Okay, I’ll admit it: I’m a sucker for tribute tattoos. Anytime people get tattoos in memory of or in dedication to someone who played an important role in their lives, hey, I’m into that. I guess the reason for this is because I really can’t think of many other things that better display someone’s love, devotion or respect for the person that they are being tattooed in memory of than well, a tattoo. Not only that, but getting tattooed in memory of someone keeps a link alive between you and that person. It’s a private and special acknowledgement of another person and their existence.
All that being said, I’m not exactly the type of person who wants to sit around all day and listen to the myriad of sad and depressing stories that have lead people to get their particular tribute tattoo. An example of this would be watching any given episode of LA Ink – it seems that the only people they tattoo on that show are people with horribly sad stories to tell as they’re being tattooed. It’s not that I’m insensitive, I can only take so much of it at one time.
Fortunately for myself and many others, a click of the channel is all we need to measure out how much sadness that we want in our lives at one time. Other people like Lyndsay Keen, for example, aren’t so lucky. Keen, a 44-year-old mother of four in Accrington, England has lost her grandmother to stomach cancer and this year has lost her aunt and friend to cancer as well. In a bid to properly remember them, their struggles and to raise cancer awareness, Keen has begun sitting for an elaborate back piece.
‘Mum-of-four Lyndsay Keen will spend countless two-hour sessions in the tattoo artist’s chair until the design, centering around a large pink ribbon, is completed.
In a few months’ time the finished work will see butterflies, lillies and hummingbirds stretching from her neck to her lower back.’
Aside from getting her own reminder of the people whom she has lost to cancer, Keen has also convinced 16 other people to get their own pink ribbon tattoos, commemorating cancer victims everywhere. All in all, quite inspirational.