A tattoo is an affirmation: that this body is yours to have and to enjoy while you're here. Nobody else can control what you do with it.

One person's tattoo is nobody else's business

Tattoo is the magic word. It hits people in a way that no other visual medium does. And it is not simply visual, but visceral. Everybody has an opinion about it and everybody has a gut reaction. And because they are permanent, tattoos raise all these issues about life and death.

When you're so drawn to art, to making pictures and looking at art, it's really all you want to think about.