AS THE Second Annual Tattoo Expo draws closer, 37 Australian artists will be flexing their hands and readying their tattoo guns, including Upwey’s own Jamin Swaneveld.
Mr Swaneveld will be setting up at the tattoo event, which runs from Friday 9 November to Sunday 11 November at the Melbourne Convention Exhibition Centre.
A former builder and long time artist, Upwey resident, Mr Swaneveld turned to tattooing after receiving a couple of shoulder injuries on the job.
“My wife kept telling me that I should be a tattooist,” Mr Swaneveld said.
“I originally said ‘no way in hell’. But now I wouldn’t give it up for the world.”
Mr Swaneveld created Last Frontier Tattoos in Upwey around five years ago, and the business has flourished since then, off the back of an alternative view of tattoos.
“I wanted to get this trade out of the gutter, and put it up on the kerb,” he said.
“Now, I’m booked up until after April next year.”
He specialises in realistic style tattoos, such as portraitures and nature pictures.
One of the featured photographs on Mr Swaneveld’s tattoo page is a detailed portrait of Ned Kelly.
“For a long time, I wouldn’t tattoo portraits,” he said.
“But more and more, people were coming into the shop with portraits that were terrible.
“I felt as if I had a duty of care, to take them on when people asked.”
Mr Swaneveld was invited to set up shop at the expo, which features LA Ink’s Corey Miller, and said that people are going to get a surprise when they turn up on the day.
“For me, the expo is about just supporting the industry,” he said.
“Although it’s growing, there’s an inherent stigma about the whole trade.
“This is about showing a different side, to make it more acceptable.”
Tickets can be purchased online for the Tattoo expo, for a one-day or three-day long pass. Single day passes are $25 online, or $30 at the door. Three-day passes are $50 online or $55 at the door. Children from 12 to 16 receive $10 entry and those under 12 may enter for free.
For more information, visit www.tattooexpo.com.au.
