QTTR - Documentary Photography Project

QTTR is a photographic portrait of London’s queer tattoo artist community. The work explores how, especially for queer people, decorating and embellishing the body with tattoos can improve and re-frame one’s relationship with their body. Honouring the body in such a way is affirming and healing to many queer people, as well as being a means of displaying their way of knowing and viewing the world, and their connections to society, culture, and place. Standing for Queer Tattoo Artist, qttr is a tag used online by tattoo artists to signify they are queer and part of the LGBTQ+ community. Many queer people will specifically seek out queer artists due to the considerations they make about the client’s relationship with their body, their gender expression,continuous consent, gender dysphoria, and the importance of the tattoo environment and experience. Lots of queer tattoo artists also make designs specifically for queer bodies. The work was my Final Major Project at university (studying BA (Hons) Photography at London College of Communication, University of the Arts London) and was awarded a First.