Jason Kros
Jason – better known as Jay – has been getting tattooed since 2007
and from then on he’s covered most of his upper body with ink.
Now, he’s tattooed extensively by Jon Case – both Jay’s sleeves, the
Buddha back-piece and both rib pieces are done by Jon.
‘My ribs — the samurai and the geisha – have a lot of symbolism in
themselves… But basically I wrote a poem about a samurai falling in
love with a geisha but could never have her. My back piece was never
supposed to happen, I just wanted an A4 Buddha and Jon put that
on my back instead during the drawing process. I loved the design so
just went with it. It’s good to have a little love and trust in your artist.
Both sleeves are dedicated to the closest people in my lives... My
best friends are depicted as comic book characters on my right arm,
and the gypsy on my left is my twinflame.’ - Jason Kros on his tattoos
Uncle Clive Ravell
Uncle Clive’s body ink dates back to the 1950s – a time when tattoos
still symbolized the outlaw, the outcast, the individual defying the
status quo. And, especially in apartheid South Africa, tattoo machines
and ink had to be smuggled into the country or hand-built in secrecy.
So most of his work was done in Cape Town by legends that have
escaped the history books. His ink is the epitome of traditional
tattooing – bold lines, swallows, daggers, hearts and ships. Tattoos
of ex-lovers, old friends and of family members that have passed
on. The newest edition to his body is a tattoo of a Banksy artwork –
'Parachuting Rat'. The piece symbolizes the process of immigration
to Uncle Clive, who has been living in Australia for years now. ‘That’s
how we all arrive. That’s how we all get here. Like rats being
dropped from the sky’, he chuckled to himself.