Bogota is crawling with art at the start of the city’s annual international tattoo festival. The Bogota Tattoo Festival was kicked off by the second most tattooed man in the world, Matt Gone, getting the Colombian flag inked on his leg. The second most tattooed man in the world said that he had tattooed his own eyes with various colors, adding colors as time passed. Now, his eyes are more similar to rainbows than they are to whites.
The International Tattoo Festival is at its eight edition and its main aim is to spread awareness about tattoo culture in Colombia and to promote tattooing as an art form rather than as a taboo activity. The International Tattoo Festival in Bogota is organizing a beauty competition for tattooed women. The Bogota International Tattoo Festival is filled with people who consider body modification a form of art, whether it is in the form of tattoos, piercings, implants or suspension.
Suspension demonstrated at the International Tattoo Festival in Bogota
The International Tattoo Festival brings together people who enjoy body modifications, as well as the artists who can create these body modifications. You can participate in suspension session, get tattooed, have implants put into various parts of your body, get pierced or scarred. While many people consider body modifications a taboo and something that should be condemned, the artists and enthusiasts at the International Tattoo Festival are the ones who actually know what body modification is all about.
Matt Gone and Mary Jose Cristerna are two body modification enthusiasts who have tried turning their bodies into a work of art. While Matt got his leg tattooed at the Bogota International Tattoo Festival, Cristerna came to show off her gothic clothing line, as well as her more eccentric look. Matt chose to cover himself with tattoos, tattooing his body, his eyes and even his tongue, to better express his own personality. Cristerna on the other hand, tries to express her personality through body modifications like implants, fangs and piercings, aside from tattoos. She is a successful lawyer and mother of four, and chooses to be similar to a vampire or a creature of the night because that’s her own way of expressing herself.
The International Tattoo Festival, at its eight edition, celebrated the art of tattooing and body modification by organizing various workshops and events, including demonstrations of suspension. Suspension is said to a spiritual experience during which an individual chooses to pierce the skin on their back and hanging themselves from hooks. While many people consider body modification and tattoos to be taboo and are prejudiced about the people choosing to “wear” them, the International Tattoo Festival aims to debunk myths and prejudices about enthusiasts.