Shopped Tattoos, a tumblr by artist Cheyenne Randall, from Seattle, imagines a world where celebrities and iconic figures are all heavily tattooed.
Looks like a pretty cool world to us, hey?
Celebs with tattoos #shoppedtattoos
Mark Leaver’s facial tattoo photography project
Mark Leaver is a third year student studying commercial photography at the Arts University Bournemouth. Portraits are his thing. And his photography project has been created to show the beauty of facial tattoos and dispel some of the myths surrounding them.
“Facial tattoos have a lot of taboos around them, due to their confrontational nature,” says Mark Leaver on why he started this project. “Unfortunately none of these views are positive, facial tattoos are associated with suicide rates, unemployment, depression and anti-social behaviour. And I can happily report that’s all dated buillshit”.
“Tattoos have recently become incredibly popular and are more accepted by society than ever before. There are many reasons for this, one being their endorsement through celebrity culture. There are countless people with tattooed sleeves and other bits and pieces but that was too broad and mainstream to base a project around. What makes facial tattoos so distinctive is that they are still confrontational, there’s no hiding them. There are only a select few people who make that kind of commitment and it was those people that I wanted to meet and photograph,” says Mark Leaver, about his project.
Mark interviewed each of the subjects of this portrait photographs, to find out a little more about them. These interviews have not yet been published.
“I feel that with documentary work it’s an oversight not to talk to the people being photographed, especially if they are posed portraits,” says Mark. “Candid work isn’t my thing. I try to meet people and set up a portrait in a way that naturally and authentically reveals the person’s character. I prefer the shoots where I get to know the subject a bit better because everyone has interesting stories and backgrounds. Obviously, there are some things that are impossible to communicate with an image, so the text adds to the portrait without changing it. During Touka Voodoo’s interview he told me he had a sex change operation to become a man and that the tattooing on his face, which he did in the mirror himself, represented both his masculinity and femininity.”
A full interview with Mark, can be viewed at Huck magazine. And his work can viewed on his website, www.mdleaver.com.
Also look out for issue #7 of Things&Ink, which will feature brand new portraits and accompanying interviews from this project.
All photographs by Mark Leaver, www.mdleaver.com, www.facebook.com/
Are you a collector of ink and things?
Are you a collector of things as well as ink?
Things & Ink photographer Heather Shuker is looking for people with tattoos and collections to photograph for a personal portrait series. Heather would like to hear from any tattooed individuals who have interesting, obscure or even just a large collection of everyday items that they can be photographed with.
Contact Heather via www.facebook.com/
Modern Woman, Indigenous Spirit
Read the story behind therapist and model Laurence Moniasse Sessou’s tattoos and scarification in ‘The Modification Issue’ #6, thingsandink.com. The feature includes Laurence’s story in her own words, a stunning eight-page emotionally-charged photo shoot and also comments from her body modification artist Iestyn Flye and her tattoo artist Touka Voodoo, both work at Divine Canvas.
Here’s some unpublished images from the shoot, and the illustrations by Katerina Samoilis that were based around Laurence’s story and used as projections in the background of the photo shoot.
Photography and Art Direction – Josh Brandao
Model – Laurence Moniasse Sessou
Words/Story – Laurence Moniasse Sessou and Alice Snape. Thanks to India Ame ‘Ye’ for the title
Illustrations and Set Dressing – Katerina Samoilis
Styling – Olivia Snape
Make-up and Hair – Anna Wild using Nars
Septum Ring – Studio Lil Art and Design
Earrings – Manaka Handmade
More information at thingsandink.com.
Food for thought: Still-Life images
Food is essential fuel, enabling us to move, function – think.
“The idea behind ‘Food for Thought’ was to shoot a series of images, which explore the desk as environment. Mixing real stationery items with stationery made from food, specifically from icing and cheese, we created a deceptive image, requiring closer inspection and greater thought in order to identify which items are real and which have been crafted from food.” Kristy Noble
Stylist: Yvonne Achato http://www.yvonneachato.com/
Photographer: Kristy Noble http://www.kristynoble.co.uk/
Check out the latest issue of Things&Ink to see more work from Kristy and Yvonne, Form And Function – a still life with piercing equipment in The Modification Issue, buy from our website, thingsandink.com.