| At A Glance | |
| Author | Ania |
| Contact | Ania@bme.anon |
| IAM | deadly pale |
| When | A month ago |
| Studio | Rotunda Club |
| Location | Cracov, Poland |
And then one day I called my regular studio to confirm my tattoo appointment only to hear my artist asking me if I wouldn't like to go to a tattoo convention with them. Weirdly enough, suddenly I forgot all these complaints about crowds and noise and said "hell, yes!" right away! It is easy and kind of normal to go visit a tattoo convention as a regular visitor but to see everything from the inside, to help with setting up the booth of your studio and witness how everything is organized and how it works... Noise and lots of people around or not, I just could not miss this opportunity!
During my tattoo appointment Slawek, my artist, told me more details about the convention they were going to go to and take me along: Cracov (app. 500 km from Poznan), May 5-6 which was a part of a wonderfully long weekend in Poland. Slawek was asked to be a head of the jury at the convention and when he asked me if I would not like to be a part of the jury as well I was speechless for a while. Well, Slawek remembers me from the times when I was totally arrogant due to my absolute ignorance in regard to tattoos and even though I kept changing for better, gaining more knowledge and getting more and more involved in BME and body modification in general, I did not think the change for better really was this apparent. I made sure Slawek was positive about wanting me for the job and accepted his kind offer. He never does anything just to flatter you or to be pointlessly nice, so I knew he really meant it and I felt honored.
I bet all Poles have been waiting for this tremendously long weekend very impatiently. When it finally arrived I was ready to go and only then I broke the news to a few of my IAM friends. No need to say they were very excited about it and wished me a great time.
It was a good road trip all the way to Cracov. 500 km to cover was easy with a cheerful, always ready to laugh crew. We stopped only once to grab something to eat (at McDonald's from all places at that which is kind of sign of our times!) and a few hours later we got to Cracov. The day was sunny and warm, we weren't too tired and definitely kinda excited, so the late afternoon and evening were spent in town, on strolling along Wisla river and around the old part of the city. Now and then we saw someone tattooed and sometimes guys recognized their old friends. Our crew got bigger, too as later in the evening a few other people from Poznan, befriended with the shop, joined us. The more, the merrier, right? Even if I am the one who thinks lots of people around suck big time!
For me everything was new and exciting, so I did not mind anything! For my tattoo artist and my piercer, however, everything was a well-known drill, so they were slightly disappointed by the fact that they could not set their booth on Friday evening but had to wait till Saturday morning. It would certainly have made things easier for all people showing up and being part of the convention to prepare their work stations way earlier than only a few hours before the opening but things were the way they were. All crews were allowed to enter the area of the convention (Rotunda Club) at 8am on Saturday and people from my studio were no exception here. Fortunately it was not that hard to set everything up, especially seeing as my artists opted for a very ascetic and nicely simply looking work station – black background, white and black logo of the studio, a big LCD screen on the wall (later on there was a short movie featuring tattoos done by Slawek shown on the screen), Slawek's portfolio on the table and some business cards for people interested.
Everywhere around us all other crews kept working on setting up their own booths and work stations too. People kept coming and leaving, greeting each other and trying to prepare everything as best as they could with not that much time to spare (setting up started at 8am and the convention was supposed to be open at 11am). Since setting up our booth was my piercer's thing to do, Slawek was kind enough to show me around and tell me more about other conventions he took part in. It was great to see all these tattooed and quite heavily pierced people busing themselves with putting their stuff in order, laying out their business cards and flyers, polishing the tables and making sure that everything looked as it should have. There were smiles, casual greetings and jokes all around.
I was very curious and looked forward to see what this whole thing was going to look like, what kinds of people would attend the convention, if the artists would be open and nice enough to chat for a while and share some of their experiences and background. No one can say that I am an expert on techniques of tattooing but it is a sure thing that I am very interested in the cultural background of it, styles, aesthetics, meanings behind the tattoos, culture in general, so it really was a great opportunity to watch people closely, see what tattoos they have on their bodies, ask, listen, keep my eyes and ears open. Exciting!
