Occult Vibrations

@occultvibrations.com

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Exploring tattoo culture through the mysteries of history. occultvibrations.com

Tattoo and piercing fan David. An Asian man, shirtless, covered in black and grey tattoo work that looks like armor. He’s wearing a leather “Muir” hat in the style of leather men. His septum is pierced with an oversized ring.
A page from a zine.
Tattoo Artist Lyle Tuttle being tattooed in the traditional Samoan way, 1970s. Photo by Robin Ryan
A 1970s video featuring a man tattooing an eagle.
Indelible Identities clip
a red screen that reads UNDERGROUND, FLORIDA USA 1975
Screen shot of a lecture slide; a bearded man with a t-shirt that says MADDOG TATTOO is being interviewed by a possibly drunk woman in a leather hat
A greedy cat holding a churu
"featuring the mutual tattooed penis admiration society"
Two books.
Cover of a book titled INDELIBLE IDENTITIES A QUEER HISTORY OF TATTOOING 01: John Dagion by archivist Shawn Porter The cover feature a traditional tattoo design of a swallow and heart with a banner reading QUEER, designed by Savage Sal.
A smiling bearded man tattooing a naked friend.
Page from INDELIBLE IDENTITIES 01: John Dagion
1981 video of an old school tattooer saying that tattoos are just for decoration. Never mind the perversion.
Bill Mokry, Philadelphia 1981. Tattooed man discussing wanting to be tattooed.
Teaser for a lecture entitled: indelible identities a queer history of tattooing.
A screen capture of a letter board reading FEATURING THE MUTUAL TATTOOED PENIS ADMIRATION SOCIETY
Tattooing was an outlaw subculture, and the queer community, particularly pre-Stonewall, were outlaws, too. They—we—were also at the forefront of self-expression, fashion, liberation, art, culture, and freedom from sexual hangups. That opened the door for tattoo clients who were up for larger, more adventurous, artistic pieces—and, more importantly, could afford to get them. It only makes sense that tattooing would find a welcome home in queer spaces, even when we weren’t welcome in tattoo culture at large. That led to certain choices: stay in the closet and get tattooed by a straight tattooer, or find an artist who was either an ally or part of the family. That was, until fairly recently, easier said than done. While we have significant documentation of LGBTQ+ clients wearing work by legendary tattooers like Coleman, Sailor Jerry Collins, Bert Grimm, and Paul Rogers, the footprint of queer artists before the 1980s remains much smaller. Collectively, historians Paul R. King, Dr. Matt Lodder, and I have been able to come up with a list of around fifteen known queer tattooers active before tattooing exploded into mainstream culture in the late 1980s. The pater familias was Samuel Steward, who tattooed under the name Phil Sparrow. Steward
Dennis and Bob. A man tattooed like a tiger.
Three people in a black and white photo; two men, one woman. The foreground couple are both tattooed.
A tattooed African American woman, she's holding a cup and is wearing a name tag- from the 1976 convention.
A traditional tattoo of a ship by tattoo artist Paul Rogers
Man with a fully tattooed face - black spiky non representational “tribal” imagery. He’s also pierced
Filmmaker Werner Herzog showing off a tattoo of a skull.
A bearded tattooed man
Bald tattooed man with head tattooed like a tortoise shell.
scene from a 1980s tattoo convention; a mustached man tattooing a smiling woman.
Two older men- one is Tom of Finland, the other Samuel Steward aka Phil Andros aka Phil Sparrow
A two page spread from a book. Left side features a man in a tanktop tattooing a man with a mustache. Right side is text with the headline INDELIBLE IDENTITIES A QUEER HISTORY OF TATTOOING 01 John Dagion.
Daniel Higgs- A bearded man holding a banjo. His beard is white and he's wearing a neon colored knitted cap.
Five soundless seconds of Paul Rogers at a podium.
A prismacolor drawing of a panther; it's wearing a 'bubble style' helmet with microphone. Writing on the illustrations ays "the big broadcast" by Don Ed Hardy
Two tattooed palms.
Tattooer Alan Oversby photographing a client. Sacreddebris.com