On Saturday 7th September me and Ash decided to splash out $30 each and checkout the Australian Tattoo & Body Art Expo in Perth. We were promised a huge show with a tremendous amount of both homegrown and international artists, a wide range of exciting feature areas and a jam-packed entertainment schedule.
As soon as we walked in you could hear the buzzing from a load of tattoo machine guns. People were happily lying or sitting in all sorts of positions, getting inked by their chosen tattoo artist. One guy was wearing nothing but a pair of what looked like Sumo wrestler pants and having a tribal style tattoo covering his whole body. Most of the people looked calm and relaxed although we did see two people who looked like they were in pain, one of them was almost in tears. I’ve never had a tattoo done myself so am yet to experience the pain or pleasure conceived from having one. Apart from the obvious of people getting inked there were various market stalls, a bar area, stage, Sailor Jerry trailer and a few cars and motorcycles.
The only tattoo artist at the expo that I had heard of beforehand was Billy DeCola from NY Ink. Most of his work is Japanese inspired. After looking at all the tattoo artists on offer my favourites were Wade Johnston, Benjamin Laukis, Sandra Ovenden and Liz Hapi. Feel free to check them out.
We stayed there until the evening to get our moneys worth and watched the Sugar Blue Burlesque who were the main act on stage that night. I’ve only ever been to one burlesque show before but these girls were not on par. As wonderful it is to see some sexy ladies strip down to underwear and spinning nipple tassels it all seemed a bit rushed.
Overall we really enjoyed the day although feel the $30 entry fee was a bit steep for what there actually was. There wasn’t even any decent freebies and it seemed the pricing for having a tattoo done wasn’t any cheaper. It was an experience though and I got plenty of idea’s for tattoos for when I do actually decide on getting one. Everyone has there own opinion but I’d never get a spontaneous tattoo. After all it’s a form of art so I’d need to hand pick the artist and be happy that the design I choose is definitely what I want. Sooo MOM and DAD when you read this, don’t worry I haven’t got one YET but may do before I return home 😉
Half The World Away 