New Life for Nearly Extinct Creatures
Article published: Tuesday, December 1st 2009
It may be a drop in the ocean when it comes to tackling conservation, but an event held last weekend in Salford aimed to raise awareness of the plight of one hundred endangered species as their images were tattooed onto volunteer ‘ambassadors’.
The unique Ex-Inked project is the brain child of Ultimate Holding Company Director Jai Redman, a veteran environmental activist who drew each design himself. By creating a living ambassador for each species he hopes that it will create a ripple effect of awareness.
Speaking to MULE, Jai said: “It is a drop in the ocean but wouldn’t it be fantastic if one of these species chances of survival was actually increased?”
Tattooing may seem like an extreme, and somewhat painful step to take, but Jai views it another way:
“When you put tattooing in context it doesn’t hurt half as much as extinction. It is nothing compared to the pain of losing a huge number of species.”
The project, which has already raised several hundred pounds for the Marine Conservation Society, Bug Life and the People’s Trust for Endangered Species, aspires to prevent the prospect of a bleak future for those animals threatened with extinction.
This year celebrates the bicentennial birthday of Charles Darwin and with a quarter of all mammals and a third of amphibious species currently under threat due to climate change, the effects of urbanisation and industrial growth on natural habitats, the time to tackle the crisis has never been more pressing.
Each volunteer had to apply to be an ambassador and they were chosen on the basis of their personal connection to the plant or animal which they wanted to represent.
Sarah Graham, 22, a st
udent in Manchester, was chosen as the ambassador of the Grape Hyacinth. She said: “I chose the design because I was raised with a keen appreciation of all things flora and I always loved the Hyacinth because they are indigenous to where I come from in East Anglia.”
Sarah, who already has two other tattoos, said: “When I was picked I did an extensive victory dance.”
On whether it was painful, she said that on a scale of one to ten the Hyacinth came in at an eight.
Ambassadors had different reasons for their choice of design. Kathryn Brown, 24 from Cheshire, was having her ninth tattoo. She said: “I chose the Red Squirrel because there’s only about 145,000 left in the UK and it’s our own fault.”
The task of inscribing the tattoos was undertaken by Leeds based Ink vs Steel. Simon Caves, who has been a tattooist for fourteen years, said his favourite tattoo so far had been the Yellow Fish. “It’s a big ugly thing and I put my heart and soul into it,” he said.
Samantha Bradey
More: Manchester, News
Comments
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[…] Lawson is no stranger to treading the fine line between art and politics. She was one of the founders of Ultimate Holding Company (UHC), the radical art collective which in 2003 built a functioning replica of Guantanamo Bay’s Camp X-Ray – complete with prisoners and guards – in Hulme, and in 2009 tattooed a hundred volunteers with endangered British plant and animal species as part of its ExtInked exhibition. […]
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