Queer tattoo artists promote a culture of safety

By SYDNEY WALKER @squidneywrites

Pandora

Tattooing for the last three years, Torres said that the majority of her clients are Queer. Her top priority, she said, is to ensure her clients feel safe and comfortable.

“Spiritually speaking, I feel as though tattooing is a huge exchange of energy and it would be irresponsible of me to go into such an intimate procedure without making sure that everyone is happy, feels safe, comfortable and – above all – comfortable commu- nicating with me,” said Torres.

Professionally tattooing for over five years, Baby Atchison – a trans tattoo artist and owner of Holy Fool Tattoo Club – said he was drawn to the tattoo industry because he felt like he didn’t belong in normative culture, and now wants to ensure a positive experience for others.

“I’m cautious to label any space safe because I have no control over anyone else’s internal experience,” Atchison said. “However, a great deal of my clients are Queer, trans and have different bodies. I think they return to me because of the experience they have sitting in my chair.”

Atchison said it has been difficult for people of color, women and the LGBTQ+ community to have adequate representation in the tattoo industry. The inter- net, Atchison said, has helped to provide a platform for Queer and femme artists.

“There were women tattooing, but I hadn’t heard of them or seen their picture, let alone anyone like me with a trans experience,” Atchison said. “I think the industry is changing; representation is always something that makes those shifts happen in a big way.”

Specializing in the hand-poke method, Sawyer Sverre-Harrell works out of a private studio in Santa Fe. The tattoo industry is rapidly growing, but the spaces are not always welcoming to Queer artists, Sverre-Harrell said.

“I think being trans – regardless of if people realize I’m trans or not – just being openly Queer can sometimes have certain people in see Tattoos page 16