Emi is a woman in her late 20s who lost both of her grandparents within a month of each other. Her grandfather was the was the first loved one she had ever lost. He was an amazing painter (in the Chinese watercolour style), and Emi loved the florals he used to design. She wanted a tattoo so that she could keep him with her always. She found a tattoo artist on Instagram (@incometats) who did Japanese ikebana-style tattoos, and he designed a beautiful tattoo based on her grandfather’s paintings. The tattoo starts on her left arm and wraps around a portion of her left rib cage – it is physically close to her heart.
Emi explains, “The day of my tattoo appointment, my grandma had not yet passed away but she had fallen sick a couple days prior, so I asked Victor (the tattoo artist) to put a little extra love and energy on one of the flowers for my grandma. She passed away a week after. It takes time to heal and grieve, and getting this tattoo was part of my grieving process. I’m glad that I get to look at it every day and remember them both.”
STORIES FROM THE SKIN 