One day we will live in a judgement-free world, but until then Julia Falcon will continue to remain unbothered by the countless trolls who claim her tattoos mean she’s “desperate for attention.”
The 36-year-old has been using her body as a canvas for tattoos for the past 18 years, and as a result her body is 98% covered in ink.
“My eyelids are the only places on my body that aren’t tattooed… yet,” she told What’s The Jam.
The caregiver from California began the process nearly two decades ago. She initially wanted a dragon on her arm, but once she met a “brilliant” tattoo artist, she changed her mind and got a dragon on her back and “slowly added on from there.”
“The tattoo process is more important to me than the tattoo itself,” she said. “It is very ritualistic, meditative, and can even be spiritual at times.”
Over time she developed a relationship with her tattoo artist, so when they died 10 years after they first met she was devastated.
To honor him she wanted to finish her bodysuit.
“There’s meaning behind my whole suit. It’s a tribute to one of the best tattooers I ever had the honor of knowing.”
Falcon calls the process of getting a tattoo “very meditative” and says she often goes for the experience more than the result.
“It really pushed me to learn a thing or two about surrendering to something greater than myself, surrendering to pain.”
“I used to treat the tattoo process like the 11th step of AA, seeking through prayer and meditation to improve conscious contact with power,” Falcon, who is a recovering addict, said.
Although the 36-year-old said it’s hard for her to pick out a favorite tattoo, people online have no trouble telling her what they don’t like about her body.
“If someone doesn’t like me because I have tattoos in the real world, they just ignore me, but the internet gives a lot of people the opportunity to safely tell me that they dislike me because of the artwork I have on my body.”
Thankfully her family and friends “see right past them and don’t really notice.” But even if they didn’t, Falcon said, “Not everyone is going to agree with the decisions that you make, and yes there are people out there that will dislike you because you look different. But we don’t get tattooed for them, we do it for ourselves.”
Would you tattoo your entire body? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
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