I visited Ann Chang’s exhibition “temporary before permanent” and spoke with the artist abut the work on display. I attended as I wanted to explore the ideas behind what was out further, as I understood that it was about the practice of tattooing not being respected as a discipline. I came to realise that in fact it is about far more than that for this artist on a personal level, but that at the same time it allowed me to explore further into the art and craft of tattooing, as tattooing contains both.
Firstly on a very personal level, Ann told me that after applying for a talent class of visa, with the expectation that the Arts Council would support this, it transpired that the Arts Council did not regarded tattooing as an art form. This meant for the tattooing element of Anns creative output, no support was forthcoming, and no visa support meant no talent visa. The Art’s Council are quoted verbatim from their rejection letter as follows:
“ We’ve had a look at this one and think it should be returned as ineligible as the majority of their evidence is related to tattooing.
It’s a grey area as it is technically ‘art’ however, tattooing is not within our remit. It clearly lists tattoo artist as an ineligible area of practise in our guidance.”
This left Ann in a difficult situation, as the bulk of Ann’s work was tattooing, however Ann did also draw, paint and engaged in performance art. Yet the Art’s Council also denied Ann here, as they said Ann did not yet have enough recognition. This then was the personal motivation behind the exhibition for Ann. To create some buzz which would form part of the application for support form the Art’s Council, alongside other work.
Yet this was not Ann’s only motivation, the exhibition was also a form of soft protest to show Anns ability. Indeed all the work shown was Ann’s flash, or tattoo, drawings. This clever subversion of the
By the time I left the exhibition, I asked myself ‘Is Ann not a talented artist?’. Ann owns a tattoo studio, has 14.8k followers on her Instagram, and clearly has clients everyday. Ann self supports in the UK. Then I realised, of course its not enough and I am wrong to judge so quickly. I got angry so fast that the Arts Council England doesn’t think tattooing is art. To get a talented artist visa they need more than that. They need awards. They need to be published, get into exhibitions, need to be known in the arts circle not just on Instagram.
The question is, How can tattoo artist do that? Is there a competition for tattoo artist in the UK to get an award from? There are a lot of room in tattooing industry to be improve and again I want to change that not just protect the art work but also the artist.