Tattoos have served as rites of passage, marks of status and rank, symbols of religious and spiritual devotion, decorations for bravery, sexual lures and marks of fertility, pledges of love, punishment, amulets and talismans, protection, and as the marks of outcasts, slaves and convicts.

The emotions one experiences leading up to the tattoo and during the process are some of the purest human emotions. This project examines these emotions and provides a narrative of the tattoo experience.