It is difficult to put walls in place surrounding the ‘Origin Point’ of my work. It is a seemingly shapeshifting expression of the human experience. When I say, “the human experience,” I refer to the condition of existence we collectively share. Our faculty is feeling, sensation, and sensibility. The appreciation, atmosphere, aura, awareness, consciousness, impression, intuition, perception, premonition, presentiment, and sentiment that is always present yet ever-changing. To explain my attempts to harness anything reminiscent of this, I must also explain my choice of mediums.

Over the years I’ve explored various art forms, from painting and sculpting to drawing and more. Recently, I became tangled up with the human body itself, and once I started I could never look back. When living skin becomes a canvas it is rare for one to feel the need to search for canvases elsewhere. There is a running joke that when one becomes a tattoo artist one becomes a therapist, a counselor, and sometimes a doctor of the soul. In my profession, I have repeatedly begun to see myself as something close to the ferryman docked at the River Styx. I stand as an interpreter or a guide waiting to be in service to those who come knocking at the door. I work with people from all walks of life, and each person has a unique experience to convey through various personalized works of art.

When commissioned to take on a client, my work always begins with a conversation. Often they will tell a story or point to a time in their life that was so significant it gave them something to remember; something to hold on to. It can be a picture, a symbol, a mantra; other times a burn or a scar to be hidden. It can be as simple as a light-hearted quote or something so deep to honor their darkness. My job is to listen. My job is to interpret. I decipher what part of their experience is the most important and capture its essence. There is always an answer to be found in this process. An answer that drove them to manipulate their body permanently and make this commitment.

From here, I take the intrapersonal to the interpersonal. I capture a moment and give them an experience that will be with them until they die. For some, this is too much pressure to bear. For others, its significance is completely neglected and treated like a hustle. Even so, there are the few, the shamans and the masters, the creators and the spirit dancers. Those who walk the line between painful torture and masochistic subliminal bliss, all the while with humility and respect for those who crave their help. Blessed am I, for these are the teachings of my mentors. Blessed I am, for this is the path I choose to follow.