Anomaly of the Flesh

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Anomaly of the Flesh
September 30, 2010
By Eric Engel
Flagstaff Live

here’s a pulse in the air detectable as soon as you walk through the door of the parlor, and you realize the vibration is omnipresent. A moment of pause is taken to acquire the reality of the scene. This place seems like a laboratory, where experiments are performed on willing participants. Feeling the overwhelming desire to be performed upon, you approach the chair, take a seat and clear the canvas to the discretion of the hired hand. Needles start their tenure of endless buzz and the ceremony begins—the second coming of exterior, an anomaly of the flesh.

Tattoos have been a form of body modification for centuries, serving many different personal agendas in the process. People have purposely scarred the body for religious and cultural purposes, as well as to showcase individuality or rebellion, or simply to test the limits of their own pain tolerance. Much of the modern-day process involves bringing personal choices to the forefront of discussion. Here in Flagstaff things are no different.

“In the beginning, tattoos were symbolic of me being rough and tough,” says Kayleigh Stewart, an aspiring chef at the Lumberyard Brewing Co., who has much of her body covered with ink. “Now I look at it as a yearbook for my life. Each tattoo means something to me and represents a certain time in my life.”

“You take your skin to the grave, so each tattoo is an investment,” says Nick Lawrence, who owns Tat-Fu Tattoos and Body Piercing. “It is the ultimate form of self expression.”

“Tattoos are a rite of passage,” says Katie Brizendine, operations manager at the Northern Arizona Yoga Center. Her single tattoo that stretches from hip to ankle on her right leg has become well known locally. “Being in a society where we are trained to be a certain way and have expectations of how we should act as adults, tattoos are a way of stepping outside that box.
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I can function in society the way I need to, but my tattoo allows me to be an individual.”

Learning to tattoo takes patience, time and effort. Artists who are interested in the trade are almost always involved in an apprenticeship, sometimes paying thousands of dollars in the process, in order to gain the knowledge necessary to be a legitimate gunslinger.

“It was a difficult process to learn,” says Todd “Soup” Matyas, the owner of, and an artist at, Birch Avenue Tattoos, formerly Divinity Tattoos. “Artists recognized my talent and gave me apprenticeships, but I had to move back to Michigan for a few years to sit around and watch what took place in the shop, which is a big part of it. When I moved back here to Arizona I was much better.”

Taboos that have always surrounded the tattoo culture certainly still exist, in relation to leaving the body unmarked and the message being expressed by simply having tattoos. The social ramifications of body art are evident when it comes to professional employment and physical representation, but the many concerns seemed to have lessened over the years within the collective perception.

“There has always been, still is, and will always be a taboo concerning tattoos, but I think it’s becoming more socially acceptable,” says Kayleigh Stewart, who finds that in her profession as a cook, tattoos are not only acceptable but prevalent.

“I think some people are governed by fear, and cast judgment on what they hate most about themselves,” says Nick Lawrence, who suggests that tattoos provide a mentality that steers away from the cookie-cutter philosophy. “We are but souls animating this body, yearning to decipher whatever bewilders us, and tattooing allows me to hone my abilities and express myself.”

“I’ve been to tattoo conventions around the world where I’ve both performed work and gotten work done,” says Patrick Sans, the owner and one of the artists at Burly Fish Tattoos and Body Piercing. “It’s good to be in a place where everyone is participating in, and accepting of, the culture of tattoos.”

Dr. Andrew Gardner, an assistant professor in Psychology at Northern Arizona University, is conducting a study on whether tattoos are conditioned with a certain emotion, whether that emotion is maintained over time to the degree of intensity as when the individual first got the tattoo, and whether getting a tattoo adds or detracts from an individual’s overall life satisfaction.

“Using galvanic skin response, which measures the emotional and physiological arousal of the subject during the process, we found that the levels of excitement and anticipation peak in a person as they begin the process,” says Gardner, who is also a behavior analyst. “After an initial high GSR reading was observed, the reading steadily declined in intensity and generally remained steady for the remainder of the tattoo application.”

Gardner also noted that GSR readings at the six-month mark after tattoo application were high when the participant discussed and looked at the tattoo, indicating a good probability of overall positive feelings toward the tattoo.

As human beings, we want to avoid pain and regret, the first of which is guaranteed during the tattoo process, the other a significant possibility. Inside the realm of the parlor, though, the overwhelming opinion is that of showcasing the ability to overcome a desired physical tribulation.

“It’s exhilarating. My heart gets pumping every time I go in for a new tattoo,” says Stewart. “I’ve had so many, and I still get nervous. I think it’s seeing if you can handle it. My tolerance changed a lot since my first tattoo, and now I can withstand a lot of damage.”

“It is an intimate experience where you are vulnerable in trusting me with your skin,” says Lawrence.

When it comes to the overall experience, the unanimous consensus is that tattoos are more than just ink on flesh and should be taken seriously by both the recipient and the provider of the artwork.

“I think the energy of the process is super important from start to finish,” says “Soup” Matyas, who mentioned that the client is always going to remember the experience, and shouldn’t be bullied into getting something they do not wholeheartedly desire. “I should never feel like I’m wasting someone’s time, but rather that I’m giving your creation the time of day, so that it can become a great tattoo and empower you instead of weaken you when you look at it.”

“It is a privilege of mine to help a person express themselves and have a positive impact on society by perpetuating ideas that keep peace and understanding evident,” says Lawrence. “Judgment from others weeds them out of my life, because it’s not what’s outside, but inside, that matters. You can’t judge a book by its cover.”

“The tattoos on my body allow me to proudly showcase my individuality, and tell everyone that sees them that I love what I do and that I am comfortable being the person I am,” says Patrick Sans.

“I want people to look at me and think I’m a hooligan, but then talk to me for five minutes and realize that I’m not a criminal, I don’t lie, cheat or steal, and that I wear my seatbelt every day,” says Stewart, who looks forward to being an old lady full of tattoos. “I don’t ever see myself stopping, unless I run out of room, and then I’ll probably just get my least favorite tattoos removed and get some better ones.”

“There’s nothing wrong with making your mark,” says Katie Brizendine. “It’s like when you were a kid climbing a tree, and you left your initials in it. The tree only had more meaning, more energy, after that. All the trees in the forest are the same, but when you see the one with the initials in it, it makes you smile.”