Inked in Richmond, exploring the city’s tattoo culture

Tattoo designs on display highlight the variety of styles created by Richmond artists. Photo by Kieran Stevens.
Maeve Bauer, Contributing Writer
Richmond’s tattoo scene is vast and varied, ranging from small student artists to world-renowned tattooists, all contributing to the city’s deep and growing tattoo culture.
The city has a long history of tattoo art, being one of the first cities in the United States to hold a tattoo convention, according to the Richmond Tattoo & Art Convention website.
The Richmond Tattoo & Art Convention is one of the longest-running tattoo conventions in the nation, said Jesse Smith, owner of Loose Screw Tattoo in Carytown.
Smith explained that the convention began in 1988, founded by an artist known as Grandpa Groovy, and has since been carried on by various tattoo artists.
“They would bring pretty much all the best artists in the entire world to Richmond to work this convention, and while here they would tattoo local Richmonders and do guest spots at local tattoo shops,” Smith said. “I think because of that, it just gave Richmond a headstart on the map of places within the world for the tattoo scene to explode.”
Smith has been a part of the tattoo scene in Richmond for 25 years. He got his start tattooing when he was in the military, then eventually left and came to VCUarts to get a degree in fine arts with an emphasis on illustration, according to Smith.
Smith said he has seen the culture around tattooing evolve since his start. He said the internet has brought on a big change to the tattooing world, and as a result, Smith said he feels artistry in tattoos has come to the forefront.
“The art side of the tattoo world was pretty young, and then it kind of sprouted into this full-on art scene. A lot of the tattoo artists now are very confident, capable artists who have found their way into the tattoo world,” Smith said. “Whereas back in the day, a lot of the tattooists didn’t really care about art, they just liked to tattoo.”
Up-and-coming artist Jason Engel, an apprentice at Cary Street Tattoo, shares his experience as a newer artist in the scene. Engel says he has been interested in tattooing since he was a kid after seeing a member of his family come home with a tattoo.
“As I saw tattoos and figured out what they were, I was very interested in it. As a trans person, I think that having control and say over how your body appears has always been very important to me, even if I didn’t realize that was why at the time,” Engel said.
Engel started at River City Tattoo two years ago, first by working the front desk, then eventually moving up to an apprenticeship. One of the things that Engel has noticed after being a part of the tattoo scene is the wide variety of shops you can find in Richmond, he said.
“Whoever you are, you are going to find a place where you’re comfortable getting tattooed. Richmond is absolutely saturated with tattooers who are super creative, super talented and there’s as many ways of thinking as there are art styles in Richmond,” Engel said.
Engel said that at Cary Street Tattoo they get a good amount of customers who are students, with the shop being so close to campus. He said he is grateful that a lot of his customers are young queer people.
“It’s really nice to have random people come in and then show them that they’re very much allowed there because I’m allowed there. I think that tattoos could be a very queer thing, expressing autonomy over yourself,” said Engel.
Lily Flannery, a third-year psychology student, said that tattoos are a form of self-expression.
“I feel like the older generation definitely looks at it as attention-seeking, but I think of it more as self-expression, as in any way that you would dress yourself, style your hair, the jewelry that you wear. It’s just a different way of displaying art on my body,” said Flannery.
Flannery has 13 tattoos, the majority of which she got at shops in Richmond. She said that some were impulsive decisions after seeing a design she liked, like the spider web on her right wrist.
“The spider web itself represents self-sufficiency and the interconnectedness of everything in life. I look down at it and it’s a reminder that all my actions are connected,” Flannery said.