Childhood me would have wanted current me to have tattoos. However, after my second heart surgery at age 15, my surgeon told me I wasn’t allowed to have any body modifications due to the risk of an infection causing death. Having already designed my first tattoo, I was devastated. This insatiable desire to express myself through the collaboration of artist and body persisted.
In 2025, I began this indefinite project in an attempt to scratch that itch by living vicariously through others’ tattoos. By photographing these artworks, from stick-and-pokes to elaborate murals, I become a part of the conversation; I engage in my own collaboration, cherishing these tattoos as though they were mine.