Tattoo Tales on TV: Fly on the wall show reveals life and stories inside Bondi parlour
HEIDI Haydon wanted to get a tattoo for as long as she could remember. But it wasn’t until an event changed her life forever, that she went and got one, followed by several others.
HEIDI Haydon wanted to get a tattoo for as long as she could remember.
But it wasn’t until a motorbike accident left her a paraplegic that she decided to go ahead and get one.
The Sydney woman had spent seven months recovering from the accident and instead of feeling sorry for herself, decided to tell her story on her skin through a series of colourful and artistic tattoos.
The small inking on her left wrist was soon followed by several others.
Ms Haydon, whose story will appear on new ABC2 show Tattoo Tales later this month is the first to admit a stigma still surrounds tattoos.
But as the fly-on-the-wall show reveals, inking has become popular with people from all walks of life documenting their lives through tattoos.
The revealing documentary series, which begins tonight, offers a unique and entertaining insight into contemporary Australia from inside the walls of a tattoo studio on Sydney’s Bondi Beach.
And if you think it’s just hipsters or gang members heading in for an inking then think again as the cameras capture both inked up addicts as well as nervous first timers.
From mums to grieving grandmothers, and dads marking the birth of their first child, the stories paint a picture of the one in seven Australians who get inked at some point in their lifetime.
Their stories are captured by twelve fixed cameras which record the day-to-day antics and artistry inside the studio as well as capturing the stories behind each tattoo.
The series reveals people’s grief, pain, illness, violence, weight loss, heartbreak, cultural clashes and even touches on immigration, and same-sex marriage.
It also looks at the social implications, employment struggles and judgments facing those who get ‘inked.’
Tonight’s episode focuses on rockabilly couple Rusty and Ginger, tattoo newcomer Bianca and an Indian brother and sister who want to commemorate their mother, who recently passed away,
All have different reasons for getting a tattoo.
For Ms Haydon, however, the decision to get inked was a more personal one.
She said she wanted people to look beyond her wheelchair and instead wanted her skin to tell her story.
“I used to draw tattoos and always wanted one but mum always talked me out of it,” she said.
“But after leaving hospital following the crash, I decided to go ahead and do it, and mum even got one too.”
Ms Haydon was travelling on her motorbike in December 2009 when she was hit by a car and thrown into a barricade.
She doesn’t remember a lot about the crash which left her a T4 paraplegic, paralysed from the chest down.
While she was no doubt devastated, she refused to let it define her and the then 23-year-old instead decided to mark her new life through a series of tattoos which tell her story on her skin.
Ms Haydon, who still rides her motorbike and said the one big advantage to having tattoos was that they were a good ice breaker when it came to meeting new people.
She said her tattoos, modified motorbike, and skull helmet made her look like an “intimidating b***” but she loved that it was her tattoos which were a talking point.
“People will actually approach me and ask me about them, and then they might ask about my wheelchair,” she said.
“But for me going on this show was all about breaking the stigma of having tattoos, for me it charts my journey and recovery.”
Ms Haydon, who works as an education officer for Spinal Cord Injuries Australia, said her tattoos helped break the ice in the many talks she gives on spinal injuries.
She also said they also helped show others with spinal injuries that there is life beyond a wheelchair and it could be as colourful and bright as they wanted.
“Having a spinal injury was obviously a huge adjustment,” she said.
“But I wouldn’t want my life to be any different now as it has allowed me to have these amazing experiences.”
However, she does warn getting inked isn’t without a bit of pain.
Describing it like getting sunburnt and then getting scratched by cat claws, she just deals with the pain, saying “you just work through it”.
“After about 15 minutes you just forget about it,” she said.
Tattoo Tales premieres tonight, April 1 at 9.40pm on ABC2.
