In this talk, based on archival material held at the Bishopsgate Institute, Matt will discuss the central role that the organisational strategies and necessities of gay men in the mid-20th century played in the creation of the recognisably modern tattoo industry.

Extensive new primary source research across newly uncovered private collections has revealed that, far from being marginal figures, gay tattooers and clients form central nodes in the forging of modern tattooing in the Western world through the 1950s, 60s and 70s.

In navigating a world in which both tattooing and homosexuality were at least marginalised -- and in many places strictly illegal – gay men with interests in body art had to develop contact networks and documentation strategies which (as a side effect) allowed the wider tattooing industry to flourish.

Key to the discussion will be the life and times of Rudi Inhelder, an optical physicist from Switzerland who briefly became one of the most important organisational figures in the modern history of Western tattooing.

Practical Information

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