My Demons Live Within You Too

A love letter to the tattoo clients of Celia Dunne, through the lens of Tom Wilkinson.

"There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed."- