Since my college career is coming to an end, I wanted to commemorate this huge time in my life with something I can take with me everywhere I go. While at Agnes, I switched from a theatre major to a studio art major because I was not confident in the small faculty size in theatre, and while I was a studio student, Agnes Scott merged studio art and art history into the “Visual Practices” concentration of the Creative Arts. This meant that I was forced to take art history classes to complete by graduation requirements, and while this felt like a wrench in my plans at the start, this merger has completely transformed my academic experience. I instantly fell in love with art history, and it made me feel like everything was 10x more meaningful than I believed it to be before. The model of looking at a piece naively before learning the context and analyzing the time of which the pieces were made rewired how I understand art. I was better able to understand my own art, and more importantly, I discovered that I want to allow other people to experience what I experienced. My one and only art history professor, Katherine Smith, has inspired me to pursue my own PhD in art history, and until I am able to afford grad school, I hope to work inside museums and galleries to gain field experience.
With such a transformative experience, I knew that my first tattoo had to do with my major, and I knew what I would base it on for a long time. In Fall of 2024, I wrote a paper on Felix Gonzalez-Torres for my critical disability class about his piece Perfect Lovers (1981-90), and I discovered that his piece was based on a letter he wrote to his lover, Ross Laycock, after Laycock’s HIV diagnosis. The letter featured a hand drawn ink sketch of two clocks that would become his ready-made installation.
The tattoo was done by Aro, Liquid Bread, at the Empire Arts Gallery tattoo shop. It was a wonderful first tattoo experience, and I recommend them to anyone scared of a painful appointment. I have had the tattoo for over 3 weeks now, and I am beyond happy to have such a meaningful piece of art permanently on my body.
