This project provides a convent for a sisterhood of tattooed nuns by the name of ‘The Sisterhood of the Blessed Skin’. Seeing themselves as a canvas of God, these sisters believe in complete devotion through the adornment of their bodies with tattoos. Viewing tattooing as a mortification of the flesh, they feel that the suffering felt while inking their bodies is a form of penance and will command forgiveness of the past and the salvation of the future. The convent is governed by three Mother Superiors who each lead a separate sect of tattoo practice: contemporary gun tattooing, skin stitching and scarification. A central ink step well is used by the sisters for ritualistic acts of bathing, with its ink having been produced through the yearly burning of the site’s surrounding leaves.

Above image: A study of tattoo ink and its interactions with the surface of water.