Tattoo Life November/December 2026

Cover Girl: Ezgi Asikoglu

In this issue we introduce you to Ezgi, a tattoo artist specializing in Colour Realism and Black and Grey, and a passionate tattoo collector herself. Originally from Turkey, she has been living in the United States for three years: after an initial period in Miami and a stint in New York, she now works in St. Petersburg, Florida. Her body tells the story of a personal journey made of choices, transformations, and aesthetic research: from Black & Grey Realism to Ornamental work, all the way to Blackout and a bodysuit project designed to enhance the anatomy.

Chat at the top with Jeremiah Barba

Literally raised inside a tattoo studio alongside his mother, the legendary Kari Barba, Jeremiah Barba has spent nearly thirty years searching for a personal language. Today, from his private studio in Colorado, he develops an aesthetic he calls Dark Bio Surrealism, where biomechanics, anatomy, and influences drawn from the work of H.R. Giger, merge into compositions built to last over time.

Alex Shwed. Red and Black in Japanese Tattooing

Born and raised in Moscow, Alex Shwed has forged an artistic language of his own starting from the tradition of Japanese tattooing which he reinterprets through an essential palette of just red and black. Inspired by ukiyo-e prints from the Edo period, he creates large-format compositions where background, balance, readability, and harmony with the body are key. In this interview he tells us about his journey, his relationship with tradition, and his search for a personal style that stays true to its roots.

Blanca Meret: Ornament as a Garment Tailored to the Body

Blanca Meret‘s ornamental compositions engage in dialogue with anatomy, transforming the body into a space to be tailored and enhanced through balance, rhythm, and movement. In this interview she tells us how her style came about, the relationship between aesthetics and meaning, and the ongoing exploration that fuels her work between Madrid and the United States.

Body Story: the bodysuit of Maria Garcia by Arturo Terol

Some memories are kept in our hearts, while others are forever engraved on our skin. Meeting tattoo artist Arturo Terol changed Maria Garcia’s perspective on tattooing, transforming every new piece into the symbol of a shared chapter, a special moment, or a memory worth carrying forever. Sometimes, the person who changes your life also changes the way you look at your own skin.

Portfolio: Tatau, the exhibition at Museum of World Culture, Gothenburg

The images in this issue’s Portfolio are drawn from the Tatau project, the photographic exhibition hosted at the Museum of World Culture in Gothenburg, running until January 10, 2027, which tells the story of tattooing as a universal language of identity, memory, and belonging. Through the portraits and testimonies of women from different parts of the world, the exhibition conveys the cultural and deeply personal value of one of humanity’s oldest art forms.

EQ: tattoos as frame of memories

Her name is short, really short — just two letters. And her art, an exquisitely fine-line take on Micro-Realism, favours equally small dimensions, rarely going above six inches, to bring out vivid colour and meticulous detail. Let’s get to know Korean tattoo artist EQ, who — working between her studio in Seoul (“Inktable”) and occasional trips to New York’s “Bang Bang Tattoo” — shows the world her personal vision of beauty, intimacy, and the ancient traditions of her country.

Gerhard Wiesbeck: Blackwork and large-scale Geometric tattoos

Regarded as a master of Blackwork and large-scale Geometric pieces, the bodies tattooed by German artist Gerhard Wiesbeck are elevated through concepts such as “Körperkonzepte”, that means working on the body and looking at it as a whole, not just parts.

Tattoo shop: Dropout: A Creative Home in the Heart of Copenhagen

We’ve come to Denmark to take you to visit Dropout, one of the most interesting studios on the Copenhagen tattoo scene. Founded by Christopher Henriksen and Ruben Jordan Langsted, it stems from a desire to create a space capable of going beyond the traditional concept of a tattoo studio: a place where creativity, professional growth, and a sense of community coexist every day. We asked the two founders to tell us the story behind this project and the philosophy that drives it, tied to the choice of the name, as well as the vision with which they look towards the future.

Baroque and Pre-Raphaelite influences in the art of Oash

Tattoo artist and painter Oash creates images which blend Baroque and Pre-Raphaelite influences and a profoundly contemporary sensibility, where the female face becomes a universal language evoking intimate, timeless emotions. In this conversation with Tattoo Life, he talks about the indissoluble link between canvas and skin, the value of ornament, and the artistic research that continues to fuel all his work, because painting is not merely an artistic discipline but the starting point of his entire creative journey.

Tattoo Life presents the new Travel Tool By Ichibay

Ichibay – Lines and Drawings, sold out for some time through Tattoo Life’s sales channels and long requested by the public, is now back in a new format: a single pocket-sized volume TRAVEL TOOL BY ICHIBAY bringing together the contents of the two original books: the large art book and the accompanying booklet of line drawings.

Female emotions and transformations in Tatiana Suarez’s murals

Born and raised in Miami, Tatiana Suarez has developed an unmistakable visual language, populated by female figures somewhere between dream and nature. Starting out as an illustrator, since 2009 she has carried her artistic research onto walls around the world, turning murals into grand visual narratives where local flora, fauna, and folklore become symbols of identity, vulnerability, and transformation. On the occasion of the Richmond Tattoo & Arts Convention, where she was invited to collaborate on a wall with Jesse, we reached out to her to talk about her journey, the relationship between painting and public space, and the surprising affinities between the world of murals and that of tattooing.

…and much more

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