Theatre artists on Staten Island often find themselves at a disadvantage that colleagues in other parts of the world don’t seem to suffer; their proximity to Manhattan. The skyline looms over us. For many, it’s a constant reminder of a “professional” world across the bay. So close, yet so far. 

Tattoos have become so widely accepted and so incredibly mainstream that it is hard to imagine a time when that was not the case. Staten Island has embraced this form of body art so much that we have nearly twenty shops over the span of our sixty square mile island. Taking it further, we presently have the most amount of women tattooers that this island has ever had since tattooing became legal in NYC way back in 1997. I should know, as I am one of the first (I believe quite possibly the literal first!) woman tattooers on this island, starting off in 2002.