A bit of a heads up here for anyone who has been tattooed in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada within the last four years. As of June 18th, a public notice has been put out by the Hamilton Public Health Department regarding two unlicensed tattoo artists: Stephen Baxter, tattooing from a home at 181 Jackson St. West (or perhaps even from an alternate address) and someone who simply goes by J.R.
No news in this article pertains to what exactly Baxter had been doing (aside from tattooing illegally), but this J.R. sleazeball apparently hasn’t been sterilizing his equipment for 4 years. That is absolutely disgusting, not to mention completely reprehensible. I just wanted to help get the word out there, so if you or anyone you know of has been tattooed by either of these guys, then you need to get yourself down to a medical clinic and get some blood tests done.
Man…I don’t know who to blame over stuff like this. I mean, yeah, first off you have to blame the artists. Actually, fuck that, I’m not even going to call these guys artists. Artist is a word that should only be applied to people who care about their art-form and their clients. Not bothering to get licensed or to sterilize your equipment is nothing but total disrespect for everything that being a tattoo artist entails. These dudes are scratchers, plain and simple. Anyway, blame has to fall on them first and foremost and then it has to fall on the health department for not picking up on this sooner.
I guess my biggest question is this: should tattoo artists be allowed to run studios out of private homes? I’m sure that there are many responsible and professional tattoo artists working out of private homes. The problem is that it just seems to me like it’s more difficult to maintain any sort of health regulations on these types of operations. If tattooing from a private residence were illegal, then wouldn’t it make it much easier to see who was breaking the law? I mean, it would automatically cut down on the guess-work if tattoo studios were only permitted in public, commercial areas. Anything beyond that and the health officials would know what’s up.
I don’t know, maybe I’m just naive. But I do know one thing: something needs to change – and fast.