January
2012
Now in its 4th year, the Cape Town Tattoo Convention was once again held at the BMW Pavilion at the V&A Waterfront. The expo consisted of live tattooing from an impressive collection of local and international artists, performances by acrobats and exotic dancers, art on display, sales and merchandise stands as well an outdoor bar/beer tent and themed putt-putt course.
It was my first time at the convention and I really enjoyed wandering around and talking to various artists.
Everyone I spoke to was really friendly, particularly the Norwegian guys from Redneck Tattoo and the local guys from Sins of Style.
Walking past the various stands and flipping through each artist’s little black book of work, it became increasingly hard to resist the urge to throw out a limb to the nearest needle and ask to be surprised. Many were taking advantage of the opportunity to get inked by the internationals/out of towners – luckily, the artists I liked the most happened to be Capetonian, which is great to know for when I do finally decide to get some work…
Unfortunately, for whatever reason, I was in a pretty bad place this weekend and my mood along with the heat conspired to spoil the experience for me. It was really hot, I think 32ºC on Saturday – one of the upstairs rooms had pretty decent air-conditioning, but the others didn’t and it felt quite stuffy walking around, especially in the crowded areas.
So, while I really enjoyed being there, my off-mood made it hard and I wasn’t able to hold out as long as I’d’ve like to, I also wasn’t able to make it back for a last wander around on Sunday which was unfortunate. But it’s a great event and I’m definitely looking forward to going again next year.
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