The English idiom "don't judge a book by its cover"
is a metaphorical phrase which means "you shouldn't
prejudge the worth or value of something by its outward appearance alone".
I think we have all been guilty of this at one point or more in our lives, and
I know people have judged me on my outward appearance.
But what would happen if you
were not only judged on your appearance and your occupation, but so was your
ten year old son?
Below is an article, copied
in it's entirety from the Common Ground webpage. Milly is my cousin, as a
little girl I use to baby-sit her. She was the sweetest girl who would spend
the night colouring in, and then go to sleep with cuddles and me curling her
hair in my fingers.
As an adult, Milly is still
one of the sweetest people I know. Yet now, she is also an extremely talented
artist, a successful business woman, plus a women of great consciousness when
it comes to the environment and her fellow man. Milly is a woman of empowerment,
who is an inspiration to others on just how successful women can be. She is
also the tattooist who has done all of my work (bar for one piece).
At a really low point in my
life (after a miscarriage) Milly gave Justin and I similar, tattoos. I call it
my magic fertility tattoo. The week-end Milly gave us our peonies
I conceived Jarvis! Who needs IVF when you can get
a beautiful tattoo instead?!! Hmm maybe I should go back for more
tattoos?
Milly free hand drawing Justin's peony tattoo
The finished tattoo
My matching peony
ROCK OF AGES: GUILTY BY MISCONCEPTION
There was a time when tattoos were for sailors and
criminals. Ink in the skin meant travels to far-off lands, an
anti-establishment attitude or gang memberships. A beautifully ornate sleeve of
koi carp, dragons and abstract swirls struck fear into the hearts of many, a
signature of the Yakuza, the Japanese mafia, and a warning of trouble at best.
Even today, there are certain tattoos that bare criminal
connotations. Tears on the cheek supposedly symbolise the number of people the
barer has killed and Latino groups and bikie gangs sport the colours of their
clans.
But this is the 21st Century – minds have been opened,
culture has expanded and lines have been blurred, if not entirely erased. A
tattoo today has no more relevance than our choice of underwear or our hair
style.
And yet needle-wielding artists and those baring their
subcutaneous sketchings are still being victimised and tarred with that same,
centuries-old brush.
Camilla Zavattaro was born into an artistic family. Her
grandfather and his father before him were painters and she was immersed in the
art world from a very young age.
“From my childhood I watched my grandfather paint with great
interest, and he watched his father paint,” Camilla recalls of her youth. “Art
was celebrated in my mothers family. They immigrated from France after
WW2 with these incredible art pieces, centuries old, that I had connected with.
This is when I knew I would be an artist of some sort.”
But, as Camilla entered her teens, a chain of events would
transform her perspective of art dramatically. When she was 13 years old, her
older brother arrived home with a fresh tattoo covering his entire back and the
introduction into the art form was made. Several years later, living in Brisbane, she began
tattooing friends just for kicks. Her heart still very much in the art world,
she enrolled in college, studying art and refining her natural talents, and it
was here that her ‘serious’ tattooing would begin. In a self-confessed “right
place at the right time” situation, Camilla befriended a tattooist and her
transformation was complete – Camilla Zavattaro was no more, Milly Loveknuckles
was born. “It was always definitely something I was always going to do.”
Camilla, Milly, began her professional career in Brisbane, completing her
apprenticeship, finding her niche and continually advancing her skills. But
five years ago, with the wellbeing of her then five-year-old son at heart, she
decided it was time for a change of scene.
“After 10 years of tattooing I decided I didn’t want to
raise my son in a city,” she reasons. “I was visiting Lennox Head frequently,
it was the right thing to do.”
Milly established Rock of Ages Tattoo Parlour five years
ago, launching the business as a solo venture, but expanding rapidly, now with
a family of six artists.
“It’s an incredible work environment where everyone is
really a part of an individual art movement and the professionalism of the
studio,” Milly says of her business. “Our happy place is in the chair, machines
in hands!”
Each artist has their own distinct style, favouring
particular techniques inspiration and imagery for their individual work.
Milly’s personal speciality is in highly illustrative work incorporating flora
and fauna. This creates a more proficient studio offering a diverse range of
styles, whether they be chosen from a catalogue or brought in by the client.
In Rock of Ages, Milly’s dream and her journey are complete.
