With “Blood & Ink,” I aimed to showcase tattooing with attention on the juxtaposition between the waves of pain and calm experienced by individuals receiving a tattoo, as well as the medical vs. artistic elements that are intertwined in the application.
For this project, I photographed Three Kings Tattoo in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, who has been serving New York City since 2008, and hosts tattooers from all over the world.
I came to understand that the coexistence of each—pain vs. calm; medical vs. art—lend themselves to one another; the body acts as both a canvas to apply art and as a subject undergoing a procedure.
All these elements provide an experience unique to the individual and, although a design can be duplicated, the experience cannot.