ARLETH
I met up with one of my best friends from art school, Arleth, to talk about her tattoos. It was very informal, we shot these in her bedroom in Bushwick.
[TAPE CLICKS ON]
DVW: How many tattoos do you have?
ARLETH: I, uh, think I might have 12.
DVW: Oh, wow. I didn't even know you had that many.
ARLETH: I know. I have a lot of small ones and there's ones that I'm not even sure whether to count or not, some of them are just dots. Those are the ones that I haven't added to the count. Then there's six on my fingers, two on my arm, three on my lower stomach. Just the hand ones are stick and poke.
DVW: Do you have a preference when you get tattooed? I know stick and pokes take longer.
ARLETH: They do take longer. The only reason why I really have stick and pokes is because I wanted a tattoo when I was younger. And the only way to do it was to get stick and pokes because you could buy the kit online. I was just really impatient. It's also cheaper than getting it done at a tattoo place. So that was another factor why I got the kit when I was [a teen].
DVW: That makes sense. There seems to be a growing acceptance of tattoos that don't really cost a lot, or have a deep meaning, or significance if they have one at all. Do you think you have any tattoos like that?
ARLETH: Yeah, I would say so. Some of the stick and pokes that I have, some of them are random shapes, like a circle or diamonds. I got them at the spur of the moment. I was young, also, with my dice tattoo. It was just ‘cause it looked cool or whatever. But like, I think maybe now that I'm older, I feel like I probably could have waited a little bit. I've thought about… covering [them] up, like some of my ones on my hands. I’d definitely like to transform the ones on my hands into something cooler.
DVW: There's a term for a tattoo that you got at the spur of the moment, people often refer to them as “shitty tattoos”. And the defense I've heard of the “shitty tattoo” is that it's not about them looking good. It's about looking at them and remembering who you were when you got them.
ARLETH: I would agree with that. Definitely. You're living in the moment and you're like, “Fuck it! Lets do this!”
DVW: There’s an element of spontaneity to [how we get tattoos] that I think is unique to Gen Z. Is it because a livable future is not promised for us? We feel like we have to do thing something now or never?
ARLETH: I would agree with that, for sure.
DVW: It’s fascinating to watch that develop in real time, through tattoos. Anyways, our shoot. I really, really liked [the photo of] your bunny tattoo, your punk bunny tattoo. Out of all the pictures we took, I think that one is my favorite, just because you can really see the detail of how the bunny was done against the texture of the skin. Could you tell me a little bit more about why you got your bunny tattoo?
Born 2000 / Photographer
ARLETH: I got it done for a few reasons. It represents my pet rabbit, Star. It’s an homage to him. But also, I had just turned 22, and I had just finished my [senior] thesis. It was something I’d been wanting. It was a gift to myself. Those three factors, marked by one tattoo.
DVW: I love it. I love Star. Did you always know you would get tattoos? Why or why not?
ARLETH: I think so. I was always into artsy things. I think when I was younger I knew that I was gonna get tattoos. Obviously, I didn't know what I would get. But I knew that I was going to eventually get them, as well as piercings.
DVW: From knowing you, I know that your parents weren't super fond of you getting tattoos.
ARLETH: They weren’t. They really didn’t like that. And I knew from a young age, that they were against tattoos, against having a lot of piercings. [They’re] traditional in that sense. Very traditional.
DVW: Would you say that you getting a tattoo, in this case, was a way of you claiming your adulthood?
ARLETH: Yeah, I would say that. I respected my parents' opinions, their views growing up. But now, they don't apply to me. I know that this is something that I want to do, it’s is a form of expression. I really like how they look, piercings and tattoos. Maybe, in a way, it looked like I was rebelling. But it wasn’t about that to me, I was still a good kid. I still am a good kid. I’m just my own person now.
DVW: Shifting gears a bit, we both like going to collective shows, art markets, pop-ups. Have you gotten any tattoos done there?
ARLETH: No, I haven't got any tattoos there. But I usually peek and get their information, so I can look them up [later].
DVW: You know, that itself is significant. Gen Z is the first generation to be considered digital natives. We’re the first generation to grow up with the internet, and we use the internet to date, shop, preview things before we go and see them. Would you say that you've found a lot of your tattoos either directly or indirectly through using the internet or social media?
ARLETH: Definitely. I actually met this tattoo artist at a pop up that I was photographing, I didn't get one there. But afterwards, like a long time afterwards, I was stalking and I saw one of her flashes [on instagram]. It was only then that I booked with her. And I do get tattoo inspiration from social media. I always see flashes, or other people reposting flashes, and I’ll usually see and save those. And I'll, like, go back into their profile and see if they have any new ones that I really like.
DVW: Would you say that the internet influenced the kinds of tattoos, or specifically the style [of tattoos] you get? Some of your tattoos that I've seen, like the one on your arm… that one definitely has “cyber-esque” energy.
ARLETH: Definitely, for sure. That's my most recent tattoo. That one was influenced by current trends, the border of it is in a cyber-digital style that was really popular at one point in time.
DVW: Mmm. We like to think of the physical world and the internet, the cyber world, as being two completely separate entities. But really, the internet influences us every day in the physical world. Getting a tattoo influenced by the internet, or getting a tattoo with cyber themes and cyber punk imagery, it combines two worlds we often think of as unjoinable. I’m rambling a bit. But I just think that’s cool to think about.
ARLETH: One hundred percent.
[TAPE CUT]