The Tattoo Capital of Virginia?

Rich Meagher:

I don’t wanna brag or anything, but Richmond is not just the capital of Virginia, it’s also the tattoo capital of the commonwealth.

Natalie:

Oh God. Yeah. There’s some stuff over like in the Norfolk side, like the Hampton Roads area, but like all the like really good work that I was seeing was up in Richmond. So worth the drive for me.

Rich Meagher:

Sorry. Hampton Roads. Look, you probably know that tattoos are a thing in Richmond from seeing tatted people all over town to hearing about us on top five most tattooed city lists. We’re also home to a very, very important event in the tattoo industry. The Richmond Tattoo Convention, which claims to be the longest running tattoo convention in the country.

Ryan Ashley:

Richmond’s just a beautiful place that I think has always given us a chance to bring beautiful art into the community and, and we want to give back to them.

Rich Meagher:

That’s Ryan Ashley, winner of Ink Master Season eight. She’s famous and every year she comes to our city to celebrate our tattoo culture. So the Richmond tattoo scene kind of a big deal. This is RVA’s Got Issues. I’m Rich Meagher and I’m wondering what is it about Richmond that makes it a tattoo city. Maybe the tattoo city. In fact, I’m wondering about it so much that I’ve decided to do something I haven’t done in years, decades even. I’m going to get a tattoo. Alright, before we go any further, you should probably open and close your door.

Max Wasserman:

Oh, okay.

Rich Meagher:

I know, I heard something. Okay, good. That’ll get better audio too.

Max Wasserman:

<laugh>

Rich Meagher:

I’m in my car driving with my producer Max. We’re heading to Loose Screw Tattoo in Carytown where I will have a consult with a tattoo artist. And Max is nervous because he’s actually afraid of tattoos.

Max Wasserman:

I’ve never been inside a tattoo shop.

Rich Meagher:

Oh wow.

Max Wasserman:

So this is like big growth for me as well.

Rich Meagher:

<laugh>. Good. Maybe we’ll get you down the, the dark path to being a fully tatted sideshow freak. We don’t need to get into the details about Max’s traumatic history. Basically a very bad Chuck E Cheese experience. But I’m feeling fine. I already have tattoos. Three of them, in fact. The first time I got a tattoo I was kind of coming out of my philosophy background and so I got old Greek lettering to say three words on my arm, which is arete, Sophia and Philia. So virtue, wisdom and love. I was a grad student into ancient ideas and really liked the thought of sending a message to my future self about what was important to me at the time. My second tattoo was an ancient pottery style drawing of a scholar. My third though is less about ideas and more about just adding something cool. I felt like I was getting the tattoo bug. But things changed for me when my wife and I started a family. I started feeling like it was too self-indulgent to spend our family money on what essentially amounted to art. That was for no one else, but for me. Could I have found the money? Could I have been like, this is really important to me and I want to do this? Sure. But it just didn’t feel right.

But today my kids are older. Maybe I’m feeling a little more leeway and I’ve been in Richmond for years and want to do the Richmond thing and not just get a tattoo in Richmond, but a tattoo of Richmond. I love Richmond and I don’t think I will ever not want to love Richmond or be someplace where I won’t want to be reminded of Richmond. So it would be nice to have that reminder on me, even if I wasn’t in Richmond.

Max Wasserman:

Oh, it’s up here on the right. Oh. Is this this spot right here?

Rich Meagher:

As we pull up to the shop, it turns out I’m not as fine as I let on, I’m nervous. Like this is not one of those things where you come out with a bad haircut and you’re like, ah, I didn’t say what I needed. You need to actually have your <expletive> together when you’re doing this. Now, luckily for me, my other producer, Rachel, has connections in the tattoo industry and recommended some artists. Jen Bean rose to the top.

Jen Bean:

Hi, nice.

Rich Meagher:

I’m Rich. Nice to meet you Jen.

Jen Bean:

Jen. Nice to meet you.

Rich Meagher:

You too, yeah.

Jen Bean:

Alright. Well, you want to come on up?

I’m Jen and work at Loose Screw Tattoo and I have been here for going on 12 years.

