Not your father’s tattoo. In Seattle, modern ink takes a subtle twist

Tattoos have come a long way. These days they’re a big, permanent part of modern culture. This weekend tattoo artists and enthusiasts from around the world will be gathering for the Seattle Tattoo Expo. One participant brings a fine artist’s approach to the craft.

Dani Silva has been into art all her life. She loved to draw animals and cartoon characters. She even thought about becoming an animator, until she saw the band Blink 182 on TV and was mesmerized by their tattoos and piercings. She was 13 years old. She begged her mom to get her eyebrows pierced.

“She said, ‘If you get As, if you do good in school, I’ll sign for your piercings,” Silva recalled. “And I was like, 'I have a good reason now,' and I got really good grades!”

She remembers the day she went in to claim her reward.

“When I walked into a tattoo shop, and I saw these people doing art for a living, that’s what I wanted to do," Silva said. "I knew right then and there.”

Silva has been living that dream for 15 years.

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Men still dominate the industry, but in recent years, more women are joining ranks. Women now make up 25% of the global industry.

At Side Quest Tattoo in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, Silva is putting the finishing touches on Hannah Thompson-Garner’s half sleeve, her first color piece. Her lower arm is covered in Pacific Northwest images.

“A focal point of it is this barn owl that’s on the front of it. And then I’ve got a moth at the base of the barn owl,” she said.

She turns her arm over to reveal evergreen trees, ferns, a cascading waterfall — scenes inspired by the Olympic Peninsula.

“They just sort of make me feel connected to a part of life that is often disconnected from us,” Thompson-Garner explained. “The natural world is still there. It can breathe. It’s very symbolic for me.”

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Tattoos used to be more common among men. But since they’ve become more widely accepted, the demographics have changed.

According to the Pew Research Center, 38% of women have at least one tattoo, compared with 27% of men. The most common reason for getting a tattoo? To honor someone or something.

Silva says her first tattoo was in memory of a friend who died in a motorcycle accident.

“It was my friend’s initials, and it says, ‘In loving memory,’ and it’s literally in Microsoft Word font,” she said. Silva says half of her work is memorial tattoos, many of them pet portraits.

“I think there’s that desperation of just needing that loved one with you forever and being able to look down and see that loved one forever.”

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Traditionally, tattoos have been confined to dark, bold lines, with limited color palettes.

In recent years, people are choosing neo-traditional styles, with varying lines, colors, and shading. These days, watercolor-like skin art has become popular. Silva describes her work as realism.

Regardless of the style, Silva says part of tattoos' appeal is that they’re a form of self-expression — another extension of her passion for art.