The collectors: Dominique, New Zealand

Dominique has managed to pull off such a stunning mix of Japanese, mendhi and traditional style tattoos, I knew I wanted her on the blog since the beginning, and it is with great pleasure that I now feature her.

"I was born in South Africa and moved to New Zealand 7 years ago. I have been an artist all my life, focusing on realistic drawing with graphite and colour pencils, but chose to study my second passion, natural medicine.

I was  always surrounded by tattooed people growing up. I loved going into the local tattoo shop and watching them work. I knew that when I was old enough I would definitely invest in a few tattoos.

I was 15 when I got my first tattoo. My dad went with me and I got about 6 cherry blossoms around my chest/shoulder/back. I thought I would only have a few tattoos that would be easy to cover. I was so unsure of my career path back then I didn’t want to have any tattoos that were obviously visible.

I don’t really plan my tattoos too much. The only thing I have planned is that I will have a Japanese/traditional/mendhi theme throughout. I would like to stick to these styles if I can help it, and eventually link them all together somehow. I'm not too worried about how these different styles look together. I feel like if you are confident and comfortable in your own skin, then mixed styles naturally look good together. Because my Japanese is quite large scale, I make sure my traditional and mendhi are also slightly larger than what they would usually be. Also I have a lot of flowers throughout my collection in both japanese and traditional and I feel like no matter the style of the flower, it’s a point of similarity and therefore gives flow.

Bigger pieces like my chest, sleeves and shins took some time to think about, but everything else I usually think about the day before or so. As long as there is a positive vibe with the picture of what I’m getting, then I’m happy. In terms of choosing artists, I only have two people do my work. I trust them fully with my body and always know that I'll be getting exactly what I had envisioned.

Shin tattoos by Fabian Bidart

My Japanese work (right arm sleeve, left arm half sleeve and chest) is all done by an artist named Liesje from The Tattooed Heart in Auckland. All my traditional and mendhi shins are done by Fabian Bidart from Sunset Tattoo in Auckland. The “traditional” Geisha on my calf is also done by Fabian.

I love all my tattoos. Every time is get a new one, it's my favorite until the next one. But overall I’m extremely proud of all my tattoos.

Next on the list is my right thigh by Fabian. A year ago he painted the most beautiful traditional snake and peonies, and from the day he painted it I said I wanted it. So a year later I will hopefully have it on me. That will happen in the next 2–3 weeks. I would like to finish my chest before I start something that big. After that, I'd like to do my entire stomach in “mendhi” style like my shins.

I think like a lot of people, I'd love to have a tattoo done by Guy Le Tatooer. But someone’s work I’ve loved for quite some time is Aimee Cornwell from London. Her tattoos are extremely rich in color and show a lot of emotion and expression.

Traditional style tattoos by Fabian Bidart

On a day to day basis, being tattooed is not an issue at all. Most people embrace it and are often very intrigued and interested in a positive way. I am lucky enough to work in an environment where my colleagues are totally accepting. I work with the public and so therefore once in a while I'll get a rude customer who has something nasty to say. I am also lucky to have parents who have always loved, embraced and encouraged my personal expression. Extended family is another story. I come from a culture where tattoos in general are frowned upon, so to have parents and siblings who see me for who I am and not what I look like is amazing. In my previous relationship, my ex was not happy about my growing collection of tattoos, however it wasn’t the reason we split. So now that I’m single, it's interesting to see how I am perceived by the opposite sex.

I do feel like people put too much emphasis on being a “tattooed woman”. I’m just like everyone else and feel like whether the attention is good or bad, most people treat me as if I’m “outside the box” of society, when really I’m paying taxes and going to work and uni like everyone else. So although I like it when people embrace me, I feel like in this day and age, it shouldn’t matter what people decide to put on their skin. When people do give me negative attention, I tend to feel nothing but sadness for them and the fact that they can't see past the physical. I’ve come to realize that what people think about me is none of my business.

I don’t think tattoos have affected my self-esteem. Self-esteem comes from within, and no matter how many tattoos I get, I’m sure I’ll always have small insecurities that a tattoo will never be able to cover up. But in saying that, I do feel more “myself” with all my tattoos. It’s a big part of how I express myself mentally, spiritually, emotionally and physically. Tattoos can be a great reflection of what’s going on in someone’s mind, including mine. I look back at pictures of myself without any tattoos and it sure does look weird, but it's also amazing to see how drastically my appearance has changed.

I’m just very at peace with who I am. I love and respect the artistry and craft of tattooing and tattooers who put their all into creating beautiful tattoos."

Thank you so much, Dominique!

Follow her on Instagram @dominique_cara