tattoo & body modification
In 2012 I began writing for the London based boutique tattoo magazine, Things & Ink.
The Samoan Pe'a is a traditional tattoo used as a form of rite of passage. My friend Chris shared his story with me
After a botched bank robbery Johnny "Halves" was incarcerated and used tattoo as a means to survive. Read Tattooing in Australian Prisons
over the years my writing has appeared in national and international publications such as The Conversation, The Guardian, VICE, DAZED, Archer, INKED, and Skin Deep.
JILF is a sadomasochist. They shared their story with me for VICE. This article was adapted into a documentary
Tattoo was one of MOMAs 111 most influential fashion items. I covered their exhibition for Dazed
I've written about my experience taking ayahuasca with a shaman and infusing saline into my scrotum (not at the same time!). I have produced documentaries on extreme body modification, contributed to tattoo books, participated in interviews on national radio and presented at international conferences.
Brutal Black Project is a tattoo collective that prioritise pain over aesthetic. I wrote about their work for a global audience.
the stories of body modification that I have always been interested in are those driven by a desire for other modes of knowing and being that are gained by asserting and articulating modified bodies in relation to oppressive categories and assumptions about what it is to be.
I covered Our Bodies, Our Voices, Our Marks, a suite of tattoo exhibitions at Melbourne’s Immigration Museum, published in The Conversation
My honours research project focused on conceptualisations of purposeful pain and was entitled, "Becoming heavily tattooed in the postmodern west: sacred rite, "modern primitives", or profane simulation?"
to view all of my published work & more please visit:
publications:
Tools for torture: meet the dominatrix using tattoo and body modification experts as instruments for pain, VICE, 2019
Our Bodies, Our Voices, Our Marks thoughtfully captures the endurance of tattoo and tradition, The Conversation, 2019
Entangled and disembodied: a neuroqueer exploration of posthumanism and tattoo, Archer, 2019
On why I think the media should stop asking if tattoos have become too mainstream or uncool, Skin Deep UK, 2019
Portraits of South Africa's Bloodiest Prison Gang: The Number, VICE, 2018
“Today, I will suffer for your art”: meet the nihilist going beyond the intersection of kink and body modification to produce traumatic works of art, VICE, 2018
From transgressive folk-art to one of MoMA’s most influential “items” of fashion shaping the 20th and 21st centuries, Dazed, 2017
The dilated pupils of Expanded Eye, in Graves, H (ed.), Forever more: the new tattoo, Gestalten, Germany, pp. 226-234
Whales and crayons: inside the pencil case of Miriam Frank, in Graves, H (ed.), Forever more: the new tattoo, Gestalten, Germany, pp. 7-12
Art, soul, activism: Indomito, in Graves, H (ed.), Forever more: the new tattoo, Gestalten, Germany, pp. 93-98
The blooming vehemence of Kelly Violet, in Graves, H (ed.), Forever more: the new tattoo, Gestalten, Germany, pp. 178-187
The Huxleys Are Performance Art’s Answer to John Waters, VICE, 2017
Inkspector: The Forensic Analysis of Tattoos and Ink, Inked Australia, issue 45, 2017
Meet the Tattoo Collective Who Prioritise Pain Over Aesthetics, VICE, 2017
A body-modifying ‘hybrid human’ on his life and tattoo power, Dazed, 2017
Grace Neutral and Viceland, Skin Deep UK, issue 275 (syndicated in Inked Australia, issue 45)
Jak Nola, Erotic Art, and The Power of Orgasm, Inked Australia, issue 45, 2017
Festival of dying: is your ‘death literacy’ lacking? The Guardian, 2016
Hong Kong Branding: The Past, The Present, The Future, Inked Australia, issue 42, 2016
Stick & Poking Aboard Convict Ships, VICE, 2016
Persian Ink: The Underground Tattooists of The Islamic Republic of Iran, Inked Australia, issue 35, 2015
Trash Drag Aesthetic, Things & Ink, issue 11, 2015
This Is a Story About Getting Your Balls Inflated, VICE, 2015
Ricky Luder Review, Things & Ink, issue 11 (syndicated to INKED, issue 32), 2015
Anthropomorphic Curiosities, Things & Ink, issue 10 (syndicated to INKED, issue 31), 2015
Flesh Eating Body Modifiers, Things & Ink, issue 9 (syndicated to Melbourne Permanent, issue 1), 2015
Artists, Tattoos, and Meaning: Pissing Ink in Duchamp's Urinal? Things & Ink, issue 9 (syndicated to INKED, issue 29), 2015
The Buddha Tattoo and Other Sacred Images: Sacrilege?, Inked Australia, issue 30, 2014
Tattooing Under Martial Law, Inked Australia, issue 32, 2014
Initiation: an ancient ritual in a modern world, Things & Ink, issue 8 (syndicated to Inked Australia, Issue 27), 2014
Tattooing in Australian Prisons, Things & Ink, issue 7 (syndicated to Inked Australia, issue 28), 2014
Hanging with Badsville: hook, line, and body modifications, Things & Ink, Issue 6 (syndicated to Melbourne Permanent, issue 1), 2014
O-inked: Is Tattooing a Pig Art?, Modern Farmer (online) (syndicated to Melbourne Permanent, issue 1), 2014
Ink & Pink: The politics of tattoos in pornography, Things & Ink, Issue 6, 2014
Posthumous Conversations: My Transcendental Experience Taking Ayahuasca with a Shaman, The Doctor T. J. Eckleburg Review (online), 2014
Home-made Tattoos: Unregulated, Unprofessional, Unstoppable, Things & Ink, Issue 3, 2014