vision
“Are you sure you don’t want to do this? remove that? “Artists actively ask.
I thought about this before booking into the open air studio. After all, it is a relic of dark times. But history was not to be erased.
“Yes, let’s proceed as planned.”
I’m worried that if a needle covered in algae ink sticks into my wrinkled, sun-loving forearm, I’ll sting too much. However, the process was much less painful than I remember.
After a few stabs, my younger tattoo was revealed. the climate has changedthere is a new ending: and so were we.
— Drabble by Emma Loewe
spotlight
Roughly half of L.A. tattoo artist Sonny Robinson Bailey’s clients come to him for climate-themed tattoos. The motley crew of surfers, scuba divers, scientists and ecologists are no doubt tempted. his instagram profile: “Tattoos suited to the relevant climate.”
Robinson-Bailey, originally from the United Kingdom, began focusing on climate change tattoos after moving to the United States and becoming overwhelmed by all the waste he saw. Some of his designs are quite dramatic (such as a cartoon sun that emits searing lasers from its eyes, and “Mindless Consumption” written in imperative letters), while others resemble planets. is a more subtle nod to boundaries and tipping points.
“A few years ago, we did a flash tattoo day where we wrote a few paragraphs of facts and figures about climate, put all the numbers in a box, and gave people tattoos,” he told me over a video call. . Five people showed up and filled in numbers such as 0.9 (projected sea level rise in meters by the end of the 21st century) and 1.5° (the warming threshold set by the Paris Agreement in degrees Celsius).
He added a new tattoo to his personal collection that day, he said, and operated the camera to show me the temperature of 2.12 degrees above his left elbow. This is the approximate amount of global temperature rise since the Industrial Revolution, expressed in Fahrenheit.
Sonny Robinson Bailey’s “2.12” tattoo. Provided by Sonny Robinson Bailey
That number will eventually become obsolete, but Robinson-Bailey doesn’t care. “I like to look at my tattoos as diaries,” he said. “[They] It will always remain a symbol of the times. ”And watching it can help ease the discomfort of global warming, he said. Many weather disasters feel far away when you read about them in the news, but tattoos “bring things back to reality,” she said.
Robinson Bailey’s clients all have their own reasons for getting climate-themed tattoos. He mentions the researcher who requested a coral tattoo to celebrate efforts to make coral reefs more resilient to heat waves, and the New Yorker who got a 0.9 sea level rise tattoo in solidarity with threatened coastal cities. I remembered. Robinson-Bailey said talking to people about their connection to the climate is the “best part” of her job.
I took a page from his book and spoke to several people with climate-themed tattoos about why they got them and what they represent. For some, they are a reminder of what to fight for. For others, it is a constant reminder of what has already been lost. Almost all said they planned to get more. Here are some of their tattoos and the stories behind them.
Most visual artists Justin Bryce Guariglia‘s photography, sculpture, and installation work explores the relationship between humans and the natural world, grounded in climate science. So when I was itching to get a tattoo in 2016, it was only natural that I turned to the latest data from NASA as a source of information.
Sitting in a beanbag chair in his downtown New York studio, Bryce Guariglia pulled up his sleeve to reveal a NASA surface temperature analysis graph that climbed up his right arm.
Justin Bryce Guariglia’s surface temperature analysis tattoo. Studio Justin Bryce Guariglia
This tattoo shows the planet’s surface temperature from 1880 to 2016 and is accurate and to scale. Bryce Guariglia even sent an email to James Hansen, the scientist behind the study, requesting fact-checking before making it permanent. “When creating art about climate and the environment, it’s really important to know the science,” he said. “Otherwise, it’s just a decoration.”
His tattoo essentially immortalizes global warming, but Bryce Guariglia suffers when he looks at it, or when he describes it to others who will undoubtedly mistake it for a mountain range or an electrocardiogram reading. Never. “For me, it’s not a negative thing. If it felt negative, I wouldn’t have understood it.” Rather, it’s a reminder of my mission to continue working for a better future. he said. “Climate change is the moral imperative of our time.”
Sanjana Paul is currently a graduate student at MIT focused on conflict negotiation in the energy transition, but she has held many roles in the climate change field throughout her career. Trained as an electrical engineer (on the 2023 Grist 50 list), Paul has collected atmospheric science data for NASA, hosted environmental hackathons, and pushed climate policy as a community organizer.
The tattoo on her right ankle is a “ground” symbol, resembling an upside-down T with two lines below it, and is a symbol of what has remained constant for her throughout these diverse experiences.
“In a circuit diagram, the ground symbol is where the potential in the circuit is zero, so that’s your starting point,” she explained. After graduating from engineering school, she got a tattoo as a way to mark the beginning of a new career. This now inspires her to stay “grounded” – motivated by a deep love for the planet – as she engages in various forms of climate action. There is. And she added, “Honestly, it was just funny.”
Sanjana Paul’s ground symbol and Green New Deal tattoo. Provided by Sanjana Paul
The word “GND” above was added after Paul’s community successfully advocated for the Green New Deal in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
“It took two years of collaborative effort,” Paul said. “[The tattoo] She still has a screenshot of the photo she sent to her group chat when the bill was passed.
Paul, who also has a portrait of NASA satellite Calypso on his arm, is currently planning his next climate change tattoo. It’s an ode to the North Atlantic, in honor of the offshore wind projects she’s involved with. Her ever-growing collection of tattoos is a reminder that her work has taken her to unexpected places, and she also believes that the tattoos have inspired all kinds of people who ask about the meaning of the designs. We also see it as a gateway to conversations about climate change with new people.
Photographer based in France Mary Lou Mauricio She started something of a movement two years ago when she started taking photos for a campaign she called “Born in… PPM.” In the run-up to COP27, the 2022 United Nations climate change summit, she used temporary makeup to “tattoo” her subjects with the one-millionth measurement of atmospheric CO2 in the year they were born. . Over-reliance on fossil fuels has changed the Earth’s chemistry, and he has photographed a portrait of it.
The campaign became popular, and to date, she has collected over 4,000 images of people around the world with their personal ppm marked on their hands, faces, and bellies. These portraits offer a way to visualize the world’s rapidly increasing greenhouse gas emissions, especially when juxtaposing older and younger subjects.
She knows at least two people who have had their numbers permanently stamped. And so is she.
Mary lou mauricio ppm tattoo. “…Born in PPM”/Mary-Lou Mauricio
The 340 ppm tattoo on Mauricio’s right shoulder represents the mark climate change has already left on her and her family. “My parents live in southern Portugal, where the drought is becoming more and more severe,” she said. “In 2022, there was a fire in the area where my parents live. …When it’s raining, I sometimes get calls.
She said this ppm tattoo is likely not her last. “I’d like to add my children’s ppm values at birth, because they’re what I’m campaigning for.”
— Emma Loewe
further exposure
parting shot
A collage of flash tattoo designs by Sonny Robinson Bailey featuring messages of climate, sustainability, and conservation.
