TATTOO FOR ALL: Floral

I met Wesley in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, earlier this month, and she shared these two tattoos from her forearms:

These two flowers are (pictured from left to right) a Cherokee Rose, which is the state flower of Georgia, and a Nile, or Egyptian Lotus.

Wesley explained that the Cherokee Rose is generally white in color, but white flowers don't generally translate well to white skin. Fortunately, they can occasionally grow pink, so that's the shade she chose for the tattoo.

Wesley explained the whole process of these tattoos in detail:

"I was born in Macon, Georgia and my dad's from Georgia and the whole myth is that when the Cherokees were driven out ... by the white people, they cried ... The Trail of Tears ...and the flowers that sprang up where their tears [fell] were the Cherokee Rose. And [the flower on the left arm] is a Nile Lotus ... an Egyptian lotus, you see it a a lot on the sarcophagi ... Egyptian tombs, and it's about death and rebirth.... I got them ... in 2005 ...in Seattle by a guy ... Ian at Lucky Devil Tattoo in Capitol Hill, Seattle ... it was a year almost since I had been diagnosed and treated for cancer and it was sort of my celebration of 'I'm okay' and I had some whole elaborate - I was going to have insects on the inside of my wrist and flowers on the outside, and there was a possibility of a snake, there was a whole big thing and ... the great thing about this artist was that he was like, 'here, let me do a temporary version of what that would look like,' and I was like, 'that would look really cluttered and ridiculous' ... and I realized that I really wanted them to be something I could see and I was more attuned to the flowers ... I wanted something that was close to home from my past and then something that was from another culture from farther away - there's the birth thing and the death thing. Yeah."

Thanks to Wesley for sharing her beautiful tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

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I stopped Jenn outside of Madison Square Garden when I noticed the cool floral tattoo wrapping around her right ankle onto her foot:

Jenn identified the artist only as Roland, at a shop in the Pacific Beach neighborhood of San Diego. "I had the idea for the design and he drew it," she explained. The flower depicted is a Lily of the Valley.

When I asked why she chose this flower, she elaborated:

"I'm not super religious, but there's a story that, whenever Mary cried after Jesus' death, a lily of the valley would grow. I happen to believe that, through tears and feelings, that it really brings a person to life."

Jenn is a therapist, and this expression of emotion leading to new life goes hand-in-hand with her vocation. The full context of the flower in a religious context can be read here.

Thanks to Jenn for sharing her lovely tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

TATTOO FOR ALL

Wesley Shares Two Significant Blossoms

Jenn's Lily of the Valley