This past weekend was a great one for Singapore’s tattoo community. Playing host to their first ever tattoo convention and expo, The Singapore Tattoo Show managed to bring in over 8,000 visitors. Fabulous, considering that organizers initially estimated the turnout to be in the neighbourhood of 5,000 people.
The show boasted over 120 tattoo artists from 25 different countries around the world. Aside from the excellent opportunity for those unfamiliar with the tattoo community to see it all first hand, the show also offered art theory seminars, contests and of course, plenty of tattooing and piercing.
Hundreds of fans queued for a chance to have their photo taken with and meet tattoo guru/Miami Ink star Chris Garver. “I think society is definitely accepting tattooing a lot more nowadays. I think people are less afraid of it you know, like tattoo shops used to be a place where normal people would be, you know, a little apprehensive to walk into and I think a lot of that, the barriers are being broken down,” said Garver, who was also the convention’s official host.
The convention took four years to put together. Organizers claim that it’s the first of its kind in all of Asia, though neighbouring Malaysia for example, has had its share of tattoo conventions throughout the past few years. Regardless, with a turnout as large as this past weekend’s, tattoos appear to have a bright future in Asia.