Women 'breaking through' in tattooing, says artist
BBCThe tattoo industry is becoming less male dominated and more diverse, according to a woman tattooist working in the business.
MJ Smith has been inking people for about 10 years and said when she started there were not that many other women doing it.
The shop she apprenticed at was "lovely" but there were no women there.
Smith said: "It took five years of me working there for another woman to join the shop. And it's the same in most shops. It's still very male dominated.
"But we are breaking through. We are coming through."
While she was a fan of traditional tattoos she believed a lot of the imagery in them was classically male.
"There's a new style that I like to call girly pop trad, which is basically the trad style, so bold lines, limited colour palette but it's fun, girly sort of things," Smith said.
"Not to say that you have to get girly tattoos if you're a woman."
But she said things were changing, including the tattoos that people wanted.
"I think it's probably for the better because it's more diverse," she said.
Smith's work will be showcased at an exhibition called Mark Making: Women Making Their Mark in Tattoo Arts, which will be opening at the Herbert Read Gallery, at the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) in Canterbury.
Tattoo artist and UCA guest lecturer, Alice Nicholls, said there was a boom in women getting into tattooing.
"There's more women who are being tattooed, and there's definitely more women who are now becoming the face of tattooing, which is a great shift," she said.
"It's really wonderful to see."
She added that the course being run, which UCA says is the only dedicated BA in body art in the UK, was "full of women".
Nicholls believed the industry had changed but was not sure that could be attributed solely to the presence of women.
"But I do think that what comes with that is new ideas, and perhaps a different style of art," she said.
Photographer Katya Taylor, whose work also features in the show, believes women "definitely" bring something different to tattooing.
"I think having women in the industry is allowing other women to feel more comfortable getting tattoos," she said.
Professor Charlotte Frost, associate dean of UCA's Canterbury School of Art, Architecture and Design, said the industry was "in flux" and it was estimated that about 25% of tattoo artists around the world were women.
"That number is rising, but beyond a few niche forums, we still don't know enough about their work or the impact they're having on the industry," she added.
Mark Making is at the Herbert Read Gallery from 5 October to 4 November.
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