Last year…
“I was given the title Miss Tattoo Netherlands. You can participate with a small tattoo, but also if you are completely full, like me. It was so special to hear that I had come first. I found it overwhelming.”
For seven years…
“I live in the Netherlands. I am from Poland and came here to work. I am now training, but for many years I was a cleaner. There I have sometimes commented on my appearance. The owner of a company where I worked saw my tattoos and immediately called my boss to say that this was not the intention. Was I sent away because I had ‘yellow-blue’ arms!”
On my tattoos…
“I get both positive and negative responses. I get a lot of attention on the street. I understand that not everyone likes tattoos. That’s a matter of taste. But many people also immediately judge you, for example that you are vulgar. I am a very sweet woman, who likes to take care of people. Until January I did an internship in a retirement home with people with dementia. They found it no problem. I was only asked twenty times a day if I could wash those tattoos off too, haha!”
My love for ink…
“Comes from my younger brother. He has been designing and making tattoos since his childhood. When I was about 15 years old, he put out my first copy: a clown with a red nose. That is why it remains special to me. But otherwise they have no meaning, the point is that I like them. In Poland I have a permanent tattoo artist; I tell him my ideas and he makes something beautiful out of it. They are all unique.”
It’s much cheaper….
“To get a tattoo in Poland than in the Netherlands. There you pay about 350 euros per day, here sometimes 150 euros per hour. If I’m in my regular tattoo parlor, I’ll be there for a day. Last time even three days! But then my whole leg was off. I want to have my other leg fully tattooed with mandalas, that’s my style at the moment.”
My daughter…
“It’s only 4, so it’s not playing yet. But if she also wants something on her body in the future, I have no problem with that. She’ll have to wait until she’s 18.”
Only on my face…
“I will never have anything put. I have a pretty face, I’d like to keep it that way. But I want the rest of my body to be completely full. After that I’ll be glad I don’t have to suffer anymore, haha. I once camouflaged my tattoos with makeup. Funny to see myself like this, but I’m not. Tattoos are just part of me.”
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This article appears in the new VROUW Magazine (every Saturday at De Telegraaf). As a premium member you can also read it online (sometimes earlier).