The mainstream tattoo scene has historically been dominated by patriarchal and hierarchical structures, not necessarily serving as a safe space for Queer identities or bodies. But, thanks in large part to community building on social media, Queer tattooing has been on the rise over the last few years, with boundary-defying artists carving out a whole new world that is inclusive and welcoming for Queer, nonbinary, and trans people to play and explore within the art form.
Now, a first-of-its-kind book about Queer tattooing called Queer Tattoo has been released, written by author Andrew Burford with editors Florian Rudolph, Benjamin Wolbergs, and Brody Polinsky, from the German publishers Verlag Kettler.
Queer Tattoo reveals an exciting and celebratory community that subverts destructive beauty standards and the cultural appropriation that has been endemic to the tattoo industry and replaces these harmful ideals with a new visual language of queer iconography.
The comprehensive primer on Queer tattooing features the work of 50 tattoo artists from around the globe, with all of them highlighted on the book’s official Instagram page.
Slated to be published this March, Queer Tattoo is available for pre-order now through ACC Art Books for those in the US and Canada and on the Verlag Kettler site for everyone else.
