Project Description

'My interest in ‘urban’ forms of tattoos started during my research on gangs whose
members use tattooing as means to denote identification and affiliation to a group.
However, one can observe a growing infatuation with this art on a more mainstream
level in our urban centres. Therefore I decided to do customised tattoo portraits of
people I knew. I chose models that did not have any tattoos and I offered that they
choose how to express their interests and passion through the sorts of tattoos that
they requested. The subjects all chose their own elements to represent and identify
them in the form of a tattoo superimposed on their portraits.'

Marie Hélène Cauvin

Courtesy of the artist

April 2011