But outdated prejudice and archaic opinion are continual, and strengthening,
adversaries.
In 2012, the Tattoo Parlours Act was updated. The licensing
policy now required each individual to be scrutinised, with background checks,
criminal records and even the personal opinion of the police commissioner
coming into play to grant the $700, three-year license. And this was just for
an individual to practice in an already registered, and similarly scrutinised,
parlour.
These laws are in place for good reason. They aim to ensure
hygienic, high quality services and restrict criminal activity, known to have
been associated with tattoo studios in years gone by. But are these policies
squeezing way too tight on an industry that caters just as much to lawyers,
bank managers, respectable mums and doctors as it does to bikies and bank
robbers? I have known of chefs, builders and other tradespeople involved in
criminal activities and using the business as a gateway to those exploits, but
there’s no such licensing required in those industries.
“The government are directly taking Australian citizens
human rights away, through the disguise of misnamed laws such as the ‘anti-
biker’ laws,” States Milly. “It has given the police the power to incriminate
or incarcerate people as they choose, be it for protesting, misguided actions,
having an organised group (of any kind they see unfit), or recently
incarcerating a librarian, mother and community worker for wearing her
boyfriend’s bike vest in public. She was jailed, not realising the implications
of simply wearing a piece of clothing.”
Tattooing is an industry in which laws are required, that
could not be disputed. But the levels to which tattooists need to comply, the
false implications they receive simply because of their choice in career and a
‘guilty until proven innocent, and even then carefully watched with suspicion’
mentality are making it harder and harder to ink someone’s skin.
“Tattooists were recently ostracised by similar ‘anti biker’
misguided laws,” says Milly. “New South Wales
and Queensland
have new laws of licensing to weed out the gang related tattoo shops by
incriminating every single tattooist. It is a licensing which YES we need, I
completely agree, but to fingerprint myself, a positively active person in the
community, member of the business Chamber of Commerce, who has never worked in
a criminals shop is a farce.”
With the individual tattooing licenses and over $2,000 paid
out every three years by each and every studio, one has to wonder where funds
from this governmental cash-cow are going. But, however the collected license
fees are being collected, it is near impossible to see how they are benefiting
the industry they are trying to ‘protect’. It would seem, at least at first
glance, that these policies are victimising an industry that, yes, has had a
less-than-rosy history, but has come a long way since shady, port side parlours
and mementos from time served in ‘the Big House’.
Surely this implementation of laws and regulations should be
benefiting this now widely accepted industry. But, as Milly shares, the reality
is far from a business protected and supported by governmental policy:
“Where is the NSW work, health and safety courses that come
with the millions of dollars we are paying for our license?, where is the policing
of home tattooing that spreads hepatitis, mutilation of under aged people and
so on?”
The injustice and imbalance doesn’t even end at the point of
a needle. The individual, the business, even the family members of a legally
sanctioned artist. With a total disregard to human rights, personal history or,
it would seem plain common sense, these laws are indiscriminately placing black
marks against the names of entirely innocent citizens.
This extends beyond the bounds of rationality, even Milly’s
10-year-old son having his name recorded as, quote-unquote, a potential
criminal or gang member, simply for being a trustee in his (also entirely
innocent) mum’s business.
“This is devastating,” admits Milly. “My son doesn’t even
get the chance to make a mistake in life, being already recorded as a potential
criminal.”
Not that deviant behaviour is likely to come to Milly’s
progeny, but even the virtually innocent act of accidental speeding, a crime of
which, grandmothers, charity workers or nuns may fall prey to, will result in
significantly more severe repercussions, simply because his mum is an artist.
Public opinion of tattooing, for all but those
backward-thinking conservative types, has totally changed. There is no longer
anything disrespectful or underclass, let alone criminal about permanently
adorning your skin. It is often a beautiful personal expression of love,
spirituality and creativity. But, as is a familiar story, the government refuses
to change with the times.
“This fear mongering in the media is 10 years too late,”
Milly iterates. “Tattoo studios have been a place of creativity and personal
connections for a long time – it is intimate and an honouring of our bodies,
now more than ever. The outcome needs to be a union of the people of this
entire country to dissolve our government’s ‘smoke and mirrors.’
“Times are changing. We need to unite to make sure we are honoured
individually as people of Australia.”
