What happens when the baby of a career criminal is adopted into the household of a pious and nurturing family? This is the story of John Richard Birkby, and nature finding nurture.
An intangible place called home
Melbourne-based artist Leili’s first solo show, Chahar Bagh, is as much an exercise in solidifying identity as it is uncovering the elusive rewards of being neither here nor there.
The untold story behind the "father of contemporary body modification" is one of racial exploitation
This article takes a critical look at the problematic elements permeating Musafar's legacy of prescribing "primitiveness" for Western malaise.
“To a lot of people my very existence is a provocation”—meet Parma Ham: artist, agitator, and curator of London’s Wraith night
Parma Ham is a London based artist challenging normative notions of gender and the body.
Entangled and disembodied: a neuroqueer exploration of posthumanism and tattoo
(First published in Archer Magazine 12/10/19) Alison Bennett is a neuroqueer artist, activist, and academic that explores the complex world of autistic embodiment and neuroqueer skin.
Our Bodies, Our Voices, Our Marks thoughtfully captures the endurance of tattoo and tradition
(Abridged version published in The Conversation 03/07/2019) The Immigration Museum’s new exhibit, Our Bodies, Our Voices, Our Marks, explores the contemporary form of Polynesia’s Tatau alongside the tattoo tradition of Japanese irezumi.
Tools for torture: meet the dominatrix using tattoo and body modification experts as instruments for pain
(Published in VICE 12/06/2019) Feris Tergo sessions are designed to explore the murky and macabre space between what unites tattoo, body modification and BDSM.
Portraits of South Africa's Bloodiest Prison Gang: The Number
(Published in VICE 14/11/2018) Photojournalist Luke Daniels used his friendship with one high-ranking insider to photograph members of The Number
Radical Physiognomies: Meet two tattooists taking their face tattoos to the next level
London-based tattooist Eli and Polish-born tattooist Adam Curly share their respective heavy blackwork journeys.
(NSFW / TW) “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
(abridged version published in VICE, 19/03/18) JILF, a self-described nihilist and practising dominatrix, orchestrates painful and subversive acts with her partners with the aim of eliciting trauma and embracing disgust.
From transgressive folk-art to one of MoMA’s most influential “items” of fashion shaping the 20th and 21st centuries
(Published in DAZED & CONFUSED, 13/12/17) I speak to the L.A artist, Roxx, about MoMA's recent exhibition, Items: Is Fashion Modern?
Brutal Black Project Participant Interviews: "My face was double its size, I had black eyes like I was beaten"
I spoke to participants of Brutal Black about why they chose to engage with amplified tattoo pain.
Forever More: The New Tattoo
Read extracts from my articles featured in FOREVER MORE
The Huxleys Are Performance Art’s Answer to John Waters
(First published in VICE 06/07/17) Respectively raised in the suburbs of the Gold Coast and Perth, the Huxley’s longed for something with more danger and glamour.
Inkspector: The Forensic Analysis of Tattoos and Ink
(First published in INKED, issue 45) When forensic inquiry is applied to tattoos, it can assist in the identification or capture of criminals or missing persons.
Hannah Pixie Snow and Guy Le Tatooer launch their new grass roots charity project, Love Shakthi Om
(Published in Skin Deep UK) Love Shakthi Om, to be launched in the first week of May, will produce limited works of art to be sold with profits donated to charity.