SCRATCHER
This was a self negotiated project at University. It was tied to the topic of my dissertation, which was all about the History and Social Implications of Tattooing.
The project I worked on was inspired by Scott Campbell, who went to prisons and created sketches of the tattoo guns that the inmates made. I was fascinated by the fact that even while in prison, the prisoners would build their own tattoo guns and continue to tattoo other inmates. I wanted to build a series of these tattoo guns and have them on display along with tattoos that were created using these hand made tattoo guns. However due to complications I never had a chance to put on an art exhibit. But I did build the guns, tattoo with them, and then create an art zine that would have been available at the gallery.
These are the selection of tattoo guns that I built. I used materials similar to what would be available to inmates, such as toothbrushes, disposable razors, a pair of glasses, pens. I even tried to salvage motors from appliances, removing one from an old VHS machine.
I tried to limit my use of tools as much possible in order to recreate the same aesthetic as those that were built by actual inmates. Using hand files and lighters to bend and cut plastics.
A sped up video of me building one of the tattoo guns from scratch.
A few examples of the tattoos created using the hand made guns.
A sped up video of me testing out one of the tattoo guns on pig skin.
This is art zine created to go along with the gallery exhibition. It was intentionally done in a lo-fi style using a photocopier and twine to bind it, in order to look like it was made with limited resources, just like the tattoo guns themselves.
The art zine features all the guns made and all the tattoos made using them.
The art zine itself also served another purpose, it was to give people an appreciation of the art of tattooing. For you can't appreciate good work, without seeing the bad. "Scratcher" is the name given to tattooists of low skill, so it was a fitting title for the print as its a series of tattoos done by amateurs.
This is a google SketchUp of how I would have displayed the guns and the tattoos within the gallery.
