the tattooists

Astrid Elisabeth

SOMEWHERE TATTOO STUDIO, NEW YORK

HOW I GOT STARTED I never considered tattooing until I met a tattoo apprentice at a bar and discovered that people could just buy tattoo machines online. I didn’t even have a single tattoo myself, because there weren’t any artists I could find who were making work that I liked enough for that level of permanence. But in that moment, at that bar, I felt like I had finally been shown a future that felt 100 per cent right. I couldn’t find the tattoos I wanted because I was supposed to be making them. I only planned to tattoo myself at first, but once word got out that I was learning, I had more than enough friends and strangers who were eager to lend me their skin. I still think they made a mistake, but I owe them everything.

WHAT I FOUND MOST CHALLENGING I was lucky enough to start tattooing during the golden era of Instagram, between 2016–2018, before the chronological timelines disappeared. Finding an audience felt organic and effortless, whether you were genuinely good at your craft or not. My biggest challenge was that I was not genuinely good at my craft. I was learning on my own in my Brooklyn living room while working full-time as a barista. Apprenticeships were almost impossible to find if you weren’t willing to give two or three years of your free labour and go through a hazing. I felt looked down upon by ‘real’ tattooers, but I didn’t know that there was a whole generation of home tattooers blossoming beside me, ready to prove their worth.

MY STYLE I’m inspired by Klimt, Schiele, Beardsley, Art Nouveau and scientific illustrations. But my true love has always been faces, which I learnt to draw as a teenager from models in magazines. Portraiture and the human figure stay fascinating to me. Human faces hold so many stories.

It used to be a lot more collaborative than it is now.