Body Art Craze in Raleigh

Tattoos and piercings have always been around and done for years to hundreds of people a day.  However, it has recently become the new trend like a new style of dressing or new hairstyles. Nowa days, college students have especially taken to this trend that has growing demand. Students everywhere are going to their local tattoo parlors to get new ink or a new piercing.  It also turns into competitions where students show off ther number of tattoos to see who has more, who took the most pain and who has the most graphic pieces. 

                Here in Raleigh, there are several tattoo parlors located near the surrounding universities. They all seem to be in competition with each other trying to get the local college students to come in by luring them with cheap prices and detailed art work.  Some places charge by time, while other charge by size of the piece.  Most of the artists in the area are young but very experienced and  talented. They come from various parts of the country to Raleigh to come and showcase their talents in order to make money and fulfill their passion of giving customers pain and pleasure.

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                Two tattoos artists that I work with,  Stretch Boyd and Kay Oh down at 510 Salon Ink are two perfect examples of dedicated, talented men who love what they do. They come in everyday and help customers figure out what prices will work in order to get tattooed or pierced and then get to work. They both see about 10 or more clients a day and everyone leaves happy with satisfaction promising to come back.  When I spoke to Stretch about the kind of tattoos he likes to do on people he stated ‘'Creative! I love when people come in and just have a customized tattoo design or thought from off the mind.'' I also asked Stretch how many tattoos he did to him self out of the 40 different tattoos on his body from his arms to his legs; he told me he had done 7 of his own! 

These[W3]  two artists have other careers outside of tattooing which include piercing and also being local musicians and producers.[W4]  While working, I also had a chance to talk with some students from the schools in the area. I first spoke to Diamond Alexander, a sophomore from Shaw University, about the tattoo that Kay Oh was drawing up for her. She seemed very anxious when she spoke "I came to get this Geisha on my back because they are my favorite and I'm very into the Japanese culture". Next I spoke with another student from Shaw University, Tanzi Green.  When I asked her about the tattoo she had just received she told me how much she loved leopard print and how she thought it would be a cool idea to get her favorite print inside some stars on her leg. She also told me she got the idea from a close friend who has the same tattoo but in a different spot. Lastly, I had a chance to get in on the action while a student from Wake Tech was getting her 12^th tattoo. Fighting through the pain, C.J. told me that while the tattoo was hurting her that she was still excited about the tattoo because she knew that it would be worth the pain.

                The body art trend is taking a large impact on this generation. I think it's very interesting to know that by next generation there will be a lot of tattooed and pierced grandparents. Every day I get to help both students and people in the area figure out what they want to get and why. It is an awesome job, especially when a person has such a great idea but just needs my extra help to complete the whole idea.  In addition, I love how body art looks on people. I feel like it is a depiction of self expression and tells stories, while sometimes others are just random and there for entertainment purposes. Either way body art is a wonderful way to express you through art and has been an ongoing trend, it just seems like now this generation is more into getting more than one or two tattoos. It's all about quality and quantity.  I hope this trend sticks around for this generation and people continue to self express their selves through both pain and pleasure[W5] .

A well researched story.

Caption your pictures to make them seamlessly serve the story and conclude with the dissenting voices or people opposed to Body art and what they say.