Rich Meagher:

Jen takes us through the shop. It’s all very clean, professional. It’s like the coolest doctor’s office you’ve ever been in. And Jen’s got the same professional vibe. Plus she is, like me, very big on family. In fact, she just had a baby.

Jen Bean:

I have two boys. I have a 7-year-old and a three month old. They definitely keep me needing money, that’s for sure. <laugh>, that’s for sure. My, uh, my little ones.

Rich Meagher:

Jen does some work with black and gray ink, very minimal. It’s not her only thing, but she does it really well. And that’s what I want. I want my arm specifically my right forearm to have Richmond on it. The city skyline. I know Richmond Skyline isn’t like as noticeable as like Chicago or New York.

Jen Bean:

Well, if you live here, you, you know it.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah, exactly. So I mean, that was one of the things I was thinking about and it’s not like I need, I I don’t want an architect.

Jen Bean:

Right.

Rich Meagher:

It’s more like I want to look down at my arm…

Jen Bean:

mm-hmm <affirmative>

Rich Meagher:

and see Richmond. Right, right. Does that make

Jen Bean:

Sense? Yeah.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah,

Jen Bean:

Totally. So as far as like the buildings that you would like to see, I mean obviously we’re, you know, I’m thinking the bridge, I’m thinking the clock tower, you know, is there any others? Like, you know, obviously just like the general, you know city but.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah, I know it’s like, I, like I’d say like the Federal Reserve Building even that’s like a hideous building and it’s like, I, so no, I mean, I just kind of like, again, I mean, I hate to say it like this is, I just want to know that it’s Richmond.

Jen Bean:

Yeah, okay, great. But yeah, I mean, for the most part I’d say it’s, it’s pretty, you know, pretty self-explanatory. You know, we’re obviously not doing anything like too crazy.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah.

Jen Bean:

So, you know, I think you’ve, you’ve done a good job, some good reference images and we’re, uh, we’re just gonna make something cool with it.

Rich Meagher:

Like you’re, you’re getting what I’m, I’m putting out here.

Jen Bean:

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Rich Meagher:

So we wrap up with Jen. It’s been a great conversation. I feel really good about her understanding what I’m looking for. Jen runs me through prep, basically stay hydrated, moisturize my arm. Then she pulls out her calendar.

Jen Bean:

I just had a cancellation for tomorrow.

Rich Meagher:

Oh my goodness.

Jen Bean:

So I have tomorrow available.

Rich Meagher:

That is too soon.

Jen Bean:

<laugh> Too soon. Okay.

Rich Meagher:

I, I, I even like, yeah, I, I’m saying I’ll come in here excited, but I, I need just a minute to, to prep myself and to moisturize.

Jen Bean:

That’s right. That’s true.

Rich Meagher:

I can’t come in tomorrow with an un moisturized arm.

Jen Bean:

That is very true.

Rich Meagher:

So after I recover from that heart attack, we make a plan for me to come back in two weeks, I’ll see Jen’s sketch, and then if it’s all good, we’ll put it on my arm permanently. So I’m excited. I’m really excited. I was not excited to do it tomorrow. Like, and I was surprised by that too, because I’m like raring to go when I came in here and I was like, no, I can’t do it tomorrow. I gotta think about this a little bit. So even though like I’m definitely a hundred percent on board and I’m really excited about doing it, there’s no way I’m not gonna do it.

The idea of doing it tomorrow was like, oh, I need, I need a minute to just kind of process that I’m gonna be adding this to my arm. I’m gonna be looking down for the rest of my life and seeing this on me. So while I’m waiting for Jen to come up with designs, I’m curious. If I’m joining the ranks of tattooed in Richmond, what is it about this place that makes it seem like a home for us tattoo people? I thought I would ask two Richmond artists. Amy Black is a longtime Richmond Tattooer who has operated her own private studio since 2000. Roman Walston is an up and coming artist, one of the bunnies at Black Rabbit Tattoo in Carytown. They are in the studio with me right now. Amy, Roman, welcome.

Amy Black:

Thank you.

