University students always find ways to channel their creativity. Whether it be through music, dance, art, or writing, the University is a space where students can explore different sides of artistic expression. Walking around campus, it’s not uncommon to come across proudly displayed works of art on people’s bodies, tattoos that speak to different aspects of their identities, humor, and experiences. The Argus sat down with four tattoo artists on campus to talk about their process, personal style, and the art of tattooing. 

One of these artists is Joline Cappo ’23 (@joline_cappo on Instagram). Cappo has run her on-campus tattoo business for the past semester. Despite having had her own tattoos since high school, her interest and passion for tattooing began during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It happened last year when the pandemic started, when I was in New York and I was stuck in my grandpa’s house,” Cappo said. “I wanted to get a new [tattoo], but every shop was closed because of the severity of COVID-19 in New York. But my friend sent me a picture of someone tattooing themselves, and I thought, ‘Oh my gosh. I could totally do that.’ So I bought a really cheap coil machine from Amazon, and I just started to test the waters.” 

Even for someone like Cappo, who likes to draw and create art in her spare time, learning how to tattoo and operate a tattoo machine was extremely challenging and time consuming. 

“It was super hard and frustrating at first, because it felt nothing like drawing with a pen,” Cappo said. “And there were also a lot of things that I had to learn about before starting. [I had to] learn about the voltage of the gun, the needle depth of the gun and how it pierces the skin, and the different needle configurations. There’s a lot that goes behind it.” 

Although Cappo usually takes requests from her clients, she also tries to express her personal style through her tattoos, setting her work apart from other designs. Having gained experience with tattooing throughout the semester, Cappo has also had a chance to explore her own artistic identity through her work. 

“Even though I haven’t developed my own personal style yet, I think through [my work] you would be able to figure out what I would tattoo and what I wouldn’t,” Cappo said. “I’m really inspired by fine line and single needle-artists, which usually create tattoos that look more dainty and detailed, compared to traditional styles which are more bold and bright.” 

Given the time commitment and the intimate nature of the tattooing process, Cappo’s tattoo business has also been a means to meet new people in the University community. 

“I’m a pretty introverted person, but this experience has allowed me to meet new people that I wouldn’t have otherwise,” Cappo said. “That’s been super cool because I have to spend at least 90 minutes to two hours with each customer, so it really forces me to get to know new people.”

The social aspect of the University’s tattoo community has also been a rare opportunity for new students to meet people and express their artistic imprint during an otherwise COVID-19-stricken semester. Despite being a new student at the University, Kathy Liang ’24 (@kathypokes on Instagram) has already established herself within the University’s tattoo community. Similar to the other artists on campus, Liang found her passion through her own personal experiences with tattoos. 

“Well I got tattoos in December, and I’m an artist myself, so I [thought], ‘his doesn’t seem that hard, I’m pretty sure I could do the same,’” Liang said. 

However, unlike other tattoo artists at the University such as Cappo, Liang is a stick-and-poke tattoo artist, which differs from the standard technique of tattooing using a machine. Although the final results may look similar in many ways, stick-and-poke tattoos and regular tattoos are different in the respective techniques that are used during the inking process. In the absence of a tattoo gun, stick-and-poke tattoo artists use a free standing needle in order to poke a tattoo into the skin in a succession of points. 

“It’s more similar to drawing in many ways,” Liang said. “There’s even a drawing technique called stippling, where you use dots to create the image, which is very similar to how stick-and-pokes are done. Compared to a tattoo gun, where you kind of drag [the needle] across the skin, stick-and-pokes are more focused on individual dots and pokes.” 

Although stick-and-pokes differ from traditional tattoos in technique and method, for people looking for a more casual tattoo experience, stick-and-poke may be worth trying. 

“Stick-and-poke culture is more about having fun and making memories with people, since most people will usually get stick-and-poke tattoos in unconventional circumstances,” Liang said. 

Yet, even though stick-and-pokes may be considered more casual compared to a normal tattoo drawn with a machine, the quality and the cleanliness of the process is still of utmost importance to the artist. 

“For me, it’s all about how you take care of [the process],” Liang said. “I use sterile needles and I use a different needle for each person that I do a stick-and-poke for, and I have like an ink bottle that I make sure not to contaminate, so really I’m being as clean in terms of what I can do. I wear gloves [during the process] and I wash my hands,” she said. 

However, the final result of a stick-and-poke does not entirely depend on the artist themselves. The aftercare process of cleaning and disinfecting a fresh tattoo is vital as it can determine how the tattoo will last and look in the future. Infected tattoos can distort or fade the original image that was imprinted on the skin.

