Notes from the Studio

Wanda in gabe in bone.

Describe your journey of becoming an artist?

I have always been an artist, sketching & designing my whole life! It was in high school that I discovered a love for tattooing, as I went and got my first tattoo at 15 (don’t worry, my mom brought me, it was cool, haha). I never stopped getting tattooed after that, I was hooked - but I quickly found the industry to be hugely gatekept, rough & felt unsafe for me to pursue working within it. 

As an adult, I began tattooing myself, an autonomous act of self discovery as an artist, I suppose. This brought me to discover a huge number of queer, community taught tattooists; who’s feelings about industry matched mine. It was with the support of many self taught & classically apprenticed folx, who share the drive to re-standard the industry, that I found myself community learning to be a tattooist. Tattooing has changed massively in the last ten years & I am utterly ecstatic to be part of such a broad and diverse group of folx, tattooing in new, accountable & supportive ways.

Last week, we came together as a community and raised money to support reproductive rights. Bryr teamed up with our friends at Rare Device, Mercy Vintage, Botnia Skincare, and Windy Chien Studio, four businesses that are owned by women and dear friends to Bryr, and with your help raised $7290. These funds were donated directly to WRRAP, Keep our Clinics, and the National Network of Abortion Funds. Thank you to everyone who donated, shared, and supported this important cause! 

It's been a LONG time since we've been able to come together, and so we relished the opportunity to get together with some of our community last week to celebrate the launch of our newest creation: The monochrome platform!!! Here are some photos from the shoot.