LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — This week Lexington is having its first tattoo expo and more than 150 artists from around the world are in the city at the Hilton Lexington Downtown. People are coming out to experience the art, get tattoos, and to show them off even ones on their eyes.
Tyler Casey, the event’s emcee and a tattoo artist, explained how he got his eyes tattooed.
"It was kind of different than a regular tattoo. It was one injection with a syringe full of tattoo ink," Casey explained.
The Lexington Tattoo Expo started Thursday and runs through Sunday. Organizers said the event is expected to bring out around 8,000 people through the weekend. People are encouraged to come out and see what these artists have to offer.
Organizer and tattoo artist, Diego Flores, said, "Even if they don’t get tattooed, I think just being exposed to see how many different styles there are out there, also every artist works differently -- so I think a lot of people are nervous and they have this idea that artists are like very tough looking person, like acting. Not everybody is that way. There's females, there's men, there's so many different ages."
The artists know that there's been a stigma around tattoos in the past but want people to know that there are a lot of reasons someone might get them.
"I do still think that there's a little bit of judgement still on it. But nowadays a lot of people get them, they engrave important things in their lives, meaningful dates, meaningful people, a lot of people try to get their grandparents handwriting on them, which is very touching. Some people just do it for the sake of the art, some people just like collecting it," Flores said.
The event’s organizers want people to come out this weekend, break those stigmas and experience this art form for themselves.
"You know we're really friendly people, you can find the artist that you connect with and i think that’s the most important thing just like, finding an artist that you’re able to connect with, establishing a connection, if you like the style, then just go for it,” said Flores.