Roman Walston:

Thank you.

Rich Meagher:

So Amy, let’s start with you. I’ve always wondered how artists get started in this business. Right? There’s no major in tattoo at my college. Right. So where did you learn this art?

Amy Black:

So I started out in art college with a focus on fine art, oil painting and, um, anatomy. And so then that for me, that transitioned into getting tattooed really easily.

Rich Meagher:

mm-hmm <affirmative>

Amy Black:

You know, because I love the human figure already. And then seeing how tattoos affected it and showed up on it was I was instantly all into that. So then how do you transfer the skills of painting on a flat surface, A 2D surface onto a 3D surface? Well, that’s hopefully taught to you with a proper apprenticeship. And that takes time, you start small and then, you know, you just experiment and you hopefully have the right teacher to guide you as you make that transition.

Rich Meagher:

And so apprentice meaning?

Amy Black:

For me, back then, it kind of started in 1999 and it was a lot of like drawing, helping them out with whatever they needed. So mixing pigments, um, we made our own needles back then. My God, that sounds archaic.

Rich Meagher:

<laugh>

Amy Black:

Um, there, there were not the giant needle making companies there are now

Rich Meagher:

<laugh>

Amy Black:

You know, doing that, cleaning the shop, uh, learning how to clean the instruments, how to sterilize stuff, and then just doing a lot of watching if you, or that’s how I learn as I’m a person where I, you know, I’ll learn from how somebody is using the machine, how they’re using the skin, et cetera. How they’re using different colors.

Rich Meagher:

So Roman, I said to, to Amy, like, there’s no tattoo major at my college. But you did start at college, right? Thinking about this at UVA.

Roman Walston:

Yeah.

Rich Meagher:

And then found your way to Richmond.

Roman Walston:

Yeah, so I was at UVA for a few semesters, and that’s just where I sort of fell in love with, like just drawing on a daily basis and figuring that this is something I could do every day. And then I was already getting tattoos, so that was just sort of how I married the two. Like, I was like, I like art and I like getting tattoos. What, why don’t I do that for a living?

Rich Meagher:

Hmm.

Roman Walston:

I had a professor who used to be a professor at, um, VCU, and she like just swore up and down that Richmond was the place to be that I didn’t need to go to New York or LA or any big, you know, that’s kind of the scene that I was thinking I would need. But she was like, just go to Richmond. And, um, with my mom being sort of like Filipino helicopter parent, I wasn’t gonna get away with not going to college.

Rich Meagher:

<laugh>

Roman Walston:

So I spun it as like, I’ll go to art college, I’ll go to VCU.

Rich Meagher:

It’s college man. It’s what we do for you folks. Right?

Roman Walston:

Yeah.

Rich Meagher:

All right. So, so today lots of people have tattoos, but definitely, you know, 20, 30 years ago, it seems to me like the scene was a, a a kind of, I don’t wanna say macho scene, I guess, right? You have the old school bikers, even here in Richmond, you had this sort of GWAR type punks and metalheads. But it seems, looking back that it was very much a boys club. What was it like for you, Amy, trying to navigate that scene?

Amy Black:

Well, I knew it was a boys club.

Rich Meagher:

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Amy Black:

I mean, you could argue that a lot of the art world is still a boys club, but definitely the tattoo industry. And it was just, you know, the way that it was cultivated, you know, it came out of like, uh, barbershops and like, you know, sailors were getting tattooed and the, you know, the alternative crowd. And so what was really lucky for me at the time that I started getting tattooed is there was a huge revival in tattooing where a lot of these younger kids that had started to go to art school were getting into the scene. And so they were bringing in a lot of like painterly type effects into the tattoo scene that never happened before. And you’re getting people who aren’t, you know, coming straight out of some of these other things that we already discussed, like, you know, the biker thing or whatever.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah.

Amy Black:

And let me say, like I <laugh>, I have some biker friends who are an amazing and very sweet, so

Rich Meagher:

Yeah. Right, right.

