• On this Sunday of the second round, the international convention The Ink Factory welcomed tattoo pros and beginners in Lyon.

  • In this salon where the fine flower of tattoo artists met, political tattoos were much less popular than timeless motifs.

  • Tattoo artists nevertheless keep a code of honor in mind when they are asked for symbols taken up by extremist currents.

The Fagor-Brandt factories buzzed all weekend long in Lyon.

As in a swarm of bees, a soft hum hovered in the air: that of hundreds of needles infusing ink into a back, an arm, a calf.

More than 200 tattoo artists from all over the world gathered for The Ink Factory, a big convention where you could admire the style of each before seeing it applied to not very cozy clients.

And at this level of creativity, finesse and perfection, it was no longer tattooing, but skin engraving.

Reasons that can be confusing

On this day of the second round, we looked for some political symbols in this giant album of animals, flowers, stars and various abstractions.

"Political tattooing exists, it's obvious, because we also want to say things with what we mark on our skin", remarks Cédric Gravé, tattoo artist in the Lyon peninsula.

"Tattooing far-right things, we don't do that.

But more militant demands, on the far left for example, are done quite regularly in tattooing, ”he concedes.

More than symbols, they will be slogans: "A sentence like 'the worker kills himself with the task, the boss kills himself with an axe', if it makes me laugh, I'll agree to do it!"

On the other hand, "France to the French", no.

Our own limits are also our personal convictions.

»

Cédric Gravé remains cautious when asked to tattoo certain symbols.

As he explains, "there are strong symbols like the cross of fire or the Maltese cross, which can represent the love of motorcycling but which have been taken over by certain currents in the army", especially extremists.

Tattoo artists don't accept just anything

The same vigilance is required at Sam Antta, apprentice at G. rom Tattoo (Lyon 6) and specialist in traditional tattooing: "We do not ask for the identity, religion or political opinions of our customers, but we is a matter of feeling.

If a symbol seems suspicious to us, we try to understand what it is.

I have sometimes been asked to tattoo runes, which are quite politicized.

Some mean nothing politically, but one of them has been taken over by the extreme right: this one, we will avoid tattooing it.

»

If his clients don't always mention their motivations when choosing their tattoo, Sam Antta has noticed that “people on the left don't get too many left-wing tattoos!

But those on the right, here, often have certain symbols tattooed, such as the fleur-de-lys, the south bend or certain places in Vieux-Lyon”.

Here again, it's the feeling that makes him take the responsibility of tattooing, or not: "Whoever wanted Vieux-Lyon, I didn't feel it, and I didn't want to put in my CV that I do this kind of tattoo.

If I discover it years later, too bad, but I try to anticipate and be careful,” she says.

Choose a tattoo that looks like you first and foremost

In the buzzing aisles, Noémie, 18, is looking for her first tattoo, after having voted for the first time.

“We are not going to lie to each other, today I voted against rather than for!

smiles the young girl.

Choosing a political tattoo?

“It would become obsolete in five years, right?

I am quite involved in the social, but I do not see myself choosing a tattoo that would prove that I am for ecology, for example, she says.

I prefer to show my convictions with a beautiful drawing, which would really represent what I am, me, and not the messages that others would like to impose.

So today, I'm glad I voted, but I'm going to choose something that has nothing to do with it and that I will enjoy all my life!

»

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The badly translated tattoo, a scourge that has caused a lot of ink to flow

  • Elections

  • Presidential election 2022

  • Tattoo

  • Activist

  • Lyons

  • Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes