New York
NYC Urban Tattoo Convention, Brooklyn
October 2014
The fifth annual NYC Urban Tattoo Convention was held at Industry City in Brooklyn from June 27 to 29, 2014. Approximately 150 local and international tattoo artists participated. The photographs document tattooed participants and models wearing temporary body paint, recording two distinct body-art practices presented at the same event.
Tattooing existed in many societies long before the English word was recorded. The term tattoo derives from the Polynesian word tatau and appears in English evidence from 1769 during James Cook’s first Pacific voyage. Cook’s expedition helped establish the Polynesian-derived term in English; it did not introduce the practice itself.
New York City prohibited tattooing from 1961 until 1997, although artists continued to work privately and underground. The 2014 convention documents tattooing’s later return to public venues, where permanent tattoos, specialized techniques, and temporary body painting were presented to a broad audience.