Amy Black:

Let’s not, like, we can’t blanket term all the bikers as being gnarly. But, um, it could be tough. It can still be tough. I still hear stories of women here getting, you know, harassed and taken advantage of. When I first started to actually work on people, it was 2000, roughly 1999, and I was one of three females, I think in Richmond, I’m pretty sure.

Rich Meagher:

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Amy Black:

Um, so you look at that percentage, um, to how many male tattoos there were at that point in time. And yeah, we were obviously the minority.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah. How was it for you, Roman? Did you, did you feel accepted when you got in?

Roman Walston:

So I guess this is the part where I say that like when I was, for my first like couple of years working as a, as an artist, I was, I was doing so as a woman.

Rich Meagher:

Mm-hmm.

Roman Walston:

Um, pre-transition. So there was just a lot of having to hear, you know, it’s sort of, I think the most common way that, that people can sort of understand it is like that barbershop talk. Just guys being dudes and making misogynistic comments, misogynistic jokes, racist jokes, that kind of thing. And you at the bottom of the pyramid have to kind of har har along.

Rich Meagher:

Mm.

Roman Walston:

Um, because you, you know, are the first one, you’re the easiest one to be out ’cause you’re not bringing in as much money. You don’t have clientele. You know, this, I’m sure that this all sounds pretty familiar.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah. Amy, you’re nodding along a bit with what Roman’s talking about. Is that, had had that been your experiences, uh, in the industry?

Amy Black:

Um, not specifically, but I know a lot of women that had horrible experiences trying to apprentice, for sure. Lot of toxicity. And was it a surprise? Like I had mentioned before, no, because of, you know, if you’re aware of what you’re stepping into, then you’re like, it’s, there’s gonna be sharks in the water, I call it. I was lucky because there was a much more supportive environment for women when I started tattooing. But I knew it wasn’t gonna be perfect. But I purposely walked that path because I understood how important representation was

Rich Meagher:

Mmm

Amy Black:

And I wanted to open up that conversation so that it wouldn’t just be like, oh, maybe there’s a couple of females tattooing here. It’s like, no, it needs to be more diverse. And you do that through time and then you do it through just like walking the walk.

Roman Walston:

Yeah. You know, you definitely did that for me ’cause when I was like, you know, uh, a girl in art school looking at all the artists in Richmond, like you were one of the ones that I was following obviously, because I was like, oh, like Amy’s doing it.

Amy Black:

<laugh>

Roman Walston:

You know, like, it, it, it can be done.

Amy Black:

That’s what I wanted.

Roman Walston:

Exactly. So…

Amy Black:

See, that’s what I wanted ’cause that’s what other women did for me.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah.

Amy Black:

You know, we stand on the shoulders of giants. Right?

Rich Meagher:

Roman, you specialize in Filipino tribal tattoos. Like I think I know what tribal tattoos are, like the swirly black lines, but what is this style and, and what draws you to it?

Roman Walston:

Yeah. When you use the word tribal, there’s a lot of things that sort of come to mind. I think the one that you were describing is more what we would call like nineties tribal. It’s like what you would see on, you know, like wrestlers and…

Rich Meagher:

Yeah.

Roman Walston:

stuff like that. Then there’s, there’s Polynesian tribal, which I think a lot of people are familiar with because of like the Rock. So Filipino tribal, similar to Polynesian Tribal becasue they’re both Austronesian cultures, but they just sort of developed differently. Um, Filipino tribal also has those little, like, tight patterns of repeating patterns, that kind of thing. But Filipino tribal tends to be more just like straight up and down, where like there’s less sort of, uh, diagonal swoops across the body. There’s more open space, there’s a lot of motifs relating to waves, birds, boats ’cause essentially Filipinos are part of a migration pattern of folks that had to flee what is now, uh, Taiwan. So they got on boats and kicked it to the Philippines, or some of them proceeded onto Polynesia and Hawaii. Your tattoos related you to your people and they told a story.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah. And so what draws you to that particular style?

Roman Walston:

Oh man. I just think it looks tough.

Rich Meagher:

<laugh>

Roman Walston:

I just think it looks, I, I mean that’s sort of the first bit. Of course I was first attracted to the look of it, but then I wanted to know more about it, what all those symbols mean. And I just love that people come to me for like a tattoo and it’s like, you’re gonna get a history lesson too.

Rich Meagher:

How does this work in terms of like connecting with clients when you’re talking about this stuff? Um, I mean, I know you do all kinds of work.

Roman Walston:

Yeah.

Rich Meagher:

But if you’re doing a, a tribal tattoo, is that create some kind of conversation with you and your clients?

Roman Walston:

Oh yeah, absolutely. The best part is when we’re actually doing the tattoo. And I can just ask them about like, so what was it like for you?

Rich Meagher:

Mm-hmm.

Roman Walston:

Growing up Filipino in America. ‘Cause getting a Filipino tribal tattoo means something different to every single person that I tattoo. Like, they might be getting it because they grew up like super steeped in their Filipinoness and they want to rep that. Or for a lot of folks, they are kind of more like me. Like they’re trying to connect to their Filipinoness in a way that they didn’t have before. And specifically connecting to a Filipino identity that is separate from, uh, the Spanish imperialist colonialist. Like, I never knew that there was like a pre-colonial Filipino written language.

Rich Meagher:

Hmm.

Roman Walston:

Stuff like that. Tattooing has, you know, really been a gift in that way for me to dive into just some, some entry point for me to learn about that history.

Rich Meagher:

And now Amy, you’ve become known for mastectomy tattoos, right? Decorative, right? Whether women have reconstructive surgery or not. And also these really cool like 3D nipple tattoos that look really real. It’s very cool stuff. But how’d you get into that? Doing this, this style of work?

Amy Black:

I got into the mastectomy stuff because a breast cancer survivor who was in Richmond was hoping that she could find a female tattooer to help recreate the look of her natural nipple onto her other breasts that had been reconstructed.

Rich Meagher:

Mm.

Amy Black:

And so she was the bravest person in the world. I always say this because she had no experience and she just started cold calling shops in Richmond hoping that she would find a female and someone that would be able to do for her. I’d been tattooing for 10 years. And, um, I had my art background. And so whenever she, uh, was set my way, I was like, oh, cool, I’ll be able to do this like one time. Yeah, that’d be great. <laugh>

Rich Meagher:

<laugh>. But how does this work compare to like, work with a, a client for, uh, a, a tattoo that isn’t a mastectomy tattoo?

Amy Black:

So you’re dealing with a lot of, um, differences with skin texture. You’re, uh, usually dealing with scarring. One of the worst things for them a lot of times is to have to like, wake up every single morning and walk by the bathroom mirror and look at the scars on their chest over and over and over. And it’s like just this like, reminder that you had cancer and all the trauma you, you went through and you can’t escape it. It’s visual. It’s right there. Right. You, I have had some women tell me that they had stopped looking at their own bodies. They forgot what their chest looked like. They didn’t even know what their reconstruction looked like because they just didn’t wanna see it for years, decades. So then to be able to have like the, the honor of helping them, like find a way to navigate that

Rich Meagher:

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Amy Black:

And reclaim and change something that they really was reminding them of a huge trauma into something that they can now celebrate. Right.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah.

Amy Black:

With just, you know, some color and, um, some flowers or a nipple or whatever is gonna make it work for that person. I think the ability to use, be able to use art to help somebody heal is extremely powerful.

Rich Meagher:

I, I mean, I, I get that all artists are supposed to have this connection with their work, but the way that you two describe this, it, it seems like this work is especially meaningful to you. And, and so I’m just wondering if there’s something about Richmond that makes this possible that, like would you feel differently if you did this somewhere else?

Amy Black:

When I moved here, there was such a strong like, tattoo renaissance kind of happening here and it was fueled by some of those kids that were starting to get into the scene in the 1990s. And so it just like sparked this like, intense movement of people getting really excited about that. And that like, combined with the music scene here. And another element for Richmond in particular is that it has a decent cost of living.

Rich Meagher:

Mm-hmm <affirmative>.

Amy Black:

And so that’s really conducive for artists obviously, because instead of us like having to work three jobs in order to survive, we can maybe work one or two and then we can still work on our art. So I think that Richmond was just sort of like this perfect like petri dish for a lot of things to happen.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah. So you mentioned the cost of living too, and just even the practical features of of being here. Like the city’s changing some ways for the better. Right. But some people worry about condo culture, they worry about gentrification. Is Richmond gonna stay a special place for tattoos?

Roman Walston:

Yeah. On the one hand, I guess only time will really tell.

Rich Meagher:

Right.

Roman Walston:

But I’m personally not too worried about Richmond’s like, tattoo future. I think it’s pretty solid. Like artists are sort of flocking here, which, you know, could be, could be a problem, could be, could be a detriment, could be a benefit. But we get clients from like, coming down from DC clients coming from like from North Carolina. There’s just so many different populations that that Richmond sort of attracts, like for getting tattoos here. It will definitely change. It’ll look different. But I’m excited to see what it’ll do ’cause I’m sure that it’s just gonna be going strong.

Rich Meagher:

Roman Walston is an artist at Black Rabbit. Amy Black operates Amy Black tattoos. Roman, Amy, thanks so much.

Amy Black:

Thank you

Roman Walston:

Thanks so much.

Rich Meagher:

So I thought the interview was over, but before they got off mic they reminded me we didn’t talk about my tattoo.

Roman Walston:

Are you considering or like worried at all that this could be like you getting bit by the tattoo bug?

Rich Meagher:

<laugh>.

Amy Black:

Yeah. This is breaking open the dam, so to speak.

Rich Meagher:

Right? Yeah. Well it’s, it’s not cheap. Right. But I don’t know, like, because I feel I, you know, I’m, I’m a total dad core. Like I don’t spend money on myself. I, you know, I, I eat scraps off my children’s food. Right.

Amy Black:

<laugh>.

Rich Meagher:

So I I get that you know, thinking about actually, yeah, make that investment in yourself has been another kind of thing that I’m thinking about as I’m doing this.

Roman Walston:

Parents have in some ways a higher likelihood of getting bit by the tattoo bug because like they’re running around busy so much that like, the tattoo appointment day is the day that it’s like, don’t call me.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah.

Amy Black:

Spa day.

Roman Walston:

It’s a spa. Yeah, it’s exactly. It’s like a spa day. It’s like a nail day or something. So I think that like, you know, it makes sense ’cause it’s like you’re not addicted to like the actual tattoo. It’s like the, it’s like, like the getting or like the reclaiming of your space and your time and your body and stuff like that. So.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah. It’s, it’s a big deal. It’s like, uh, there’s a lot of stuff wrapped up in this.

Amy Black:

Yeah.

Rich Meagher:

Um, so I’m, I’m excited to see how it goes tomorrow.

Amy Black:

Well good luck.

Rich Meagher:

Thank you. It’s been exactly one day since my conversation with Amy and Roman and Max and I are heading back to Loose Screw Tattoo when we go into interviews, I’m always a little nervous, but I feel like we prepare as much as we can for those kinds of things. I don’t know how to prepare for this.

Max Wasserman:

Well, did you hydrate and moisturize?

Rich Meagher:

I did hydrate and I did moisturize a little bit. We go into the shop, I check in, fill out some forms on an iPad. Again, very doctor’s officey and then

Jen Bean:

Ready to do this thing?

Rich Meagher:

Sure.

Jen Bean:

Alright. Come on up.

Rich Meagher:

Jen takes us up to her office, she fires up an iPad and shows me her sketch.

Jen Bean:

So here’s kinda what I put together.

Rich Meagher:

Oh my goodness.

Jen Bean:

See what you think of that. And we can obviously make any changes if, if you see fit.

Rich Meagher:

Look at it, it’s Richmond. Like I can see the Federal Reserve tower and it doesn’t look hideous like the Federal Reserve Tower actually does look in real life. Oh, and I love the bridge. Look at the bridge. It is nothing like I expected and yet I really like it. Oh, this’s gonna be great. I’m so excited. Oh, I am excited. Look at me.

Jen Bean:

Okay. Good deal.

Rich Meagher:

All right. Um, <laugh>. The first step is to figure out what size it should be. Jen prints out a couple of options for me to try out. This is the big one, right? And, and big, it’s not super big. Like what is do we think that is? Once we get the size right, the next step is really important. Putting a stencil of Jen’s drawing on my arm, it should be in exactly the right place. So I feel like this is angled wrong. Do you know what I mean?

Jen Bean:

Yeah.

Rich Meagher:

Okay.

Jen Bean:

Let’s give it a try.

Rich Meagher:

With just one more try, Jen gets the stencil in the exact right position. We give it a few minutes to dry and then that’s it. It’s time.

Jen Bean:

Alright. You ready my friend?

Rich Meagher:

Yeah.

Jen Bean:

Okay.

Rich Meagher:

No turning back.

Jen Bean:

No turning back now.

Rich Meagher:

The first thing I notice when Jen starts: Yeah, it does hurt. It is like feeling like you’re getting a shot and then someone left a needle in and then is kind of dragging it across your skin. It probably feels that way because Jen’s sketch is nothing but lines. A few boxes for buildings, dots for windows, and two long lines. One for the bridge and one to suggest the James River. But together it makes a whole city. What I’m really impressed by, by Jen’s work here is like how much she’s able to do with just a few lines. Like this is, this is not a lot of ink to produce a real image of a city and not just a city, my city.

After 30 years of thinking about getting another tattoo, it’s hard to believe that it’s actually happening. You know, honestly, I don’t know even if six months ago I would’ve thought of it because I was still driving Tris around forever. Like I had a part-time job driving my 15-year-old daughter everywhere. And again, it felt like had no bandwidth whatsoever. Like really my life has opened up quite a bit since she learned to drive. Like just at a, its basic level, I have an extra 15 hours a week

Jen Bean:

<laugh>.

Rich Meagher:

To just think to myself about…

Jen Bean:

Tattoos.

Rich Meagher:

Yeah, yeah. Before I know it, Jen is making the final touches. Look at that. That’s on my arm.

Jen Bean:

<laugh>

Rich Meagher:

<laugh>. And she tells me it’s done. And I want to see it in the mirror too. Yes.

Jen Bean:

Yeah. Feel free if you wanna stand up and…

Rich Meagher:

Yeah, do it slowly.

Jen Bean:

Get your sea legs.

Rich Meagher:

So I hold my arm up to a mirror and it’s hard to describe, but I had this idea in my head about Richmond and just by talking to Jen, this idea is now real and it’s on my arm. It’s part of me. And I also like really love that I can see it. Like it’s the, the place that we put it is, it’s outward facing somewhat, but not entirely. And also like I can see it like, I really like that. I’m gonna be all wowing my arm for a while. Like, wow, my arm. Look at that.

Jen Bean:

<laugh>.

Rich Meagher:

I thank Jen a million times and then head out into the world transformed, I guess. I don’t wanna make too big a deal of this, but I do feel different. I feel a little braver, maybe 5% cooler. You know, I’ve said this isn’t my first tattoo, but because it’s the first one in like 30 years, it feels like a new one. Like it feels like brand new. And maybe I feel a little more connected to this place, to Richmond. I think that’s what I wanted. I’m not sure, but that’s the great thing about tattoos. I’ve got the rest of my life to look down at my arm and figure it out.

That’s our show. Thanks to our guests, Amy Black and Roman Walston. Special thanks to Jen Bean and the crew at Loose Screw Tattoo. Tell us about your issues by visiting our website: RVAsGotissues.vpm.org or send us an email at [email protected]. Be sure to leave a review on your favorite podcasting platform. RVA’s Got Issues is produced by Max Wasserman and Rachel Dwyer. Script editing on this episode by Nicki Stein. Additional story editing by Max Wasserman and Rachel Dwyer with special thanks to Whitney Evans. Audio mix by Steve Lack. Our theme music was composed by Alexander Hitchens. Shawn Freude is our executive producer. Steve Humble is VPM’s Chief Content Officer. I’m your host, Rich Meagher. Thanks for listening.