Reuters Features Tattoo Machine
NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) – The sad lament of every great tattoo artist is that their work will never be preserved for future generations — their canvases die and turn to dust sooner than almost any other medium.
But Jeff Johnson, author of “Tattoo Machine: Tall Tales, True Stories, and My Life in Ink” and co-owner of The Sea Tramp Tattoo Company in Portland, Oregon, still loves to go to work.
“It’s the people,” said Johnson, 39, of his 18 years in the business. “You sit down with strangers and hear where they came from, about their jobs, hear their stories.”
The people he sees represent a greater cross section of society than ever before with tattoos, once the domain of outlaw bikers and sailors, very much a part of the mainstream.