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Front shot of @_paramaya_ from when she visited me in Antwerp with her boyfriend @mrdaveking on their way from Leuven to Rotterdam. In a past post I briefly mentioned Maya’s tattooing style & aesthetic and how it came to be, using self-soldered needles to achieve a particular organic and textured look. Maya doesn’t work with flash or pre-made designs and only does custom work that is created specifically for the person who will be wearing it for the rest of their life. She sees tattooing as a magical experience. An exchange of information, emotion, vision, creation and sensation between the giver and receiver. For this reason, Maya doesn’t consider people as just a canvas and she doesn’t resonate with the thought that tattoos are just design that are being carried by a single body but a much deeper connection between 2 people. Big fan of the sternum piece by @gordoletters. Her left forearm is done by @yonah_krank , right forearm by @a_.void and upper body dotwork by @arn_o_ne — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/39bCXKc

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All black everything on @frenkiee66 from a while back in Rotterdam @inkstitution 💣 — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/3demRmt

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In the past I already briefly touched upon tattoos that are in tribute to certain special people. Whether it’s names of kids, parents or close friends. Tribute tattoos are something that I truly admire in general. Especially when the tattoo is in memory of a lost relative or loved one. As is the case for the tattoo on the side of Boni’s head. “So long Marianne” isn’t only a song by Leonard Cohen but is also a beautiful tribute to his lost mother. Immortalising and honouring her in a way like no other. Tap for artist credit ! — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/2WqHvd4

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Back shot I made of pioneering body-hacktivist @lukaszpira from a while ago at @arkelpiercingbrussels in Brussels. His back piece is a collaborative creation from good friends and kindred spirits @yonah_krank (the black patterns) and @yann_brenyak (the scarified spinal shape). If you look closely you can also see Kanji on the right side of Lukas’ head, done by the legendary @horiyoshi_3 in 2003. I think this is the first time seeing a Horiyoshi III tattoo in real life and it felt like such a privilege as you don’t come across tattoos done by such a master every day… — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/39WnqiE

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So I’ve had the opportunity to meet tons of amazing people through this project and I’m always super humbled by people reaching out to me, wanting to be part of it. But until now, nobody has gone through the same effort as David @vanhoek__ has… Last week, David and a friend drove all the way from Nürnberg, Germany, to Antwerp, which is about a 7 hour drive, with as main goal to be photographed for the series. They combined it with a weekend stay in Antwerp to do some sightseeing as well. It’s crazy to see people travelling all this way to be photographed but it makes me feel super grateful ! David works at a company that makes the material for airplane engines but together with his wife, they’re launching a clothing brand called Vanhoek as of next month. His wife is a tattoo artist and creates the designs for the brand and he will be doing marketing, sales & all other stuff that needs to be done to build an empire. They already sold a lot of shirts during the opening of their tattoo shop and now they’re planning to expand and sell more different designs and products in-shop and online so be sure to keep an eye out if you’re into clothing with tattoo-related designs. The 17 on his face refers to the year 2017 in which he got married to his lady @ivyvanhoek and they had a baby boy together. The Cyrillic lettering on his forehead reads nepedyman, which means “change your mind” and is by the hand of Russian tattoo artist @gregxedge who also did the flowers on the side of his face. David also has Van Hoek tattooed across his knuckles, matching his wife’s knuckle tattoo, done by @bounty_tattoo. Bee on the side of his head and most of the tattoos on David’s arm are also by him. I can’t stress enough how grateful I am that you guys travelled all this way to be photographed and hopefully we’ll meet again. Would be cool to be able to photograph your wife as well ! All the best and good luck with the launch of Vanhoek ! — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/3aOcFyS

