Torbay Tattoo Tales

In response to working at the Tattoo Exhibition there are a number of ways the opportunity of volunteering and contributing to the Torbay Tattoo Tales archive has impacted my research and practice.

I have really enjoyed the Tattoo Exhibition experience, in spite of some uncertainties before it began.

One of the important things about British Tattoo Art Revealed is the creation of an archive—collecting images of people’s tattoos and the stories behind them.

Are there any observations we can make about Torbay Tattoos? Are there any trends we can identify among the tattoos that have been submitted from this area? What sets them apart, if anything?

Both the exhibition’s curator, art historian Dr Matt Lodder and Nick Schonberger, author of Forever, the New Tattoo, want us to see tattooing as an important, legitimate art form, and to view tattoos as works of art. And, Lodder urges us to think of them as perhaps ‘the best refection we have of the soul of modern life.’

Aims to challenge some of the longstanding preconceptions about the history and culture of tattooing and it asks along the way: What is distinctive about British tattooing? And, is there something distinctive about tattoos in the South West?

One man from Brixham's tattoo story. From the first tattoo to the stories behind the ones that followed.

The first time I ever came here one thing struck me: there is a lot of art in Torbay - it’s everywhere and it’s gloriously diverse and it’s worn by people.