Research and Development

I'm currently researching the history of tattooing in Australia and have decided to focus on the modern history of tattooing, beginning with the convict era, (I am in no way planning to forget about or gloss over the rich indigenous history either but more on that later) there are incredible records on the convicts that were banished from Great Britain and sent to the penal colony of Van Diemen's land, each convicts' tattoo's were recorded and documented upon arrival so there are  records for 166,00o convicts and from these records we learn that 37% of male convicts had tattoos and 19% of female convicts had tattoos.

This seems like a somewhat good place to start in tracing the modern history of tattooing and I plan to focus on key figures in the history of Australian tattooing and with the assistance of many tattoo artists as well as historians, museum curators and tattoo experts,  presenting the information in way that is engaging to the general public. I also want to tell the story of the many indigenous people choosing to be tattooed with traditional indigenous artwork and designs, paying tribute to family, culture and tradition