constant, regardless of whatever else is going on in life.
For this reason I will forever cherish conventions and I’ll continue to participate, no matter how lazy I always feel pre show! They are a tremendous amount of work after all but definitely worth the effort. All my gratitude to the organizers that work around the clock to make it all happen and to everyone that continues to show up year after year, making these events so rewarding and fun.
Lastly a heartfelt thank you to all of you tattoo aficionados, without whom neither tattoo conventions nor the dream career that tattooing is would be possible. Feeling very, very lucky.
Love
Inma
The calm before the storm! Our set up at the last edition of Bristol Tattoo convention, July 2022.
Now and then! At my very first tattoo convention, Milan 2002. Getting tattooed by one of my favourites, age 17.