Tattoos For Sale

First I admit that I do not like tattoos. From my perspective they are a mutilation of the body, look ugly and un natural and after a while they become redundant. But everyone should have the right to do whatever they wish with their body as long as it does not hurt others. That includes those tattooed to the end people, those who have more tattoos than bare skin. An obsession with tattoos can be..uh.......ugly.  How many freak show circuses used to display the "tattooed man" or "tattooed lady"? They were humans covered entirely in tattoos.

Well, here is a new version of the tattooed lady. It's the "tattoo me for a fee", lady. A 22 year old California artist whose love of tattoos who currently has 47 is just a few days into a campaign to become her very own  art installation. For $10, people can get their name or one to two words of their choosing tattooed on Illma Gore's body (Hmmmm Is that tattoo prostitution?). the only requests she says she'll turn down are words of hate or discrimination.

"Tattoo Me," as she calls it, is an experiment to be a "piece of un sellable artwork" that will end in an exhibition in late March where some of the final tattoos will be put on her live on TV.  "There is something absurd and beautiful about having an accumulation of absolute strangers  names draped over my pale goth skin, even if half of them are 'Penis Butt,'" she writes on Illama's GoFundMe page, which will fund the exhibition itself.

She says it will take more than 60 hours to complete the tattooing.  I wonder what tattoo Illma will do when she runs out of tattoo body space.  "Almost every mentally stable person has told me not to do this," she says. "I understand their views. But it's my vision. They don't have to like it."  I'm not sure I trust Illma's judgment on who is or isn't mentally stable. She probably thinks she is stable. But then, with all those tattoos maybe she just can't see what is wise and what is not.