Tattoo artist exhibition raises funds for Choc
PARKHURST - An exhibition at one of Joburg's most renowned tattoo parlours not only cast tattoo artists in a new light, but raised several thousand rand for charity.
Thank You for Looking featured artworks by Fallen Heroes’ seven artists, including a collaborative mixed-media piece that was auctioned off for R6 500. The proceeds will be donated to childhood cancer foundation Choc.
“The exhibition has been a long time coming,” said parlour spokesperson Melody Kaye.
“Some of our artists have been privately commissioned to create artworks. We had the space, and wondered what to do with it… We realised we could give our artists a space, and change people’s perceptions of tattoo parlours at the same time.”
Kaye described the process of preparing for the exhibition as “wonderful”.
“It has brought our artists to the fore, and has completely transformed the space. What was two tattoo rooms is now a gallery space,” she said.
“And it has been eye-opening for our artists. They tattoo for eight hours a day, and then went home to make different art.”
Parlour co-owner Thys Uys said his vision for a parlour with a difference came to him when he spent time overseas.
“I saw a lot there I wanted to implement when I returned, but when I got back, I realised I had a different vision to those at the parlour I used to work at,” he said.
“I knew that, one day, I wanted my own parlour… Then I was diagnosed with leukaemia, and I realised that I didn’t have ‘one day’; that ‘today’ was the day.”
It was then that he and his wife Jen decided to open Fallen Heroes.
However, the parlour’s association with Choc was not due to the leukaemia diagnosis. Uys said he had been diagnosed with cancer as a young boy.
“I wanted to be a heart surgeon, but then I hung out with the wrong crowd, and became the wrong crowd,” he said with a laugh.
“But I still wanted to pay it forward.”
Uys said the exhibition dug deeper into what he and the others were as artists.
“When you’re a tattoo artist, people come to you with designs. This flipped it around. The canvas doesn’t give you a brief, and working on these pieces brought out our emotional sides,” he said.
Thank You for Looking is at Fallen Heroes, 53 6th Street, Parkhurst until the end of December.
Details: 011 028 0994, www.fallenheroes.co.za
WATCH: Fallen Heroes art collaboration video:
