With 56 people coming to get tattooed on Friday, Sept. 13, shop owner and tattoo artist Lillian — aka “Honeybadger” — said Friday the 13th specials started as a way to lean into the negative stereotypes that come with tattoos.
“The 13th was a stigma a long time ago, associated with negativity,” Honeybadger said. “As tattoo artists, we — as a culture, as a group of people — have been associated negatively with drugs, crime, things that were taboo. So it started with a group of tattoo artists that wanted to change the association and make it our own. … We do it to celebrate tattoo.”
Inkognito Tattoo Studio — a minority and woman-owned studio — offered $37 tattoos with $13 tips from a set of designs called flash.
Honeybadger said she also enjoys the event for the good vibes and the fun designs she gets to draw.
“I like the vibe because people gather together and make small crowds, and we just talk and hang out and be amongst others who also like tattoo to celebrate the ability to define whether something's positive or negative and choose for themselves,” Honeybadger said. “We also draw a lot of flash that we like. They're goofy and fun, and because they're heavily discounted, people are more likely to do something that we like to do. So it's a good excuse.”
Elon juniors and roommates Ash Crouse and Brooke Boozer got their first tattoos at the event due to the discount.
“It's Friday the 13th. What else are you supposed to do?” Crouse said.
Juniors and roommates Ash Crouse and Brooke Boozer get their first tattoos at the Friday the 13th discount event at Incognito Tattoo Studio.
Boozer and Crouse coincidentally got matching tattoos — a bouquet of flowers being held up by a Band Aid.
Junior Brooke Boozer gets tattooed at the Incognito Tattoo Studio's Friday the 13th event on Sept. 13.
“This is something we've been wanting to do for a while,” Boozer said. “It's very exciting to get to do it and it be more affordable.”
Honeybadger said tattooing someone is a trusting, connecting process.
“It's a very intimate process, and you have to really, truly trust someone to be able to enter their inner sanctum and to be permanently marking them for the rest of your life,” Honeybadger said. “When you look at a tattoo, you don't just go, ‘Well, some random person poked me for hours.’ You have an experience. So being a tattoo artist, it's about human connection and experiencing someone else's story, participating in your chapter in life.”
Alanna — also known as Jackrabbit — is another artist at Inkognito and has been tattooing for a year. She said she has a connection with the profession and her clients.
“It's my job, it's my passion,” Jackrabbit said. “It is a way to do what I want to do because it allows for a lot of freedom, but it also involves giving the gift of that freedom to other people as well.”
Alanna — also known as Jackrabbit — tattoos a client during Inkognito Tattoo Studio's Friday the 13th event Sept. 13.
Honeybadger said tattooing is an art that cannot be changed by any government or religion.
“Modern people don't put enough merit into the value of art and tattoo on their body because it is a craft that transcends time and throughout history,” Honeybadger said. “Government, people in charge of politics, religion continue to really push down the popularity of tattoo, but tattoo just keeps coming back because there is something very primal and innate about the act of embedding your story onto your body to share with the rest of the world.”
Inkognito will be hosting another Friday the 13th discount event Dec. 13 with sign up and designs dropping on its website Nov. 13.