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A couple of weeks ago I got a message from @abestattoo saying that he would be in Ghent for a couple of days to guest at @prikkelbaar.tattoo and that he was really interested in being a part of this project. We set a date on which we would meet at the shop for the shoot but on the day before I got a message telling me that the owners of the building in which the shop is located wouldn’t let Abes in due to fear of the Corona virus (because he flew in from Northern Italy). So last minute he had to find a new place to take the appointments he had already planned in Ghent & we needed to find a solution for the shoot as well. After considering some options he found a temporary solution. He would be tattooing at his girlfriend’s place for 2 days before working a day at One Way Ticket in the weekend. So I met and photographed him in the living room of his girlfriend’s place, who had already gotten a tattoo by him earlier that day. I was super happy that we could find a solution because I really wanted to do the shoot. He has an impressive collection of (face)tattoos but I particularly like the patterns on his cheeks, done by @ryanjessiman. I think they’re true statement pieces and he wears them so well. He started tattooing about 6 years now & tattoos in a style that can best be described as graphical blackwork. He also said he’s developing his own style on a daily basis. I asked him about the date on his chest and he told me that it was the date on which he was in a huge car accident which left him in a coma for several weeks & unfortunately resulted in the loss of a good friend. Hearing stories like this breaks my heart & makes me realise you really need to cherish every day. Mandalas on his cheeks are by @matteonangeroni , barbed wire above his eyebrows by @yurisatacooletters , butterfly on his forehead by @loreprod, @dane_soos did the spider, crossbones, lines on his nose, his chin & the dots above his eyes. Patterns next to his eyes by @maic. Thanks again for reaching out to me to do this shoot. Very happy we were able to meet despite the whole corona madness. Take care and all the best my friend! — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/338HCLA

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@ravirino avirino got his first tattoo when he was about 16 years old. At the time he got the mohawk skull logo of The Exploited on his shoulder. A little over 20 years later and he has an impressive tattoo collection covering his whole body. Many of his tattoos are related to different punk and hardcore bands that I used to listen to myself (and still listen to in some cases). The Exploited was actually one of the first harder bands I started listening to myself when I was about 15 years old. It’s pretty safe to say that The Exploited are one Ravirino’s favourite bands. Besides the logo on his back he also has the skull on the side of his head, “fight back” on his upper lip and “my life” underneath his eye...All referring to the band. We talked a bit about different bands we both like and in many cases he had a tribute tattoo to show me: Cro-mags, Danzig, Madball, Biohazard and many more. He also joined several bands on tour and traveled thousands of kilometers to see some of his favourite bands perform. I always enjoy meeting people that appreciate good music and that are dedicated to seeing bands perform live. Thanks a lot for travelling to Amsterdam from Den Haag and for taking the time to meet me ! Was very nice meeting you ! Visible tattoo artists have been tagged accordingly. — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/2xcd3sm

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About a week ago, I got the chance to photograph another master barber with an impressive face tattoo collection. @dedaco (short for Dennis Da Costa) is an Amsterdam-based barber with Moluccan roots. He has more than 20 years of experience in the trade and has worked in several well-recognised barbershops in The Netherlands. Besides being able to cut hair like an absolute pro, the man’s got some crazy scissor slinging skills, be sure to check out some of the videos on his profile ! Thanks to his skills he has been able to travel the world to give live showcases and workshop from London to Singapore, Mexico and more. I photographed Dedaco together with Berry (one of the upcoming posts) at the apartments of a friend of theirs who even put some amazing food on the table for us to share 🙏🏻 I also met his lovely little daughter of seven who especially had her lips and hair done to get a photograph with her dad (the one in my stories a couple of days ago). The text on his eyelids says Mau Apa, which is Moluccan for “what do you want?” and has been done by @cryptictattoo . Patterns on his cheeks are done by @hercoly_rocha , spider on his head by @bakes_tattoo , skull on the top of his head by @kynst, Prodigy ant by @leolisboa_tattoo , anchor and Polynesian design on chin & right side of his head by @fabiandean and lettering on his chin and angel on the left side of his head by @omar_yasha Thanks again for taking the time, was so nice meeting you ! Hope we’ll meet again soon ! — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/2wpV0OV

