Tattoos have existed as symbolic human decoration for thousands of years and still have an important place in western popular culture. My reason for choosing to focus on the tattoo (a permanent form of marking individuality) as a representation of identity is because of the emphasis on image today and the judgements and stereotypes that are highlighted from it.

Largely inspired by photographers such as Housk Randall and Catherine Opie, I combined detailed, focused close-ups of the tattoo with low depth of field to demonstrate how we judge people based on an element of their appearance, like a ‘hoodie’ or a ‘veil’. The titles of my images are words that the subjects themselves chose to describe their personalities. It is this contradiction between image and personality that would make my work strong in a gallery, appealing to an audience who are interested in questioning ideas about physical representation and the individual.