Clik here to view.
null
TATTOOS are the must have accessories for the 21st century. Once the exclusive preserve of crusty old sea-dogs with anchors, swallows and the names of sweethearts inked on their forearms they have been replaced by Celtic designs, Marilyn Monroe, tribal stamps, butterflies and flowers.
It seems everybody has one. In short tattoos are taking over. Boyband One Direction ignited huge controversy this week by asking their fans to tweet images of their tattoos, but if statistics are to be believed they are more popular than ever with one in five adults having one; seems like more, there must be a few devils on bums people don't want to admit! Ink was once considered to be reserved for sailors and rock stars but what is the face of the Northern Irish tattoo?
Are we more relaxed about our local librarian having their arms covered by ink or is the Galgorm Hotel to be believed? Are we that reserved that we're offended by the mere presence of a tattooed person in the same restaurant as us?
The Ballymena resort asked a group of diners to leave because one of them had a visible tattoo on his arm. We present to you four people in their twenties, forties, sixties and even a certain grandfather Curran in his nineties. Each of them has their own story to tell and they involve religion, ex's, grief, stop watches and butterflies!
Welcome to the wonderful world of the tattooed! Fashion stylist Alexandra Godfrey is 23 and she has quite the collection considering she's been knocking around the shortest time of all of our inked up individuals. With a grand total of 12 separate sketches.
"I got half of mine in the last year," she said. "One of them was done at a 'tattooathon' where artists worked on hundreds of people who each paid £20 to get a breast cancer symbol. They raised over £4000."
Gone are the days of sneaking off with saved up pocket money and without your parents permission, "It's funny my mum actually encourages it. She loves them and she loves winding my grandparents up telling them how many I have! They do not like them!"
With plenty of space left this is a canvas that is going to keep on filling up, and rapidly if the last year is anything to go by. Next we have Mo our 40-year-old inker, she is a housewife with more than a secret recipe up her sleeve.
Her arm is almost covered in tattoos, and one on her back she would rather forget. "My grandfather had these amazing ones, a huge big RAF symbol with the great big wings all over his torso. I suppose that is where the fascination started. I always thought his were cool and wanted one for myself.
"Now I almost have a sleeve. It is a really personal thing to me. The phoenix represents tough times that I overcame and then I am in the middle of getting a Japanese dog to represent my wee one that died."
The world of the tattoo has changed, one of Northern Ireland's most renowned artists Joe Mullan, proprietor of Joker Tattoo in Belfast explains. "It used to be, people walked into a tattoo parlour and picked any random image on the wall. It was less about expressing yourself than it is now. I draw each one individually by hand. Even the perception of people with tattoos has changed. I see every walk of life in my studio."
One lady who knows all about that is 61-year-old Roisin, who got her first and only tattoo on her sixtieth birthday! If you can't treat yourself who will, "I have always wanted one but my parents forbade me, lucky they did too. I could have very easily ended up with a huge big image of Che Guevara plonked somewhere!
Clik here to view.
"Now I have finally plucked up the courage to get rosary beads on my ankle. I thought about getting it somewhere covered and then I thought,why should I bother I'll get it somewhere I can see it. Now I love it and so do my family."
A notion my granda Alfie Curran probably wishes he echoed, at the ripe old age of 93 years young, the former navy man got his right of passage tatt a little wrong!
"It's a swallow with the name of my girlfriend on it, well my ex girlfriend! Everyone was getting them done then. We all did it when we were bored."
The ink has faded and there is little left of the tattoo, not a problem that Alfie will be losing sleep over anytime soon.This was his one and only inking! Regardless of the reason, the appearance or the colour, they are becoming more and more common and more and more accepted.
Gone are the stereotypes and to prove this point Joe Mullan is holding an evening on June 16 in Belfast at Filthy McNasties where every single model in the fashion show is tattooed. If Roisin, Mo, Alex or Alfie have inspired you head down and see what the fuss is all about.