As the country gets its first tattoo convention, Riya Sharma finds out the famous trends from Nagaland to Sweden. For some, it is about adorning the body like ornaments, others feel that it is the medium to conserve their folklore
Men in shorts flaunting their coloured inks on their legs paired with a hip hop cap, the sound of bike’s motor engine, women showing off their coloured portraits and old school style artwork on their backs. This all, perfectly accessorised with pierced ears, eyebrows and God knows what all. Who wouldn’t have figured out by now that we are talking about the Heartwork Tattoo festival happening for the first time in India.
As we entered the Indira Gandhi Stadium, someone asked us, ‘Are you here to get inked’ and in no time, our answer was ‘YES’. Though, that didn’t happen but the first person who interacted with us at length was none other than one of the organisers, Sameer Patange. As a festival like this has not taken place in India till now, so what was the inspiration behind bringing tattoo artists not only from India but across the globe. “This is what we do. This is our work and it is our responsibility to give back to the profession,” he said.
So, was it difficult to get everything at place, we askedIJ “Yes, it was a challenge to get everyone on- board. You need to have a good rapport with everyone from the industry, and I think we were able to make that possible,” he replied.
With us taking a stroll of the entire area, we were impressed by the enthusiasm of tattoo lovers. Though Paul Booth was actually ‘attacked’ by his fans (in a good way bestowing their love on him), we bring to you some tattoo artists from around the world and along with some home-grown talent. First, we met Anay Shou from China, who had his stall right next to Inkline.
China
Shou’s art is traditional and is called frightening style.“It is the combination of colour and design, and the design is supposed to deliver a message that is frightening. It should resemble the power of a tattoo,” said Shou.
He added, “Modern day tattoos — they come in different designs, but I want to combine the essence of the tattoo. My tattoos are 2000 years ago, my intention is to be as original as possible. Tribes in our country, they make these tattoos to protect themselves from animals. A lot of people who are doing tattoos these days, they take it as a design. But, for me, it is more like a body ornament.”
Korea
One of the striking feature of their stall was the way Jason, tattoo artist was roaming flaunting off his belly and back covered in tattoo. Though it is a normal sight for a tattoo festival, we were amazed by the way people were clicking pictures with him. While talking to us, he and Ru hwan told us that the new pattern that a lot of people are following is — colour portrait. “We believe in realistic style, which actually shows a more real and vivid style of a tattoo. In colour portraits, it seems that you have actually copied the image in a tattoo. Our style is inspired from Renaissance and that is what you will get to see in our tattoos,” they shared.
Sweden
Marcus, while telling us about one of the styles — Dot work tattoos, said that it is quite famous among people. “You make dots in the entire tattoo and that is how it is done,” he shared. He added that he does not follow a particular pattern rather he tries to get inspiration from the artwork of other artists. “When I see other people’s work, I try to capture the design in my mind. So, when I make designs, I try to imitate it and learn,” he shared.
On the other hand, Pg from Fallen Angel Tattoo told us that there are no new trends that people follow when it comes to tattoo making. “From the time I started, I have always been getting requests from people to make tattoos that they have a connect with. It can be in memory of someone, their loved ones or any famous character. That has always been the trend and I don’t think that it is going to change anytime soon,” he shared.
Nagaland
Ajit Patikar from Ink-Ject Tattoo Studio contrary to what we had expected informed us, that though he is quite famous for his tribal art, but he is actually promoting the modern aspect of his art. “There are different tribes in Nagaland and each tribe has got their own type of artwork, pattern and folk tales, I promote more of the modern art. We do not exactly copy the traditional artform but we try to give it a new twist by adding our own touch to it,” he said.
He added that people come up with the stories of their forefathers and he tries to pick one aspect of their story and then make the design. “I remember a guy from the US, who wanted a skull tattoo on his elbow. With that, he also wanted to remember the geographical map of Nagaland so I drew that in the background, this is the way how I give my personal touch to the art,” he shared.
Itattyou
“It is the online portal for all the tattoo artists who can upload their work under this. Every client and other artists can also get to know about their artworks and their styles under this website,” said Chetan Salhotra from Itat.
‘Imported’ Production
Not only tattoo artists from in and around the world were present at the festival, we saw many suppliers of the products used for tattoo making. We were surprised to know that there are only a few suppliers in the country where tattoo is a rage. “There is nobody producing the products here. The cost of production is of the reasons, “ said Vikas Gupta, owner at Traditional Tattoo Supply. He added, “The needles are exported from China whereas the ink is supplied from the US.
The spokesperson at Tattoo empire shared that there are many reasons why we don’t have a production unit here in India. “May be, nobody ever thought of bringing it in the country or the other possible reason can be that we don’t have the required technology,” she said.