the wordsmith
sarah james
that's way too extreme
In my opinion, tattoos are an amazing art form with an incredible and long history. However, I tend to feel that some people do take this just a tad too far.
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Some of the more extreme Ink Master challenges have involved contestant tattooing the palms of hands, eyelids, tongue and inner lip. This had me wondering, who the hell would want their eyelids or tongue tattooed?
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However, these ‘extreme’ tattoos are tame for some.
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Matthew Whelan calls himself a tattoo enthusiast and has spent over £40 000 (approximately R763 991) on getting tattooed. He has even had his name legally changed to Body Art. Whelan’s whole body is covered in tattoos – including the whites of his eyeballs. He has even had his penis tattooed blue… OUCH!
Tom Leppard is possibly one of the most well-known heavily tattooed people in the world. Leppard made a name for himself when he set the Guinness World Record for being the most tattooed person in the world (in about 2009). He spent a huge amount of money to get leopard-like spots tattooed over his whole body.
This record was taken over by Australian Lucky Diamond Rich, whose entire body is almost black. He began with 'normal' colour tattoos and then decided to have those covered entirely with black ink. He even has the area between his toes, insides of his ears and his gums tattooed.
A more recent example of extreme tattoos is the Brutal Black Project, begun by Valerio Cancellier, Cammy Stewart and Phillip 3Kreuze. In general, tattoos are painful and artists are mindful of the pain, allowing the client to take breaks. However, the point of a Brutal Black Project tattoo is to inflict as much pain over as large an areas as possible. According to Cammy Stewart, one of the reasons behind the project is, “This is a big fuck you to what most people believe tattooing to now be.”
Cancellier, Stewart and 3Kreuze creating a Brutal Black tattoo
The three aim to push clients’ inner limits to the maximum. They are not concerned about the outcome but rather the process. They view it as a kind of rite of passage. The tattoos are not meant to be aesthetic but are rather meant to serve as a reminder of this rite of passage.
This form of tattooing seems to strange as humans usually try to do everything to avoid physical pain. So, voluntarily undergoing such a procedure seems shocking to most.
Franky, a receiver of Brutal Black tattoos
Being keenly interested in the art of tattooing, it didn’t take long to come across these seemingly weird tattoos and I couldn’t help but ask myself, why do people do this? I still don’t have an answer, other to say that it’s what they want to do – whether they have something to prove to themselves or to others. Although I hope to be tattooed one day, I don’t think I will ever be getting my genitalia or eyeballs tattooed. I’ll leave that for people crazier than me!