I would never copy a tattoo even if a client asks me to
What Debora Cherrys likes the most to draw on her skin are women with a lot of color, who tattoos with vegan inks.
What Debora Cherrys (Madrid, 32 years old) likes most to draw on her skin are women with a lot of color. Images that she tattoo with vegan inks. Together with his partner, he created the cabinet La Mujer Barbuda, in Getafe. He studied Fine Arts at the Complutense and six years ago he began to record drawings on skin. He never wants to stop. His works are fixed on bodies and on networks: he has 100,000 followers on Instagram.
In the age of the ephemeral, what does the tattoo represent that, a priori, is forever?
I am a hopeless romantic and I want to think that the tattoo remains forever, even if there are methods of removal.
What would you think if you saw your first tattoo now?
I was an apprentice for two years without touching a machine. Adrian [his partner, also tattooist] asked me to do one, I did some cherries ( cherrys ), my stage name there. So I watch it almost daily and I like it.
Isn’t it easier to say traditional than neo-traditional?
Mine is not old school , which would be the basis of the tattoo. The neo takes those bases and incorporates volume to give more details, more colors and fades.
Do you tolerate being told what to paint?
I don’t allow too fixed an idea of someone saying, “I want this.” You have to give me the freedom to represent you. If not, there would be nothing left of me.
Is tattooing an art?
Lots of people say no, but it is. Besides having to be very prepared: you need a sanitary hygiene certificate; It is time to learn to draw and in various techniques … It is art, but with one condition: you cannot make mistakes.
Are there still prejudices about tattoos?
Not in my world. In others, it may be. I don’t think it’s good to discriminate: people should be valued for their qualities and not for what they wear.
Have you ever felt discriminated against for wearing tattoos?
Ever, traveling to some countries. People may be surprised or surprised, but I am not overly concerned with what they think of me.
What do you hate hearing as a tattoo artist? Above all, signs of lack of respect and trust.
What do they ask of you more: tribal or symbols of infinity?
There are many fashions and in tattoos as well. Many are marked by social networks. Each person should tattoo a drawing that represents something in their life
What do you think of the filters in tattoo photos? I do not know if it is an aberration, but it seems to me that it is to sell smoke: you are teaching something that you will never be able to do.
Are there too many tattoo artists?
I believe that tattooing is a world that has evolved very fast. Like everything that grows so fast, we are now experiencing the opposite process. There has to be a natural selection: there are not so many clients for so many tattooists. Only those who are really good will get it.
Where does it hurt the most to get a tattoo? In neck, ribs and hands. In addition, they are the most complex areas to tattoo.
What is the strangest thing they have asked you …
A colleague by profession asked me to draw a sprinkler for him and put golden shower on it . But what seems weirder to me is people who have only been with their partner for a month and get something tattooed together, in common.
Is there someone who asks you to repeat in them an original work that you have seen in another client?
Many times and never would. The first thing they taught me in this world was the word respect and I think it has been lost. To be an artist you have to respect the person you are tattooing and the artist who did it. Copying a tattoo does not fall within the word respect.