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I believe I first met Joey UK aka Den Engelsen around 2006 or 2007 when I found myself in his living room while he was tattooing Sammy, our bass player at the time. Joey himself used to play bass in street punk band The Heartaches (I also photographed their singer Tom Leroy a while ago ) who were pretty much musical heroes to all hardcore/punk(rock) kids of my age and older back then. Also, Joe Dynamite, who is the owner of Glorybound Tattoo in Antwerp & who is the first artist to tattooed me played the drums in the same band. Besides being a musician, Joey has been tattooing for about 20 years now. Mainly solid and traditional pieces but he also did some tribal and graffiti related work in the earlier days. When he’s not tattooing Joey’s probably out riding or maintaining motorcycles, skateboarding, playing music or enjoying life. For the past couple of years Joey has been tattooing in Australia after having moved there a while ago but before that he worked in several shops in Belgium as well. During last year’s Tribal Tattoo Tour I recognised him at Glorybound Tattoo and had a quick chat with him. Fast forward a couple of months and I saw on instagram he would be visiting Belgium again and that he would be guesting at Glorybound so I reached out to see if we could plan some photo time. Thanks Joe for letting me use your basement as a photo studio once again ! I’m a big fan of blastovers and Joey has quite a few of them as you can see. Many of them have been done by @dan_galloway_tattoo , like the bent back girl/skull or the spider webs. Line on his chin and most of the more recent traditional tattoos on Joey’s stomach are also by Dan. Some other tattoos, like the swallow on Joey’s head have been done by @joedynamite1980 and there’s a small piece of a rose by @richhadley that you can see on the side of his head. Thanks for the good time @uncleenglish_tattooing ! Safe travels back to Aussie country and hopefully we’ll meet again soon ! — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/2I1X965

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Happy birthday champ ⌖ @jai.shelby • Mask by @mxdvs — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/2T1lsGe

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Many of you won’t need an introduction for this gentleman. But for those of you that do… Robert-Jan Rietveld a.k.a. Bertus a.k.a. The Bloody Butcher is the co-founder of one of the most influential and recognised barbershops in the world: Schorem Haarsnijder & Barbier (which translates to Scumbag). @schorembarbier is an old-school men-only barbershop that’s located in the heart of the working class city of Rotterdam (The Netherlands). Even long before starting this portrait series, I had heard stories about Schorem and a while ago I came across a book with photographs, stories and quotes from Schorem (A book by @jelleinmyear. Check it out, it’s amazing!) in the barbershop that’s on the ground floor of where I live (@barberazzibarbershop). The guys from Barberazzi told me that I really had to get in touch with Bertus as he would make a great subject for a portrait and so I went on another trip to Rotterdam to visit him at his place (@the_house_of_blood, which is a mix between a library, a record store, a museum of oddities and collectibles and a true rock & roll man cave). Bertus is also co-founder of @reuzel, world’s finest pomades and @theoldschoolbarberacademy where they teach courses for aspiring and experiences barbers that travel to Rotterdam from all around the world. Enough about what he does… let’s talk tattoos, because there’s a lot of ‘em ! The Keith Haring man on his upper arm was the very first tattoo he ever got and it would be followed by many more different pieces. His punk background reflected in the Crass logo on his inner arm and the Rancid guy screaming in his ear. I love how different styles of tattooing (from different phases in his life) are blended together and result in a coherent and bad-ass looking whole. The Straight razor underneath his eye is pretty self-explanatory I guess. It has been copied countless times. He even told me that had come across people that copied complete parts of his tattoo collection.. which blows my mind. Thank your for freeing up some time in your busy schedule to invite me into your home @the_bloody_butcher ! A number of tattoo artists have been tagged in the photo (because I maxed out my caption). — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/2SDiqZP

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A couple of weeks ago I took a trip to Gouda in the Netherlands to meet with @demianlyklema and his girlfriend @chamilda in the tattoo shop where they both work (@subskin_ink ). I came across Demian on instagram a while ago already. I first saw him pas by in a story by @frenkiee66 where Frenkie was working on an impressive blackwork project on Demian’s face and head. A couple of months and a number of follow-up sessions later and the biggest part of Demian’s face has been covered in with geometric blackwork in the meantime. The goal is to cover pretty much his whole upper body in blackwork except for his daughter’s name Fenna in black brushstrokes on his chest. Demian himself is specialised in custom realistic black and grey tattoos but also enjoys doing freehand, more brutal blackwork-styled, pieces with a lot of texture in. Besides tattooing he’s also very passionate about music and has been playing the guitar since he was about twelve years old. He has a crazy collection of @strandbergguitars hanging on display in the shop and is planning to upload self-written technical death metal to his youtube channel under his own name in the near future. There are some short clips of him playing some of the guitars from his collection on his instagram so be sure to go check it out if you appreciate some serious guitar skills ! Thanks again for having me guys ! Hope to see you again in the near future. Would love to do a follow-up shoot when the blackwork project has reached the following stage. All the best to the both of you ! Blackwork on the face by @frenkiee66 , throat tattoo done at @onedge . — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/38m8hX1

