TATTOO ART – LIFE THROUGH THE EYE OF A NEEDLE
O&A met up with Wesley Squiggles Bhayat, part of the tattoo artist family at Step Up Tattoo and Piercing Studio in Kloof Village Mall
“Tattoo artists take a lot of time and put a part of themselves into every tattoo that they do. Whether it’s a client’s design or one of our own, we put our own thoughts, heart and souls into every design and tattoo,” says Wesley Squiggles Bhayat, part of the tattoo artist family at Step Up Tattoo and Piercing Studio in Kloof Village Mall.
When it comes to tattoos, he is relieved that old-school thinking is on the way out. A few decades ago tattoos were frowned upon and believed to be markings of thugs and bikers, hard rockers and rebels. Today’s era of social media and self-expression is transforming that and recognising creatives, that are not only highly skilled artists in their own right, but often the therapists who can visualise and tell real life stories.
This is not a cliché. Whilst more conventional painters can hang their art in galleries and graffiti whizz kids can bring bland walls to 3-D life, these are artists who create art that is not only worn, quite literally, but also a lifelong message.
For them, the body is a living canvas – and an extremely unique one given that everything from the thickness and age of the skin to the way people react to pain differs.
“It’s a learning curve. As a tattoo artist, I must breathe with a client and second guess when he or she is going to move. We have to learn about all of the cues that our clients are giving us – for instance when they are feeling pain whilst getting tattooed on the ribs, which is a particularly tender spot, we need to pre-empt any possible movement or reaction and respond accordingly” he explains.
Add to that the fact that different parts of the body react to tattooing and even heal differently and you begin to realise the degree of technical skill that is needed.
A TATTOO JOURNEY
Originally from Joburg, Wesley moved to Durban with his mother as a child. Since then, he has travelled a lot and has tattooed all over South Africa building a portfolio of work that reflects his specialisation in micro realism, realism and black and grey tattoos.
Because his family couldn’t afford an expensive apprenticeship, he is largely self-taught.
He began drawing at the age of six, but his tattoo journey began during his teens. “By the time I started high school, instead of learning, I was decorating my arm. When I turned 17, my uncle bought me my first tattoo kit and it just started from there. For two years, I didn’t do anything but learn how to tattoo.”
Most of his early attempts were on his own body, then on friends and family. He admits it would have been far easier to have an expert guide to mentor him, explaining how to set the depth of the needle, how to hold the machine, run a line, shade and colour.
The alternative was trial and error, fuelled by a special passion. ‘Honestly, you can’t do this without it. You have to have that drive because, unlike when working for a corporate, if you miss a day, you don’t make money. You have to constantly better yourself. I’ve been doing this for 14 years and I can tell you that every day I learn something new. I also wouldn’t want to do anything else,” he explains.
His early career was as a mobile tattoo artist and, even though he did other jobs in between – trying everything from mechanical engineering to construction – he admits that his passion for tattoo art was never far away.
The life of a mobile tattoo artist – especially one who works by day and tattoos by night – is far from easy. Wesley recalls doing tattoos until two in the morning and then returning home only to wake up at five to head to his eight to five job. From there, it was back home for a shower before heading out to tattoo until 2am once again.
A turning point came when he met up with fellow artist and owner of Step Up Tattoo and Piercing Studio, Kirsty McCready, six years ago. Apart from being the only person that Bhayat trusts to do his own tattoos, she has also been both a friend and advisor.
He joined the studio in October 2023 and says that working as part of this special family of artists has been inspiring. They exchange knowledge, sometimes share supplies and laughter.
Just above his table, towards the back of the studio, hang the many certificates that attest to the fact that he knows all the “gritty stuff” about handling bodily fluids as well as the risks associated with blood borne pathogens. He explains how the station in which he works is carefully sanitised and cling wrapped before and after each tattoo and how waste which includes potentially harmful items like needles is carefully handled and discarded.
He admits that working as a tattoo artist is both mentally and physically stressful with long hours spent leaning over a chair resulting in both wrist and back pain.
“No matter how many tattoos you’ve done or how long you’ve been doing this, it is still stressful because anything can go wrong. Your client could jump while you’re tattooing them. You could also get blowouts. When I first started tattooing, I used to mess up my tattoos on purpose. So, if clients ask questions, I could explain and show them a blowout. This is where the line is supposed to be thin, but it blows out underneath the skin. It is not what you want, but it can happen for quite a few reasons.”
AN ARTISTIC EVOLUTION
Without a formal apprenticeship, Wesley admits that he is not a guru on the history of tattoos.
They actually date back over 5 000 years and have been discovered everywhere from ancient Egypt to China, Japan and Australia. He has discussed more traditional tribal Polynesian and M?ori tattoos as well as the more old-fashioned tattoos that feature suns and moons with his fellow tattoo artists. People still request these but, he says even then, the way they are done is vastly different.
“Things are just done differently now and shading techniques have changed over time. The machines have changed amazingly. We used to have an old coil machine which was very loud. It used to hit the skin very hard. Now, you get a pen machine that makes barely any noise. It’s a lot easier to hold. You have less problems with your wrists over time. With the new machines, you can just flow with the tattoo. The needles are also a lot better nowadays, a lot more refined. Most of the stuff is disposable – your grips, tips and other consumables can just be disposed of. “
All that said, the overarching feeling is that Wesley’s art is far bigger than his technical challenges.
He says that when a client comes in to get a quote for a tattoo, the first thing he asks is about the design. “If it is a unique design that you want us to design, we’ll ask you to send us pictures of stuff that you genuinely like. From there, we can get an idea of what you are like as a person.
