COP3 PREP – Grace Neutral & South Korea
Grace Neutral & Apro Lee
Building on the notion of bravery within the creative industries I recently watched a four part documentary on i-D, with body-mod enthusiast and activist Grace Neautral, about the Korean beauty // tattoo industry. In South Korea it is illegal to get a tattoo unless the person tattooing you has a doctors license, however the amount of people who study to become a doctor and then turn to become tattoo artists is unmentionably small.
Throughout the documentary Grace sought out multiple tattoo artists who work in the underground of South Korea tattooing against the law. At any point their studios can be shut down, their practice stopped and legal action taken against them. Despite this risk however, many artists still operate everyday to provide a service made largely unavailable due to their restrictive laws. These artists risk their livelihood to practice their craft and fight pre-existing taboos against their profession.
This documentary started to get me thinking about the wider application of bravery in the creative industry. Are there more stories like this? How can bravery be measured? The tattooist of South Korea are a really interesting start and have opened my eyes to underground collectives // subcultures in art. Maybe I should try and find more movements like this one; art fighting against restraints and social norms?
APRO - LEE
APRO - LEE
APRO - LEE
APRO - LEE