We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kailey O’farrell a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Kailey, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you walk us through some of the key steps that allowed you move beyond an idea and actually launch?
My tattooing journey started the day I got my first tattoo. Even though I wouldn’t be the tattooer for another four years, I deeply believe my love for tattooing came from my experiences getting tattooed by so many amazing artists in New York City, a city which I am so grateful to live in. However, in those four years, it really never occurred to me to seriously consider learning to tattoo. The idea that I could be a tattooer felt like a dream, only meant to be reality for other people. I grew up doing creative things like dance and painting and drawing as hobbies. I didn’t feel like the kind of person that could pursue an art career, and I was always pretty accepting and at peace with that, at least on the surface.
It was early spring of 2023 when my partners were moving apartments and getting rid of a bunch of stuff in the process. I grabbed a glossier cloud paint and an eyeshadow, and the hand poke kit from Amazon my partner had ordered in March of 2020. It was an intuitive choice, I didn’t give it any thought, I just figured, “why not?”
A month or two later, I was at the end of a semester, and the anticipation of a break from school was giving me a definitive mood boost. I pulled out the kit in my room while listening to an online lecture for a class, and with the spontaneity that now feels like it was predestined, I poked a little star on the back of my ankle.
I know how it sounds but that day and that little star absolutely changed my life. As soon as l was done I could feel tattooing become real, and in the days, weeks, months, and now year and a half since, my whole relationship to art and creativity has changed. What was always pushed to the side now has a place to go, with a direction to take. You asked about how I went from an idea to execution, but in this case it was the execution that clarified the idea. Once I set my sights on tattooing seriously, it felt unavoidable. Part of me would’ve loved for that to have happened sooner, but it also reminds me how unexpectedly things can entirely change.
The next few months I started drawing almost everyday. As a hobbyist I had relationships to a few different mediums but they were separated and inconsistent. I danced for 12 years growing up, but when I stopped, I left it fully behind me. Though don’t get me wrong, I still passionately love spontaneous dancing, both at-home and when going out. I still have a connected relationship with editorial makeup, we just don’t see each other as much now. But in a lot of ways and without realizing it, my years playing with makeup were a foundational step towards tattooing. I often enjoyed painting and drawing growing up, in school and out, but I didn’t pursue it in college. I would have phases of inspiration and draw or paint in my free time sometimes, but now my relationship to art and making stuff has a clear center, everything makes sense together.
As far as what I had to figure out and look into, I am still in that process. It’ll be a work in progress for years to come. The first year was mainly focused on creating my process for drawing flash, which has been trial and retrial. I was also practicing tattooing on myself, and then some close loved ones (you know who you are, thank you so much forever and ever.) There was a lot of asking questions, watching videos, being nervous, being excited, being in disbelief. It wasn’t until about a year after that first tattoo on myself that I got my license, booked my first client, and started tattooing people I didn’t know. There’s still all those feelings, plus several others, but I’ve been letting the process happen organically as much as I’ve been putting work into it, and that’s what I plan to keep doing.
Kailey, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Kailey and I go by genuine_soup on instagram. I started learning to tattoo in 2023 and am now licensed, booking flash and custom tattoos in Brooklyn, New York. Very much still at the beginning of my journey, I am frankly out-of-my-mind excited for the road ahead. I started tattooing while getting my master’s in social work, because I was pursuing becoming a clinical therapist. Though I had no idea I would start to pursue tattooing when I began my social work program, the service tattooers provide is sometimes, or often, a completely therapeutic one. Just like those across fields, such as hairdressers, makeup artists, and bartenders.
I work to add to that tradition with every client. I want my clients to know I take their happiness, satisfaction, safety, and wellbeing seriously, and am motivated by the goal of bringing their vision to life. I am always grateful and beyond happy to give input or guidance on the vision, and the fact that my drawings are ever chosen as flash is incomprehensibly cool to me. But I want my clients to know I am also happy if they have a specific vision. Whether it’s a certain size, specific placement, or particular facial expression, line weight, or texture, always feel free to tell me. As a queer woman, I’ve been in tattoo spaces that felt exclusive and uncomfortable, and I want to be part of a tattooing experience that feels safe, comforting, exciting, and inclusive. As a white, currently able-bodied person, I know I have a huge and systemic unfair advantage, and am capable of unintentionally reinforcing oppression. I want to make it clear through my work and actions over time that I happily and proudly tattoo anyone who would like a tattoo from me. All sizes, colors, shapes, abilities, orientations, and genders are welcome. I will always prioritize working in spaces that are accessible, woman-owned and operated, and create community in some way.
As far as the content and nature of my work, I love the whimsical, feminine, silly, sweet, beautiful, and strange. I tend towards a lot of florals and femme figures, animals, and ornaments. I work with a machine (versus hand poking, though I may explore that more one day), with mainly dot work, stippling, and a semi-realism semi-illustration style. I am currently booking via email ([email protected]) and instagram @genuine_soup, though look out for a website and newsletter sometime soon :)
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
One of my goals with my work right now is to continue discovering, fine-tuning, and demonstrating my specific style and voice as a tattooer. It’s always exciting and inspiring to me to find a new artist on instagram that is unapologetically themself. That reminds me there is infinite ways to be an artist, or there is a way of tattooing I’ve never seen before. As I mentioned earlier, I grew up with no intention of pursuing a creative career. A big part of my ability to pivot to tattooing, and fully embrace the unknown and instability of creative work, has been letting go of what I think is the “correct” or “good” way to be an artist. Letting go of the fact that I won’t make art like my favorite artists, because I’ll make art like myself. Creating is recreating, and I’m inspired by numerous artists, but every artist naturally leaves their fingerprint on their work.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding part of being a tattooer is without question the client connection. In other words, at the moment, I can’t see myself being a kind of artist that doesn’t work in the one-on-one service format the way tattooers do. I take huge pride in the fact that clients want my drawings on them and trust me to put them there, and that feels like all I need to carry me forward.
I’m rewarded when working with a client to place the stencil, or draft a custom design, or telling them “we’re done, go look!” Getting tattoos myself has been an essential part of healing my relationship to myself and my body. Sometimes it’s not that deep, it’s just fun, too. For whatever reason a client books an appointment, whether I am giving them autonomy over how their body looks, or they just want a fun activity for the day, or they’ve been dealing with mental health issues and tattoos are therapeutic for them, I feel rewarded and grateful.
Contact Info:
- Website: coming soon!
- Instagram: genuine_soup