“With any design, we put everything we can into it. We don’t just grab stuff off the internet and say there, let’s go. We prefer designing something that is going to suit your personality, suit your style, suit you as a person and get your story out,” he explains.
From there, Wesley finds out where the tattoo is likely to be positioned on the body and its size. This determines practical things like the amount of ink needed and how long it will take to complete.
The position on the body is even more important, he notes. A tattoo on the ribs or near the collarbone will take longer because of the sensitivity involved. “Hands don’t heal well and, if a client is getting tattoos on the hands, you know you have to then charge a bit extra, because the client is going to have to come in for a touch up when it heals,” he continues.
Above Wesley’s table on the wall are a number of comic book scenes. Is this his particular influence?
“I’ve done a few comic book tattoos, which I love because it’s a lot of colour and vibrant. As you can see, we have a lot of colour to choose from. But it isn’t an influence. When it comes to tattooing, I specialise in micro realism, realism and black and grey tattoos,” he replies.
Micro realism is exactly what it sounds like – a detailed, realistic image on a very small scale. Using a bearded dragon as an example, Wesley explains that the whole body and every detail still needs to be visible even though the final tattoo will probably only measure about four centimetres.
“It’s not something a lot of artists can do. That’s why I specialise in it. It takes a lot of concentration and patience. People think, because it’s a small tattoo, it will be very quick to do. If you had to do just the normal line work for a standard tattoo, it would probably take about half an hour to maybe an hour and a half to complete the bearded dragon. With a small one, it takes around five because of how detailed it is.”
Another area where he excels is in doing tattoos of people’s pets. Here, accuracy is ultra important because, as much as they may all look the same, each animal has its own unique traits which an owner would know. Without those idiosyncratic details, the reason for getting the tattoo would no longer apply.
Wesley has done a number of animal portraits and he admits that he enjoys this because he, quite simply, often prefers animals to people.
“People tend to have different agendas. If an animal likes or doesn’t like you, you’re going to know it immediately. Animals are more honest. I enjoy doing animal portraits and I love the fact that people care enough about their animals to get their portraits done on them.”
He speaks about the portrait of a Rottweiler that he recently did for a client.
“I was asking questions about the rottweiler and he explained to me that he had a rough life and was on the verge of committing suicide when his family got him the dog to help him. The dog was his everything. He didn’t need anything else in his life anymore, and it made him so happy.“
Wesley is also well versed in the language of symbolism which is intrinsic to his art. “We have so many clients with different stories and reasons for getting tattoos. A lot of them are very touching. Some can be weird. A lot of people don’t realize that no matter who you are, no matter what tattoo you get, it will always have a special meaning for you.”
A tattoo recently completed for a special client illustrates this.
He tells of how this client teaches teenagers at a special needs school. The learners were asked to draw a mascot for a special school day and couldn’t figure out what they wanted. One young learner drew the symbol and another, who had just managed to learn to write three weeks previously, wrote “little guy”. That became their special symbol.
“The way they drew it, the way they wrote it, is what she had tattooed on her arm. Like I said, if you look at the tattoo, it doesn’t look like a lot, but it has a lot of meaning behind it. Those are the kind of things that you want to do as a tattoo artist. A lot of tattoo artists won’t do that because they may be afraid of the backlash they could get if they posted it on
Facebook. People might see it as a bad tattoo. But I am more comfortable doing it because I would rather have that lady remember that great story behind it,” he says.
TELLING THE STORIES OF LIFE
For Wesley, and many of his fellow artists, every person with a tattoo has a story. The more that he tattoos, the better he understands his craft and the people who use this medium to convey their messages about life.
‘It’s just nice to be able to show people the view that they have of themselves and the reason why they’re getting tattooed,” he says referring to a recent tattoo he completed for a fellow artist.
The semi-colon tattoo is a suicide awareness symbol. Instead of keeping it plain, they decided to do something more unique. Wesley created a skull with a noose around it. The head of the skull was the top of the symbol and the noose completed it, making it unique to him.
At the end of the day, he admits that the greatest reward is simply having a client loving a completed tattoo.
“It’s honestly hard to describe what it feels like. Everybody gets a tattoo for a different reason. If they are going through a hard time and need a tattoo to help them through that, knowing they are happy when they walk out is amazing. Nothing can describe that.”
He admits that tattooing as an art form means connecting with clients on a number of different levels. Often, these artists work with people when they are at their most vulnerable.
“For many coming for tattoos, this is like chatting to their hairdresser. Tattoos often document important life events. This is an expression of all of those things and more. Here, we have all been through quite a bit and surprisingly, we’re not morbid and depressed. We try to make sure our clients, when they come in, are relaxed. It would be hard for a person to come and enjoy a tattoo with everything they’re going through if the artists are sitting there and just listening to music and not getting involved in the process.
“Many of our clients come here just so they can talk to us about what’s going on in their lives. A lot of them don’t have anyone. Many of our clients have a history of self-harming and people can be very judgy of mental health coping mechanisms. Here, we make people feel comfortable enough to talk to us, to tell us their life stories and know that they are not alone. They don’t have to keep it in – and we charge less than therapists,” he smiles.
Whether it’s the connection or the artistry or the unique combination of both, one thing is certain – people seldom stop after having just one tattoo. Over the 14 years that he has been working as a tattoo artist, Wesley says only four clients have stopped after their first one. Most keep coming back to continue to capture the narrative of their lives through this special art form.
