The tenth edition of Internation Nepal Tattoo Convention was hosted in Lalitpur (Patan) on 7th, 8th, and 9th April, 2023. As the event neared, nearly everyone whom I knew at my hostel was mentioning attending the convention. This fuelled my curiosity and I prepared myself to pay the event a visit, even though I had planned to mostly relax during my short visit to Kathmandu this time.
The visit to the tattoo convention was one of a kind – I was seeing so many people doing tattoos for the first time. As people I visited the event with got busy meeting tattoo artists to discuss ideas for their next tattoo, I walked around. I passed by stalls, curiously observing, and photographing as needles poked the bodies, turning the pain into a piece of artwork.
“So, do you have any tattoos?” I was asked a number of times. Followed by my negative reply would be the next question – “When are you getting one?”
“I am an admirer. I don’t see myself getting a tattoo in the near future,” I would say, diverting the conversation to talk about different tattoos I found interesting on people.
