when tattoos become a force

“Having this symbol, of my grandfather, I will always have it with me, suddenly”, says Antoine, getting a tattoo. It is for him a proof of love, and a way of mourning. The tattoo artist Gaëlle Mouster designed the pattern, in agreement with Antoine. For her, like her clients, the definition of tattooing is akin to therapy. “There are people who tell me: (…) I spoke with you, when I had a hard time talking about the missing person”, she says. Gaëlle also tattoos Anne, who lost her 12-year-old son in an accident. “It’s the maintenance of the physical link that I lost, somewhere, that’s where I recover it”she says.

On the skin, tattoos are a strength. “It’s part of my pillar of reconstruction. (…) Somewhere, it’s a shell”, assures Anne. Olivier is a survivor of the Bataclan attacks in Paris. He now has a raised fist tattooed on his bicep, to honor the memory of the victims and raise his head. “It was really a kind of engine, in the first months”, he explains. He also has the skull of the singer of the Eagles of Death Metal group on his calf, who was performing at the Bataclan the night of the attacks. Over time, Olivier tames his tattoos, and the past melts into the future.