Show us your Tatts!
As part of the exhibition Tattooing in the UK – Miners, Misconceptions and His Majesty at Mansfield Museum, I led a participatory photography project that placed local people and their tattoos at the heart of the exhibition.
To capture the diversity and personal stories behind tattoo culture in Mansfield, a pop-up photography studio was set up in a gazebo at the Four Seasons Shopping Centre. Members of the public were invited to take part, sharing and documenting their tattoos in an informal, accessible setting outside of a traditional gallery environment. The resulting photographs showcased a wide range of styles, bodies and identities, reflecting tattooing as a living, contemporary form of expression rooted in everyday life.
These images were then brought into the museum exhibition space as a large-scale projection wall, transforming individual portraits into a collective visual experience. Presented together, the photographs highlighted tattoos not just as personal markings, but as artworks in their own right — bold, graphic and rich with meaning.
The project focused on community participation, accessibility and representation, using photography and digital display to bridge public space and museum space. By bringing local voices directly into the exhibition, the work reinforced the idea that tattoo art is more than skin deep, celebrating individuality, heritage and creativity within Mansfield’s tattoo culture.