Not simply for the sake of the body art alone, Musical Ink is a new portrait project from Toronto photographer Jon Blacker. Spotlighting musicians and their tattoos Musical Ink goes more than skin deep to focus on the personal meanings of the artist's body art. Be it a deep personal reflection or simply a great, funny story, the final package is displayed such that one page presents a portrait of the individual artist, while the facing page includes a detail image of their favorite tattoo surrounded by the artist’s own words.
The artists in Musical Ink represent as wide a range of musical genres as possible, from heavy metal to opera. Musicians who are wildly popular in one genre may be unknown in another, yet this is precisely what makes this project appeal to such a broad audience; there is something for every musical taste, and ultimately it is the artists’ tattoos that tie it all together. Upwards of 100 artists are going to be invited to participate in the project.
What makes Musical Ink especially unique is that it is being photographed in black and white using an infrared camera. This technique allows the tattoos to truly stand out from the skin because infrared light largely reflects off of skin yet is absorbed by tattoo ink creating a great deal of contrast between the almost glowing, ethereal appearance of the skin and the ink of the tattoos.
This collection of portraits has resulted in the large format hard cover book, Musical Ink which will be published by Schiffer Publishing on June 28, 2013. It is available for purchase at Amazon and Borders
