#maddmoll

via instagram @maddmoll (Molly Jean), http://maddmoll.tumblr.com/

Tattoo done at @thevillageink, https://thevillageink.com/, https://tattooshoptoronto.tumblr.com/, 101 Yorkville Ave., Toronto, Canada

(Please don’t forget to also like the picture there)

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“I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn’t quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn’t make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”

Tattoo Shop Toronto | The Village Ink

I recently made a big update to my merch shop, and also a big update to the Headless series. When I drew my first few Headless tattoos, I didn’t really expect anything to come of the project. At the time it was simply a way to express my frustration at the kinds of words so often used to describe female (or non-binary) bodies - words that objectify and metaphorically decapitate human beings. I referred to them as my Headless girls, and when people showed some interest in getting them tattooed I used the hashtag #headlessgirlclub to keep track of all the headless pieces I’d been lucky enough to tattoo. But over time, as this project has become more popular, I started to become uncomfortable with my choice of words. This is not a project just for people who identify as girls, and the bodies I draw do not just represent people identifying as girls. So I’m switching to less gender-specific language. I’ve removed all my merch that included the old name for my Headless club, and I’ve changed the hashtag on all the tattoo posts - you can now find my Headless series at #headlessbabeclub on Instagram. Because anyone can be a babe.

Check out maddmoll.com to see my merch shop, or to book a Headless babe with me.

Got to do a couple of my Ghibli flash pieces this week. Astounded and grateful every day to have such a fun job.