Following the success from Singapore Tattoo Show 2009, the show was organized once again in 2010 this year. As they did last year, foreign tattoo artists (such as Kim Saigh, Chris Garver and Bob Tyrell) were brought in to showcase their work. However, I felt that the Tattoo Show for 2010 lacked publicity compared to its 2009 success. This was also our first time to a Tattoo Show, and it was definitely not what I had expected.

I guess just like the general public, I had this preconceived notion that the tattoo show was going to be power-packed and exciting given that I associate tattoos with free-spirited and passionate people (e.g. Harley Davidson bikers). To add on to my excitement, as we were walking towards the the Expo hall, we saw many (I call them) ‘free-spirited’ people so I was really looking forward to getting into the hall.

Expo was a little crowded that day as there was also a sale and the Bodyworks exhibition.

We were finally let in and I was met with rows and rows of booths with the continuous sound of the motor of the tattooing machine. I didn’t know where to start, honestly. We had to make a conscious effort to slower our pace just to absorb everything around us. Some booths were empty while some had a crowd gathered around them. The more popular booths were those with the celebrity tattoo artists (i.e. Kim Saigh and Chris Garver) and Jeremy Lo who is a master at the traditional way of tattooing, from Borneo.

Now that tattoos are getting more popular with the general public, it isn’t such a big deal to see so many tattooed people in the same place and I even might have spotted a child walking around and admiring the work. Perhaps I don’t fully appreciate tattooing because, as they say, you have to try it to know how hard it is. I have always felt that coming up with designs by hand is more of talent while tattooing is a skill that can be perfected.

At the tattoo show, tattooing was stripped of it’s glamour and mysteriousness, and laid bare with bright fluorescent light for people to fully appreciate the hard work that goes into it. Inside the hall, tattoos were to be admired and treated as an art form which I feel most people tend to overlook when they think about tattoos.

All tattooists were put in booths, which seemed a little too organized, but that somehow ‘legalised’ tattooing as if it was just like any booth during, say, the food expo. You could say everything was a little bare, although the simplicity of how everything was set up definitely would aid the public in learning to see tattooing in a different light.