We were lucky to catch up with Tank London recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Tank thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
I would say most projects I get to work on are meaningful, in one way or another. These incredible people that I get to work with often come to me already having a reason behind their tattoo. Sometimes, that’s all they have.
“It’s our anniversary!” ”I want to cover this tattoo.” “My pet passed away.” “These are my mothers favorite flowers.” “My daughter was just born.” “I’m ready to cover these scars.”
There are some stories that weigh heavier than others. I’ll share one of my favorites—
I have one client who’s known her entire life that she was adopted. She came in to me for her first tattoo—an entire sleeve! She wanted a representation of her and her husband and child with a small attribution to her mother-in-law (whom I believe had passed away). She wanted to build her own family tree, then memorialize it on her skin.
I have many stories from this journey which was probably about 6 or 8 months long. Like, when the parents who raised her found out about the tattoo and were less than pleased at first. (Mom just hung up on her actually!) But THEN, mom wanted to see it, and then decided she would be included in the piece, and her father would as well. I still chuckle when I tell that story.
But most incredibly, she did some genealogy work and found her birth family during this time. By the end of her sleeve, she was updating me on the family that she had discovered, in another part of the country. Siblings, with whole lives that they welcomed her into.
Going from 0 to 100 real quick, she suddenly existed in the world as a heavily tattooed person. People stopped her to ask about it all the time! Session after session she would share with me the new experiences she had in the world after being tattooed. The stories she shared with strangers who asked—they asked so much that her child would, when no one was asking, tap her on the arm and say “Momma you need to tell this person about your tattoo.”
One day her kid wanted to give her their piggy bank towards the cost of her session. Of course she said no, but after some insistence, she settled on bringing a few quarters. While working that day, I colored a little something that was completely away from the rest of the work… I told her to tell the kid that this is the part they paid for. All these years later, I still have those 3 quarters safely tucked away.
It must’ve been a handful of years later, but eventually she would come back after surviving a brush with a deadly illness. We did a tattoo branching off of the sleeve that both commemorated her experience with that, and tied into how her family (the sleeve) was what carried her through.
Every part of this project was so meaningful to both of us!
This is one, day one story, one person, one “project” out of HUNDREDS that I have had the privilege of participating in. In my experience, treating every project like it’s meaningful creates a space where they become that way, no matter the piece or its initial purpose.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My name is Tank, I was nicknamed after the comic book/movie character Tank Girl probably 14 or so years ago. It’s the only nickname I’ve ever had and I stuck with it! I got into my tattoo apprenticeship while I was still in high school. Originally from Miami, FL, I started tattooing there in 2009. I moved to Austin, TX in 2013, and have been here ever since!
In the beginning I very quickly realized how much I loved interpreting art for others. I wanted to be an intermediary between someone’s ideas and their reality. I center your ideas and not “my style.” We come up with the art, together.
Im very skilled at working with people who’ve had anxiety about getting a tattoo, maybe they’ve had a bad past tattoo experience, or we are covering a tattoo with really bad memories. I guess I’d consider myself trauma informed, but most important to me is to give folks a new, empowering, consent based experience. I’ll educate you along the way, collaborate with you on ideas, and am not afraid to be swayed violently between wildly different concepts until we land on the perfect thing.
I work in a way that I’d wager 95% of the tattooing community does not: I let clients see the design before the appointment. Each person gets input on the design throughout the process. We have follow ups, sometimes several, where we look at things and make changes. Most artists don’t do this.
I rarely have strong opinions on how I want a tattoo to look based on the description alone. I don’t have a single personal “style,” more like a flavor. I have worked very hard to be versatile in my skill so that I get to work with a wider range of people. Because of that, I’ve never felt comfortable putting art on somebody’s body that they’re gonna live with forever without 100% of their approval during the process.
Sometimes this results in me doing extra work for free, or maybe even not doing a tattoo in the end because we talked in too many circles—but not usually. Usually what happens is I create an empowered client, someone who’s confident in what they’re getting, and has had a role in every part of the design. I bond with people during this process, it really can be cathartic, healing, and a reclamation of self in any case.
One of my favorite things is sometimes, while brainstorming together during a consult, a lightbulb hits and I say “what if we…“. That introductory line I’ve been teased about by a handful of clients who realize I do it all the time. It’s almost always followed by something outside the box, but I’ve been lucky enough to have clients who trust me with my crazy ideas.
I love tackling “impossible” tasks in tattooing. Covering up a cover up of a cover up—they say it can’t be done. I say bring it on!
Lately, I’ve been exploring flow and form. Large scale work that influences the contours of the body and creates strong, beautiful silhouettes. Amending the shapes one sees in the mirror. Pushing or flattening curves where it can be most flattering for one’s vision of themselves. I want to push boundaries in what we’re used to seeing in tattooing with heavier forms, solid fill, saturation and layers. I love the opportunity to affect somebody’s vision of themselves for the better.
Finally, I will say I love trying to find new ways to do old things. Whether it be style wise, color, presentation on the body, exploring what is lesser done, taboo, “impossible.“ This is not to say that there is anything I dislike about doing a perfectly simple, classic rose tattoo!
Let’s get weird together, or make new memories.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
Artists come in all shapes and sizes, I dare you to think about your coffee mug, your takeout and the desk you work at. Each of these items could be mundane— a simple, white plain mug, some generic salad bowl from the grocery store, or a particleboard piece of furniture. But real people make real livings, creating all the same things by hand, with love, using old methods or experimenting with new ones.
If you go to a local makers market—most likely put together and hosted by some other type of creative, in some sort of creative centered space like a concert venue or an art studio or (in my studios case) the shopping plaza were located in—you can get a coffee mug for the cost of what, maybe 20 bucks? A mug that’s probably one of a kind, that’s been handmade with love by a human. You drink out of that mug at the office with your particleboard desk, people will see it, and ask “where did you get that mug?” Then they come check out the next makers market at the same location and learn about an entirely new venue, and a whole room full of creatives that make all kinds of things and provide all kinds of services. They buy something, and the journey goes on.
Buying from an artist pays off twice for us. Yes, we get the money from the purchase. But we also are seen after the fact. We become visible to the people who see you wearing that shirt, enjoying that meal from the food truck, drinking out of that really cool mug. The best way to support artists is to build a life filled with art. And if you’re an artist yourself, gather with other artists, and support each other. Create shared spaces. Build a community.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
I always say, when I die I want to leave the world a better place than I came into it. I don’t expect to do anything huge for the whole world in my lifetime, but I know I’ve already made a huge difference in some people’s worlds, and that’s all I hope to continue doing. I am beyond blessed to get to work in an industry where I make my own hours, I make my own rules, I can say yes or no to anything. I can travel anywhere with this work. But wherever I go, and whenever I do, I always want to make sure that I’m doing beautiful things. That I connect with people—real raw human people, I wanna see your emotions. I wanna cry with you. I wanna laugh with you and I wanna give you a hug when we’re done with it.
If there is a goal that I have, it’s to build an army of beautiful, empowered people who are just a little bit better when they leave me then they came to me. Hopefully that love ripples outward from them all, and we really do change the world just a little bit for the better in the end.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tankgirltattooing.com
- Instagram: @tankgirtattooing
