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“Santa Cruz is an anomaly.” These are the words photographer Kelley Richardson used to describe a city overflowing with tattooed bodies, a city where people with skin transformed by ink are seen just as often in banks and schools as they are in rock clubs and pubs. Richardson’s fascination with the ratio of tattooed people in Santa Cruz, coupled with a lifelong admiration of the art form itself, has resulted in the Santa Cruz Tattoo Project. The exhibit, which will eventually take the form of a book, will be displayed in the UC Santa Cruz Women’s Center Feb. 20 - Mar. 3. The Tattoo Project is the result of three years worth of documentation and presents a wide range of tattoo-related experiences. In addition to formal portraits and candid shots of tattooed people at work or in leisure, Richardson said there is also “Tons of [work] behind the scenes- documentary work in the tattoo shops, people at home after the fact dealing with the bandages and the healing process.” In all cases, the Tattoo Project is meant to go beyond simply showcasing beautiful body art. “My project is about the people rather than the tattoos themselves,” Richardson said. “I’m looking for the essence of the people and the experience.” Richardson’s dedication to capturing more than a person’s surface details is one of the reasons Santa Cruz resident Kym Lacrosse decided to take part in the project. “The way that she does it I think made me want to participate, because it’s creative and made to make the tattoos look creative and beautiful, and it’s really about the person,” Lacrosse said. Lacrosse described Richardson’s style of photography as being direct yet artistic in its approach. The end result, she said, is “thought provoking. It draws attention to things that you might not necessarily notice.” Women’s Center Program Coordinator Beth Rees said that the exhibit is “A really assessable way, especially for students at UCSC, to start thinking about the body and how they represent themselves through visual art.” For years tattooing has been thought of as the domain of bikers, sailors and prostitutes, and Richardson hopes to help erase some of the stigma that can come from receiving a tattoo. “People have a lot of judgments about other people, and people make this additional judgment or stereotype because [someone’s] tattooed,” Richardson said. “Its not about creating barriers, its about taking them away and realizing that this is a way of exposing the inside of yourself on the outside of your body.” Throughout this project, Richardson has kept a personal motto from the New Testament regarding her effort to see beyond the superficial. “It goes ‘be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have kept company with angels unawares,’” Richardson said. “And really what that’s saying is you can’t tell anything about anybody just by looking at them, you have to take the time to get to know them. That’s sort of what this is about. It’s about understanding people.” The
Santa Cruz Tattoo Project will be displayed at the UCSC Women’s
Center from Feb. 20 - Mar. 3. Opening Celebration is Feb. 23, 6:30 –
8:30. For more information visit http://www.santacruztattooproject.com. |