Hong Kong's 'new tattoo culture': photographer charts its evolution
Helen Mitchell, an artist and academic, first photographed tattoos five years ago in Hong Kong. She recently returned to find a much expanded and changed scene
Helen Mitchell has one tattoo: the image of The Great Wave off Kanagawa - also known as The Wave - by Japanese artist Hokusai, curling from her waist to her right thigh. "I got it when I was in my 30s. It started out as the size of a large coin, but the tattooist was right when he told me that I'd add to it. It's now quite big," she says.
It comes as a surprise to learn that the photographer, artist and academic from Wellington, New Zealand, doesn't have more tattoos - and didn't get her first earlier - considering she's been fascinated with body art since a young age.
"I'd wanted a tattoo for as long as I can remember … I was attracted by their indelibility and the stories they conveyed," the 50-year-old says ahead of her second exhibition in New Zealand focusing on Hong Kong's tattoo culture.
Her love of tattoos goes deeper than the dermis. Mitchell has spent more than a decade peeling back the layers of the art form, examining the cultural significance of tattooing and its shift from subculture to popular culture. While most people who get a tattoo are consumed with the "what" - what image or what words they want etched on their body - Mitchell is more interested in the "why".