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Anna (Before and after tattoo conversation)
Stills from a Single Channel Video, Sound, 13 min : 24 sec
Natalia: Can you please introduce
yourself?
Anna: My name is Anna, I am 55 and I come from Italy.
N: Do you have any tattoos Anna?
A: No
N: Did you want to have a tattoo before we met?
A: Yes, the conversation with my sons started this subject when I was around 50.
N: What are you having tattooed today?
A: I thought as I don’t like needles one way of getting over that is to have a tattoo. Took me a while to figure what I wanted or how I wanted it. I always wanted a mountain near where I come from. Maybe I needed to meet somebody I can relate to, tattoo for me is not having a drawing on my body and it’s a different meaning, is this (hand gesture showing kind of dynamic, relating, relationship back and forth) relating to the person.
N: How was the process of designing this tattoo?
A: I sent a photo of the mountain to you and then we worked together on the drawing, deciding on black and white, the shadows and what to put and what to take off because of the aesthetic or because it had a meaning. It felt very collaborative, responding to each other.
N: Were you aware about hand poke tattooing technique?
A: No
N: Do you know anything about it now?
A: I looked a little bit but I prefer not to know. I don’t want to have expectation or fear.
N: Does getting a tattoo means something for you?
A: Yes, it’s personal as I have been through quite a lot of unstable times in the last 10 years and specifically in the last 1.5 year, and I feel I need something permanent. And I know some of my relationships like with my parents, until they die, or sons, are permanent but others they aren’t and recently I came to this thing that nothing is permanent, and I really struggle with that. Maybe I am a bit naïve, I am a welcoming and accommodating person and when something bad happens it hits me quite badly. The mountains have always been there for me and so if I put it somewhere on my shoulder, it has to be personal.
N: Can you describe what is the relationship you have with your body?
A: It’s a bit practical in a way. I do look after myself but I don’t pumper myself.
N: Did you not want a tattoo before because it was permanent?
A: It was because of the needles and the preconception where I come from and the environment I come from it is very traditional. I have to ponder a lot about things, sometimes leave them and come back to them later.
N: How was the experience of receiving the tattoo and was it different from what you thought it would be?
A: Yes it was different, I thought it was going to be more painful, it was quite relaxing, it was unexpected to be fair. It went very quickly. I don’t stay still for that long usually so it was quite relaxing.
N: What would you say to a person your age or younger, or older if they want to have a tattoo however something stops them? From a perspective of having experienced this now.
A: The main problem would be yes, that I am too old or what would people say. I would just say that it’s your thing, that is for you, if you own it, it doesn’t matter what other people think. But I understand that age and preconceptions and perception of people, is like my dad, he is going to be quite hard on me, he would never stop doing things like that. It depends on what life experiences you have, I went through things that I had to explain to people and it was much worst then a tattoo to be fair. And it is a piece of art on your body.
N: Is there anything else you would like to add?
A: Thank you, I really like the process. Perhaps with someone else I would feel more detached, and I felt good connection (again the hand gestures showing hands moving back and forth, showing relating). You want someone you trust and we keep checking in with each other through out the design process.
Anna: My name is Anna, I am 55 and I come from Italy.
N: Do you have any tattoos Anna?
A: No
N: Did you want to have a tattoo before we met?
A: Yes, the conversation with my sons started this subject when I was around 50.
N: What are you having tattooed today?
A: I thought as I don’t like needles one way of getting over that is to have a tattoo. Took me a while to figure what I wanted or how I wanted it. I always wanted a mountain near where I come from. Maybe I needed to meet somebody I can relate to, tattoo for me is not having a drawing on my body and it’s a different meaning, is this (hand gesture showing kind of dynamic, relating, relationship back and forth) relating to the person.
N: How was the process of designing this tattoo?
A: I sent a photo of the mountain to you and then we worked together on the drawing, deciding on black and white, the shadows and what to put and what to take off because of the aesthetic or because it had a meaning. It felt very collaborative, responding to each other.
N: Were you aware about hand poke tattooing technique?
A: No
N: Do you know anything about it now?
A: I looked a little bit but I prefer not to know. I don’t want to have expectation or fear.
N: Does getting a tattoo means something for you?
A: Yes, it’s personal as I have been through quite a lot of unstable times in the last 10 years and specifically in the last 1.5 year, and I feel I need something permanent. And I know some of my relationships like with my parents, until they die, or sons, are permanent but others they aren’t and recently I came to this thing that nothing is permanent, and I really struggle with that. Maybe I am a bit naïve, I am a welcoming and accommodating person and when something bad happens it hits me quite badly. The mountains have always been there for me and so if I put it somewhere on my shoulder, it has to be personal.
N: Can you describe what is the relationship you have with your body?
A: It’s a bit practical in a way. I do look after myself but I don’t pumper myself.
N: Did you not want a tattoo before because it was permanent?
A: It was because of the needles and the preconception where I come from and the environment I come from it is very traditional. I have to ponder a lot about things, sometimes leave them and come back to them later.
N: How was the experience of receiving the tattoo and was it different from what you thought it would be?
A: Yes it was different, I thought it was going to be more painful, it was quite relaxing, it was unexpected to be fair. It went very quickly. I don’t stay still for that long usually so it was quite relaxing.
N: What would you say to a person your age or younger, or older if they want to have a tattoo however something stops them? From a perspective of having experienced this now.
A: The main problem would be yes, that I am too old or what would people say. I would just say that it’s your thing, that is for you, if you own it, it doesn’t matter what other people think. But I understand that age and preconceptions and perception of people, is like my dad, he is going to be quite hard on me, he would never stop doing things like that. It depends on what life experiences you have, I went through things that I had to explain to people and it was much worst then a tattoo to be fair. And it is a piece of art on your body.
N: Is there anything else you would like to add?
A: Thank you, I really like the process. Perhaps with someone else I would feel more detached, and I felt good connection (again the hand gestures showing hands moving back and forth, showing relating). You want someone you trust and we keep checking in with each other through out the design process.
Body
Giclée Print on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Paper, Dim Variable
Soul
Giclée Print on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Paper, Dim Variable
Breath
Single channel HD Video, Colour, Sound, 14 min : 01 sec
Variable Installation
https://youtu.be/35K5nxKT4w8https://youtu.be/35K5nxKT4w8
Hold
Single Channel HD Video Projection, Colour, Stereo Sound, 2 min : 54 sec
Variable Installation
Timeless
Digital Print on Duratrans Mounted on a Light Box
30.7 x 46.1 cm
Liminal Space I
Giclée Print on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Paper Mounted on 3 mm Foamex
56 x 84 cm
Liminal Space II
Giclée Print on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Paper Mounted on 3 mm Foamex
56 x 84 cm
Liminal Space III
Giclée Print on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Paper Mounted on 3 mm Foamex
31.1 x 47.1 cm
The Liminal Space is a mixed-media installation I created for my MA Fine Art Degree Show. The work presents the bodily engagement with an idea in which I investigate the act of holding one’s breath underwater. For me this represents a liminal state between life and death. For this project, I trained for over three months and undertook free-diving courses in order to fully explore the potential limits of breathing, an activity which we take for granted and where thought does not usually play a part. I understand this performance as a personal rite of passage and the curation of the installation drew symbolically on the rite’s three phases: Separation, Liminality and Incorporation.
Installation shots
Photography by Chris Jelley Photography