https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2019/feb/13/at-arms-length-are-tattoos-finally-becoming-uncool

The Guardian’s Adam Gabbatt writes from New York to ask whether tattoos have become mainstream – and therefore uncool. Gabbatt is asking the big questions in this article – such as whether finding out your boss or bank manager has a tattoo ruins it for the rest of us.

Gabbatt asks this after two divisive celebrities popped off their shirts to reveal their ink – Maroon 5’s Adam Levine at the Super Bowl and Justin Bieber on US Vogue’s March cover. Gabbatt wonders if more celeb and non-celebs getting tattooed than ever before, that getting ink might be losing its edge. A look back to tattoo history puts the question to bed though.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-6712717/Lady-Gaga-gets-two-new-tattoos-honor-Star-Born-shares-topless-snaps.html

Speaking of celebrities getting tattoos, writing for the Daily Mail Annita Katee uncovers Lady Gaga’s latest ink. Gaga’s work was done by artist Daniel Winter, who has also worked on the likes of Mandy Moore, Miley Cyrus and Emma Roberts. Winter transformed Gaga’s (considerable) spine into a rose, with the French words “la vie en rose” (life in pink) cascading down.

If you caught Gaga’s performance with Rocket Raccoon, sorry, I mean Bradley Cooper, in ‘A Star is Born’, you’ll recognise La Vie En Rose as the singer’s first performance in the film. Gaga’s rendition of Édith Piaf’s classic isn’t just her opener in A Star is Born – it was the song that won her over to director Bradley Cooper for the role in the first place.

Tattoo artist brings work to life through stop-motion project

Plenty of couples and friend groups (The Lord of the Rings cast famously) get matching tattoos, Hungarian tattoo artist Balazs Bercsenyi is taking group ink to another level. The rose is a classic tattoo (see Lady Gaga’s latest tat in the story above), but Bercsenyi chose it for his stop-motion project for its associations with love and correlations to human life – when we bloom, that is.

Bercsenyi chose 70 participants from 600 volunteers for ‘A Life of a Rose’ – 70 tattoos journeying from a sprouting rose, to its peak with thorns and petals, to drooping and dying. This project isn’t just a visual and physical masterpiece – it’s a showcase of tattoo culture brings communities together. You can view the tattoos as a stop-motion video on Bercsenyi’s Instagram or website.

https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/17435835.yorkshire-mastectomy-tattoos-opens-in-bradford-city-centre/

Artist Lucy Thompson has opened restorative scar tattooing clinic in the heart of Braford, Yorkshire – the Yorkshire Mastectomy Clinic. Thompson opened her clinic after her auntie’s mastectomy tattoo faded over the years and decided to use her talent to help survivors of cancer. She flew to Texas to learn from specialist artist Stacie Rae, at The House of A.R.T. (Areola Restorative Tattooing) in San Antonio to become the first UK artist to complete specialist training to offer restorative ink of this standard to cancer survivors.

Yorkshire Mastectomy Clinic will provide training for other artists to learn the art of nipple tattooing, not to mention a project to provide financial assistance to women who can’t afford their tattoos. The studio will also provide other kinds of restorative tattooing.