The first few hours of the first day of the convention were kinda easy and relaxing for me and many others who came to see what is going on in the Polish "scene" and check out the tattoo artists. I was quite shameless about grabbing all promo stuff available, being fully aware of the word given to IAM friends about it (sure enough, right after getting back home all the business cards and stickers I managed to get were shipped to Germany, Belgium and Canada). I decided to go slow and check out the stations gradually and stop at those that somehow caught my attention.
I really liked portfolios of both artists from Apocalypse Tattoo from Seattle, USA. I especially liked two pieces by Benjamin Moss as they were quite close to my favorite, kinda gore-ish aesthetics and they were very nicely and realistically executed. Since Benjamin was busy talking to someone, I chatted for a while with his partner Jack as he also had some cool designs and ideas in his portfolio and, as it turned out, has a really interesting educational background (a transition from a sculptor to a tattoo artist certainly is interesting, is it not?).
There were also piercers at the convention and I liked quite a lot a portfolio of a guy nicknamed Ironexperience. Not only it contained such relatively new procedures as microdermals but also, and above all, it was very nicely done, showing step by step what a customer should expect from a piercing procedure, how everything is going to look and what to do afterwards. Both Bruno and his partner (who was Polish, by the way) were very open and eager to chat both about the way they did their portfolio (not only images but also solid, detailed information) and their attitude towards body piercing. Bruno is a very enthusiastic guy who seems to love his job to the bits and is ready to show and proud of things he has done so far. It was a nice experience to flip to the last pages of his portfolio and find there a few BME experiences written by his customers and printed out to incorporate into his portfolio. A few hours later I saw Bruno again right under the main stage and he was as enthusiastic as ever and eager to show me a back project he did not that long ago. Never the coolness factor in this job, right? But rather enthusiasm and will to learn and progress.
The tattoo competition was scheduled to begin at 4pm and it started on time (more or less!). I grew "slightly" nervous beforehand but it soon passed after I have met other jury members. Beside Slawek as a head of the jury and me as an outsider with theoretical knowledge, lots of enthusiasm and no connections with the local scene whatsoever the jury consisted of a photographer, a female body modification artist from Gdynia and, last but certainly not the least!, Piotr Zurawski who, as I was told by Slawek many times before, was one of the people who started the body modification scene in Poland and set standards for things happening in Poland now. So obviously he was a kind of living legend and I was eager to meet him.
Well, I do not know much about living legends (never a big thing in my book) but this one certainly proved to be very approachable, with great insight into tattooing and gifted with a sense of humor. It was my plan to talk to Piotr about his background and road to body modification much more in depth than just casual exchanging a few words about the tattoos and I even have some stuff tape-recorded but it is still something to think more of and possibly do in not so distant future. If we are here not only to enjoy but also document and witness the way body modification changes and grows, we definitely should do as much as we can about preserving the history of our passion and lifestyle.
One could think that being a jury member at a tattoo convention is an extremely "kewl" thing to do. Well, probably it is – at least you have a really good view at all tattoos entered into the competition and know right away who won what but – and one should keep it in mind at all times – it is also great responsibility and a really hard job to do! During the first day the competition was divided in two parts consisting of three categories each. Seeing as each of these categories was graced with over 20 people ready to show off their tattoos and get their body art appreciated, the stage lit quite heavily, people from a few TV channels present and eager to jump on the jury's backs only to get a good viewing/shooting point, things started to look quite interesting and ... far from fun.
There was a sea of colors, designs, styles, motifs and body shapes marching right in front of our eyes. People were walking across the scene, reaching out their arms, legs, bending their backs or exposing their chests to cheers of the audience and the questions from jury. I soon realized that detailed notes would not do here, so decided to go for short, very concise notes that would help me identify a given person/ tattoo while discussing the subject with other jury members later on. "arm piece, swallows, old school, bright colors, nice flow, weak-ish perspective..." etc. It helped me to keep up with the others' pace and, fortunately for all of us, our photographer took pictures of the pieces from all contestants, so we could check them out later. The pace of the competition was too quick, the lights too bright, the atmosphere too hot but the moment certainly was very unique for me.
