My father committed suicide in 1992, when I was 12. I was very close to him, and losing him so suddenly and tragically was a huge blow to my 12 year old mind. It took me years to be even able to talk about it or mention him without tearing up or getting excessively defensive.

Every August (the anniversary month of his death) I pretty much go mental…lose control of my emotions. August 2004 marked 12yrs with him, 12yrs without him, and I pretty much had a nervous breakdown. After I recovered from such a set back of healing progression, I decided that I would pay tribute to him the following year with a permanent reminder of his love and my love for him.

August 2005 came around and I realised I just couldn’t do it quite yet…it had to be the right time, not just because it marked a date, but rather because it marked a time in my life when I felt more healed. January 2006 I decided I was ready – to start a new year with a new outlook on life.

I had the tattoo placed on my back to remind myself that the past is behind me. That his love is still with me, but I can put the pain behind me forever and just remember the love and good times. It is centered on my back because he was and always will be the center of my heart, and it is at the top because I want to be able to touch it whenever I feel sad and somehow feel a connection to my daddy.

I am planning an addition to the tattoo this fall. Custom work being designed by Gene at Adrenaline (New Jersey, but he guests in Vancouver). It’s going to become a larger piece, the heart being the center of it, and more like a coat of arms style piece, incorporating aspects of my family ancestry/heritage plus images that I hold near and dear to my heart…

-Jaclyn (Jaclyn’s Aztec Tattoo)

Design: JaclynTattoo work/colour/shading: Gene at Adrenaline (Vancouver)

More Heart Tattoos

I just turned 38 this April and wanted a present that was something that would be more than an average birthday gift. I felt I needed something that made my mark, and that mark had to be ink. I have been wanting a tattoo for a long time but didn’t want anything that someone else had. I needed something that was me. The reason I wanted a tat in the first place was because I love to write and felt the ink in my tattoo would be a representation of that.

I write poetry and feel that my words are forever a statement of who I am. My life, thoughts, feelings get thrown into the world and won’t be removed. So my tattoo if you look at it closely is two quills. The words “Poet Speak” is the title of one of my poems that I feel explains why I write. My favorite poet made the design for me which makes it even better. I have my permanent “River of Ink” added to my body.

-Nae

I am a female to male transsexual who has gotten sex reassignment surgery and have been on hormone replacement therapy for the past 2 years. Not only have I physically evolved, I feel as though I have experienced an emotional and intellectual transformation as well. I continue to find ways to grow as a human being through lessons I learned during my transition that pervades every aspect of my life.

I have been very active in LGBT activism and Transgender awareness in the past few years and have come across some extremely ignorant people. “Evolve.” is what I would like to say to them. The word is as much symbolic as it is a command for society as a whole to evolve into a more progressive and tolerant mindset.

-Eddie