I remember Jouko being somehow enthralled by these markings made by people on themselves. Very soon after meeting Tommi, he decided to photograph other people who had adorned themselves with tattoos and body piercings.However, he was not so much interested in why these people had had themselves tattooed or pierced, his was a purely aesthetic perspective: the human body as the object and support of art.

I cannot remember exactly all the stories that accompanied the pictures, but I do remember Jouko being always very careful about the choice of location; he considered the theme (the tattoo) and the associations of place it brought to mind, such as the Kalevala theme by the seaside in Lauttasaari, Miika and friends in a “forest ritual”, Ville in a suite in the Kämp Hotel, and so on. And if the subject had a hobby (cars, dogs, sewing, comics), Jouko wanted to show that too in his pictures. I believe it was because he wanted it to give depth to the person’s story. And then there was also, as Jouko put it, “moving Wallu [Valpio]”, a “tough guy” with the word “MOM” tattooed across his chest, sitting alone in a bar.

Jaana Novitskij