Behind the closed doors things are always the most interesting. I listened carefully to what others, so much more experienced and knowledgeable people than me had to say but I was also glad that they took my own opinion into consideration and that my own winning types usually agreed with the choices made by the tattoo artists. Both two first parts of the tattoo competition, discussing who should win what and then letting people know who was the winner took a lot of time and, all in all, we have finished the day around 10pm.
Tired we could be but the long walk down the streets of Cracov towards the hotel we were staying at and then staying up late and discussing many subjects, a.o. the convention we were just attending, were great experiences on their own. I was also lucky to have a really great roommate who proved to be a very interesting partner for conversations, so we stayed up talking some time after all other members of our crew left for their rooms.
The next, second day of the convention looked pretty much the same and, even though I have already had this first day at the convention under my belt, I was still very excited about it and enjoyed it immensely. I also made sure to take more pictures of things going on around me. On this day the second part of the tattoo competition took place, so some of us were busy again and our senses again got bombarded with the feerie of colors, motifs and bodies. When the competition was over, the winners chosen and diplomas and awards ready to hand out the audience could hear who won what and get the chance to see not only the awarded pieces of body art but also to see the artists who stood behind them.
Again, it was a very interesting experience as somehow I am not involved into the local scene at all. If you ask me what tattoo shop is worth checking out I can come out with the one I am a regular at, of course, but all other places are abroad and it is easier to me to list tattoo shops from the States or Canada than those from Poland. In Cracov I could see with my own eyes what great body art comes out from the local shops and learn what artists do what. Personally I really liked work done by an artist named Tofi from Art-Line Tattoo in Rybnik as his juxtaposition of black and blue in tattoos, which showed up pretty consistently throughout the convention, created quite a striking effect. Junior and his team from Juniorink created a kinda poshy atmosphere of wannabe stardom which was also interesting to observe. Sauron, Kult which actually stood before the Tattoo Fest and some other studios also presented some good work and it was very interesting to notice that most studios are based not in such big Polish cities as Warsaw, Cracov or Poznan but rather these smaller ones, like Rybnik, Dabrowa Gornicza or Zakopane. The same goes with those who sport tattoos – it is not an outcast thing anymore, obviously, but it is not an elite thing, either. These days all forms of body art are possible and all of us can sport them – times and attitudes keep changing in front of our eyes and, pathetic or not, it is great we can witness it.
The audience and visitors disappointed me slightly as I kind of hoped for more of the "plainskinned" attending the Tattoo Fest. Before the actual convention took place I could see in my mind's eye families with kids walking around the place, admiring the art and slowly getting used to the Otherness and strange beauty the tattoos still hold for so many of us. The reality was quite different – most guests were young people with mods of various sorts who obviously have some interest in body modification. It was also interesting to see a few people sporting BME t-shirts (as far as I could see, all of them wear the "I never wanted to be different..." tees) and, like always, I was glad to see that there are people around who know and respect BME. Also, one should keep in mind that tattoo conventions are not only about art but also about everything else that goes along with it – tattoo magazines, supplies, merchandise etc. It is quite impressive an industry and since so many people are getting interested in it, why not to try to cash this interest. Visitors always are willing to get some souvenirs, so one could see everywhere t-shirts or other pieces of clothing available for sale, badges, patches etc.
Another interesting to me experience was meeting one of Polish IAM-ers in Cracov. For me it was the first encounter with anyone from Poland and IAM in the real world as so far I have met only IAM-ers from other countries. I am glad to say that this meet left positive impressions on me although, as always, I found it extremely weird to use Polish to discuss body modification – for me English is a sort of my native language when I talk body mods.
As one of my close IAM-friends commented afterwards, I was very lucky to get such a great start in the tattoo convention department – I visited my first one not only with people who are my body modification artists and who were very generous to give me a good insight into the whole event but also lucked out with being able to observe how tattoo competitions work and what is going on behind the closed doors right after the competition. I have met some interesting people, seen both well and poorly done tattoos, exchanged opinions on body modification with others. Do I still think that a tattoo convention equals only to too much noise and too many people? It might be but now I also know that such conventions also mean gaining new knowledge and observing how the whole subculture evolves. Noise and people are a small price which, I think, I will be glad to pay again some time in the future.