Another tattoo artist on campus, Tara Nair ’21, said she began learning how to give stick-and-poke tattoos by practicing on fruit.

“One day I had a needle and some ink and I was just poking into fruit, just like little drawings I did,” she explained. 

Nair already had a couple of tattoos before starting to do her own, but felt inspired to try them herself during the initial lockdown period of the pandemic. Nair said that, despite the artist of her first tattoo being male, she has recently felt encouraged by the queer, female tattoo artists she sees on social media. 

“I follow a lot of tattoo artists on Instagram,” Nair said. “I noticed that it was kind of like becoming a space of social justice and body reclamation.” 

Nair lives in Singapore and explained that her background, a mix of Chinese and Indian heritage, is the main source of creativity behind her own tattoos and art style.

“I think the kind of stuff I do is a little more delicate and very influenced by my cultural backgrounds,” she said. “I find myself being drawn to representations and cultural references that are personal.” 

Since starting to learn how to do stick-and-poke tattoos, Nair has done a couple of tattoos on herself that reflect her heritage, including clouds on her ankle. 

Nair tends to tattoo whatever her clients want, usually small tattoos, like the one of a lemon she did recently. 

“That was the first one I felt like that was in control,” she said. “I feel like it takes a lot of trust for the people, you’re just stabbing someone. I really appreciate that people allow me to do that.” 

While tattooing is an art form with long traditions in many cultures, Nair explains how white people have dominated the mainstream tattoo scene.

“It kind of gets co-opted by white people, white men in particular, and to this like tough masculine thing,” she said. “I think gun tattoos can be great and I love them, but stick-and-poke, to me, they feel gentler. They feel more intimate, and they also feel more connected to the original purpose of tattooing. “Stick-and-poke sort of makes it a little more accessible for a lot of people [and] makes it way less intimidating.” 

Though the pandemic has made it more challenging for Nair to tattoo outside of her close circle of friends, the isolation has proved beneficial for her creative energy. 

“It’s sort of made me more introspective,” she said. “So on that note, it’s kind of given me a lot more time to work on creative things.” 

Another prolific tattoo artist on campus, Layla Krantz ’22, has been an artist her entire life. She got into stick-and-poke tattoos during her senior year of high school. When Krantz and her friends talked about getting tattoos, she realized she could be the one to do them.

“I told her [my friend], I’ll give you one as a joke, but then I Googled how to do it,” Krantz said. “I bought some needles off of Amazon and I asked my art teacher at my high school if I could have some ink. 

Krantz explained that the first tattoo she ever gave was a small flower. Since then, she’s given more small tattoos depending on what her clients ask for. In terms of her own art style, she’s more drawn to the organic nature of art.

“I care a lot less about perfect technical edge execution and [more] about the native ideas behind it,” Krantz said. “I feel like my style is just intuitive and loose.” 

Ironically, Krantz didn’t get a tattoo until about two years after she started giving them to other people. Though her first was done professionally, she designed the drawing that’s now on her inner arm. 

“It’s a chicken-slash-rooster thing,” Krantz said. “This was actually a doodle on a notebook for my 12th grade econ class.” 

The rooster also speaks to her French heritage and Marc Chagall, one of her artistic inspirations. Krantz also has a few other tattoos, some of which she did herself. With the pandemic, she hasn’t been able to give any tattoos on campus yet, but plans to start tattooing some of her close friends once restrictions lift. For those who are thinking about getting a stick-and-poke, Krantz offered encouraging words of advice.

“Don’t overthink it,” Krantz said. “Bodies are temporary. If something makes you happy, put it on your body. If I like something, I’ll put it on my body.” 

Like her tattoo artist peers, stick-and-pokes have also been a way for Krantz to meet new people and grow closer with friends. 

“My roommate right now, we became friends because I gave her a tattoo, and we just became close friends, and now we’re roommates,” she said. “It’s just a fun way to make personal connections. I love doing stick-and-pokes so much.”

Whether done through stick-and-pokes or a machine, tattoos have carved out a unique niche within the University’s arts community. Not only has tattoo art allowed students from different backgrounds to express their artistic creativity through an intimate medium, it has also allowed members of the University community to interact in an otherwise unusual semester. With the COVID-19 restrictions on campus hopefully being relaxed next semester, it seems the tattoo community among artists on campus will continue to flourish.

 

Will Lee can be reached at swlee@wesleyan.edu. 

Talia Zitner can be reached at tzitner@wesleyan.edu.