Tattoo artist located in Birmingham, Hanumantra ink at Un1ty and introduced at the London Tattoo Convention 2019, last september, with “Faces of the Future”, an exhibition that looks at the tribes of tomorrow. Known for his large-scale work in black ink, Hanumantra is an accomplished artist, an assumed supporter of neo-tribal black work. He is tattooing with his partner Jo Harrison and since the last convention in London, he has been offering to find the result of his exhibited work with Kaja Gwincinska (@kajagwincinskafolio), the photographer in a published booklet with the conceptual works of the invited artists.
The project explores what could be the tattooing of the future tribes of humanity. Inspired by the indigenous tattoo, he creates an aesthetic of its own with his work. Working on the bodies of his clients, the tattoo artist makes it a point of honour to approach each piece in a free hand manner. His vision of what the "tribes of tomorrow" could be led him to explore his passion by creating digital designs on entire bodies.
You've been travelling a lot, was this part of your work since the beginning ? No, I spent a lot of time travelling, and when I began tattooing I continued to travel back and forth. Through travelling I’ve been exposed to many different types of cultures. This has given me an appreciation for architecture, fashion, language, food or tattooing. All of these things interest me and inspire me, and I like to let the places permeate and influence my work in whichever way. I try not to overthink it, and just let it happen.
With this first exhibit, “Faces of the Future”, at the London Tattoo Convention last September, (could you tell me) how long have you been working on this project ?
I have been working on it just over a year. It was at last year at the London Tattoo Convention 2018 when I invited a lot of the artists to participate in “Faces of the Future”. The wheels of motion started a little bit before then, to get things inline. It was once that I had invited people here that I got the push to get the photography sorted, the artwork sorted and so on.
How can you describe the project?
I wanted people who are kind of influencing the shape of tattooing today. I wanted them to be able to create a vision of their work in the most progressive way possible without the limitation of a client. So, without having to worry about the healing aspect, the logistics of complying with the client's needs. The tattoo artist is free to create whatever design they want. So, this is what I wanted, the artists to create a progressive version of their work, which in my mind would help shape and shift the overall look of blackwork tattooing.
Is it a modern vision you are exploring with the artists, but starting from a lot of references from tribal and ancient cultures?
For sure, and again it will be different for all the artists. Some of them are really influenced by traditional tattoos and some are not so much. They're more interested in modern styles, Ultimately all of it, like anything, is shaped and influenced by what came before it. How heavily or how obviously will vary. Basically everyone in the project has been influenced by what came before us. How I look at it is that it’s influenced from the past but inspired by the future.
Is this influence “ from the past & inspired by the future” part of your process in tattooing?
Yes, for me it's a huge thing! I try to think of how I see the future and the sort of work I want to be creating. Some people who are really traditional will look to the past and strive to replicate the old style of tattoos. But for me it’s the opposite, I look at that work and I love it. I try to project my vision of how it will be in 100 or 200 years from now. When man is living up in space, I try to imagine how their tattoos will look then.
For “Faces of the Future” you worked with a photographer, how was your process together?
I didn’t meet the photographer until this weekend. She did a fantastic job, and she took care of all of that. Her name is Kaja. With Kaja, we hadn't met before the London Tattoo Convention 2019, but we had a mutual friend that introduced us. So all our correspondence was done by email, phone call and text message. I'd seen her work and trusted her implicitly. She found the models and photographed them. I had a mission objectif and it was to capture images that would be manageable for the tattoo artist to create tattoos on, so not too much distortion within the bodies, to allow a canvas space to work on. Once I had the photographs back from her, I sent them out to all the tattooers. They created the designs and sent them back to me. I superimposed them and made it look like the tattoos were on the models. And then sent them back to Kaja for some final editing onto the backgrounds.
You have experience of designing work onto photography with pen and paper. How was it for the artists invited to participate this way ?
It was mostly done on digital. There were a couple of artists who did with pen and paper. That was a lot more complicated for me, but it wasn't too difficult. I had a couple of people show me a few things that helped.
Would you like to make another exhibit like this?
It’s interesting that you ask. Maybe not exactly the same kind, yet I've got irons in the fire for the “Face of the Future part 2”. I thought I wasn't gonna do it. I said “No never again! It was so much work. And then, the closer we got to it and now that it’s all hung up, I'm thinking I might have something in mind.
You have also published a book. Do you consider exploring that question in a second book : what tattooing could be in the future ?
Yes, I'd like to keep pushing to work on that. I think it's interesting to see how other people's version of art, other people's ideas of how it would be. (So yes! I am interested to see how that goes.)
What are your thoughts about tattooing right now and how it’s evolving ?
It's interesting because in some ways it's in a really good place and in some other ways I think it's not in such a good place, so there is good and bad. I think it's like different sides of the same coin, where progression brought a lot of good things. There are also some bad sides to it as well. I'd like to see people who begin with tattoos, to become more deliberate with their choices of tattoos. To start seeing their body as a whole canvas. This is why I wanted models with no tattoos, so people could see what it can look like to have large scale work on an entire body instead of breaking your body down to small areas to get tattooed. To dedicate your body. I'd love to see that more and I think that would be good education for people approaching tattoos from a more deliberate manner as opposed to a stick & poke approach.
How would you work with a full body project usually ?
I don’t ever do one thing taken from one place or area. I just let all things, from all the travels, countries and culture I've visited, the fashion I've seen, the architecture and tattoos I've seen. All these things I just allow to influence me. I create my work, allowing all of that to come through. I don't deliberately expect to make it like this, it just comes through its own way.
Do you think we should go back to tattooing for a purpose, like a rite of passage ?
I think if you feel according to a tattoo then that's enough for yourself. There is a reason within and that's the best reason really. I just think people should be more deliberating not only from the person but also from the tattooers approach is not necessarily virtualistic but more deliberate in that process in that whole application with tattooing. I think that would be a more evolved way of approaching tattooing.
What do you think about working with other tribal tattooing cultures for a tattoo artist ?
Personally, I never go too close to anything that's too traditional because it’s not authentic to me. It's not my culture or within my timeframe. So I never try to replicate that. Now, that’s a personal thing, there are plenty of people from the UK that do some specific Island Tattoo and it’s fine. As I said, it's just a personal thing. If it doesn’t feel truly authentic to me, then I don’t really want to go down that path too closely. That's why I try to create my own esthetic, my own look. So I can do it without compromising my own personal integrity in life. What I wouldn't want to see is a person buying this like “it’s just a cool thing to wear”. It’s not necessarily a good thing. It's how the individual feels towards it. For me it doesn't feel right and I avoid that path. But I'm not gonna say you shouldn't do it either because if that person feels comfortable with it, that's up to them.
What is the most important thing for you in tattooing ?
The client, every time. @Richardb_k par Hanumantra – crédit : TD HANUMANTRA108@GMAIL.COM https://www.instagram.com/hanumantra/?hl=fr
