Avery Wang said that tattoos were something that they always wanted. But the timing for their first one was determined by a spontaneous visit at the local tattoo parlor. Ink Empire With friends.
“I’ve always known that I wanted to get tattooed,” physics sophomore Wang said. “I want to be heavily tattooed. It was still a mystery to me what my first tattoo would be. But we started making plans and were like, ‘OK, let’s go.’”
Wang said that tattoo art is permanent beauty. They look for local artists to make their tattoos.
“I prefer seeking out the artist myself,” Wang said. “I’m now in a place where I see getting tattoos as collecting art from different people. I like looking for artists myself, seeing who I like and what they can give me.”
Wang’s dragon, one of their three animal-themed tattoos, represents their appreciation for both the natural world and aestheticism. After reconciling several reference photos, Wang and their friends walked into Ink Empire and “hoped for the best,” they said.
“I was like, ‘I think I’m going to do that,’ and then we just walked in,” Wang said. “Because it was my first experience, I was a little worried. He was friendly and comforting. It was a fun experience, especially since I was surrounded by friends.”
Wang and her boyfriend had their second tattoo done, an intertwined pair with cats sporting colorful butterfly wings under their left elbow. After they had taken their first course in organic chemistry, this was their second tattoo. Wang also requested their third tattoo. It was a bolded snake wrapped around their left shoulder. This was the result of an artist’s Los Angeles visit. Chen Tatt. Wang stated that the next piece of jewelry will be made from crows in a traditional fashion.
“I like a lot of different styles, but I think I’ve kind of fallen in love with heavy black linework,” Wang said. “I am the type who likes tattoos for aesthetic reasons rather than a personal meaning. … I feel like while eventually, they might lose meaning to me, I still want them to look good. I still want to like them even after they don’t mean the same thing to me.”
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