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It’s been a while since I posted the last portrait but it was well worth the wait. Last weekend I took a trip to The Netherlands again and visited Ro Roffa near Breda. Ro is short for Ronald and Roffa means Rotterdam (which is where he grew up). He has several references to R’dam om his body but we’ll come back to that in a later post. For now you can already spot “ROFFA” on his forehead. Ro worked as a window-cleaner for 20 years until he started suffering from hernia and needed surgery which unfortunately did not go well, leaving him on permanent sick-leave. At that time he started helping a bit in different tattoo shops and observed a lot until he de decided that he wanted to start tattooing as well. He saved up some money, bought his first machine and started practicing on himself. A couple of years passed and he’s now tattooing at his home studio where I photographed him as well. We had an interesting chat about spirituality and mental health with him which was quite eyeopening 🙏🏻 He’s almost 52 years old with a son and 4 grandchildren and has all of their names tattooed on his body. Above his eyes he has the birth dates of both his parents. All tattoos on his face have been done by @daan_tattoos. Was very nice meeting you @roroffa ! Hope we’ll meet again ! — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/3aS1plL

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Another shot of @frenkiee66 from a while ago In Rotterdam @inkstitution . This time including his upper body so you can see a bit more of the result from his Brutal Black Project session in all its glory. If you haven’t seen the docu yet, be sure to check it online on the youtube channel of @vice . — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/36bxEtA

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Close-up shot from last September, when I met and photographed Tony Hundahl at the @glorybound_tt_antwerp basement in Antwerp during the Tribal Tattoo Tour 2019. Face tattoos by @hectorfong and @freddycorbintattoos. Mandala on the side of Tony’s head had been done by @thomas__hooper . — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/2t3ofpd

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It’s been a while since I posted my last photo but this person is totally worth the wait. I first heard about @lukaszpira through @yann_brenyak who he told me that he learned the largest part of his body modification skills from him throughout the years. Lukas is a nomadic multidisciplinary artist, body hacktivist, performer and documentary maker from Avignon France. He has been traveling the world for about 10 years now, creating art, practicing body modifications and more. The name Lukas Zpira is a Surrealist-inspired anagram of his given name, which he took on in 1993. I did some research on his work (specifically on the bodymod part) and it’s mind blowing. From scarification and branding to implantation and suspension… it’s all on another level. He has a number of implants, transdermal piercings himself, as well as an impressive collection of tattoos of course. Be sure to go and check out his impressive collection of work. We met at @arkelpiercingbrussels last weekend where we had about half an hour to spend. I wish I had more time to listen to some of his stories and experiences but time was limited and the main goal was to get some good portraits. 
The Chaos Cross on the side of his head is done by @labetehumainetatouage, symbols on the side his head by @spiritualtattoo. Was a pleasure meeting you Lukas. Hope we meet again soon ! Safe travels. — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/2EAYtv8

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Last week @svensignedenhartogh launched the first edition of his signe+education program at his former high-school. signe+education is an independent curriculum designed to bring young people into contact with themselves and facets that are crucial for leading a meaningful life in a playful way. This has been developed from the conviction that people in modern society often miss the connection with the "natural world" and are therefore no longer able to get close to themselves and seem confused with what makes people, people. signe+education was developed with the aim and vision that it should be accessible to everyone regardless of level, origin, gender or age. I’m sorry for blatantly stealing the description of signe+education Sven but I feel like I could not have worded it any better then you did yourself. Wish you all the best of luck, creative joy and happiness in this new great initiative ! Blacked out arm and neck dagger by @david__christ . “Restless”, Lion head and owl on the neck by @artcastle_jamal. Dotwork filling partially by @david__christ and by @sandraivdra_design — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/2rgAdLa

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