Americans Keep Tattoos Of The Dead As Works Of Art

THE NEW YORK TIMES LIFE/STYLE Jonathan Gil knew he would never forget the details of the day his 24yearold twin brother died in a boating accident on Lake Hopatcong in northern New Jersey the frantic phone call of a friend, the difficult search for rescuers and the fear of breaking the sad news to his mother.

But Gil feared that as the months and years passed, the memories he had of Jason after that tragic day would begin to fade. His family’s solution: keep a part of his brother.

Now, if he’s looking for a quick reminder of his twin, Gil can check out a collage of photos on a shelf next to his desk that doubles as an altar tattoo of a black and white skull and three roses, captured and preserved in the skin of Jason’s left shoulder, is protected in a frame.

“We have his ashes, but you don’t see a physical part of him in them,” said Gil, 27. “But with the tattoo, you can see it. It’s nice to have a little piece of him, like we can touch him one way or another and hold him close.

The received tattoo is the work of the company Save my ink foreverwas founded in 2016 in Northfield, Ohio by Kyle Sherwood, a thirdgeneration mortician in his family, and his father, Mike.

While limited attempts at obtaining tattoos date back decades, few other companies around the world are doing the same job as Sherwood, who started his business at the confluence of two growing trends: More Americans are getting tattooed as the idea of turning the remains of loved ones into keepsakes becomes more popular. Some mourners have cremated remains made into jewelry or cast in glass sculptures all in the name of closeness to a loved one.

Kyle Sherwood said Save My Ink Forever helped a grieving mother keep the memory of her son alive after his murder. The tattoo honoring his grandfather was done by the man’s uncle. Photo: Daniel Lozada/The New York Times

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According to the National Funeral Directors Association, grieving people are also increasingly asking funeral homes for this service. Walker Posey, director of a funeral home and spokesman for the association, said more than half of his nearly 400 clients ask for these memorabilia each year. This is a sharp increase from five years ago when customers rarely placed these orders. The burial laws in 49 states with the exception of Washington permit the practice of tattoo preservation.

And 3 in 10 Americans have at least one tattoo, according to a 2019 Ispos poll, with permanent ink growing in popularity among young people.

The idea of saving a loved one’s tattooed skin and hanging it on the wall can be difficult for some to imagine. But families who have worked with the Sherwoods say it brings comfort, emphasizing that a person’s tattoos often hold great meaning.

Margie Gatehouse of Salt Lake City said when her husband died of cirrhosis last spring, her daughters approached her with the idea of getting her tattoo. She was surprised by the suggestion.

“I found it morbid and thought it wasn’t even possible,” said Gatehouse, 52. “How can you cut something off someone?”

His daughters, Courtney and Nichole, explained to their mother that their father would agree and that they had found Save My Ink Forever. They asked them to imagine how special it would be to have the black and white skull tattoo that has a band with their names framed and preserved for years to come. She reluctantly agreed.

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Now Gatehouse says she couldn’t be more grateful to have listened to her daughters while the picture frame that hangs in their living room continues to connect her to her husband.

“I’m glad I didn’t miss the opportunity,” she said.

Historians trace the rise of tattoo preservation to the mid19th century. Fukushi Masaichi, a Japanese doctor, is credited with being one of the pioneers in the field, said Karly Etz, a postdoctoral researcher in the history of tattooing at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

While the concept of saving loved ones’ tattoos existed informally, Sherwood sought a way to perfect the preservation process while treating the tattoo as a work of art and spending two years getting the details right.

When Save My Ink Forever receives an order to conserve a tattoo, the company sends a package of supplies to the funeral home to have the tattoo removed. Funeral directors are guided through an instructional video to remove only the amount of skin needed to preserve the tattoo. The process is “very hard to go wrong,” Sherwood said. If something goes wrong, he said, his team can usually fix it.

Kyle Sherwood (left) and his father, Mike Sherwood, founded Save My Ink Forever, which helps families preserve the tattoos of loved ones who have died. Photo: Daniel Lozada/The New York Times

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The undertaker places the tattoo in a preservative. She is then sent to Ohio to join a team of about five people to cleanse, trim excess skin and fix any blemishes.

Sometimes the skin gets damaged. Or in the case of Gil’s twin’s damp skin, extra care is needed to restore the tattoo to its original glory.

“It’s like cleaning a dirty window,” Sherwood said, noting that her team isn’t altering the tattoo in any way. He declined to give further details of the process, which takes around three to four months per tattoo.

Finally, the tattoo gets a frame. Families choose the type of frame and mount, and then a professional framer gets to work. Each tattoo is stitched onto the canvas and the frame is nitrogen pumped to keep it pristine whilst employing museum quality UV blocking glass.

In order to have the materials to perfect the science, Sherwood came up with the idea of paying for some people to have tummy tucks, which have excess skin and fat removed, so he could practice on that discarded skin.

The cost can range from around $1,700 for a small 5 x 5 inch tattoo to upwards of $120,000 to get a larger one.

Sherwood said while some people may find his business odd, he prides himself on being able to give people a lasting physical reminder of their loved one.

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“The satisfaction that people have and this connection that I can make is inexplicable,” Sherwood said. “It’s a sense of humility and it’s powerful to have that effect on someone.” / TRANSLATION LÍVIA BUELONI GONÇALVES