Military Tattoos

What's your story?

The photos exhibited below are a part of a series of portraits representing the veterans and military personnel of IUPUI. Utilizing photography and installation, the work evokes a conversation about tattoos and confronts the negative connotations surrounding them. It was created with the hope of honoring our military and their tattoos.

Kayln's Phoenix

Photo by Shelby Flora and Zach Carrico

The half-sleeve tattoo on my left arm represents my deployment. My tattoo shows Camp Phoenix down at the bottom in a silhouetted skyline being destroyed by a bomb and a Phoenix rising from the ashes of destruction looking down at what is now no more. It also shows me coming home a different person than when I left.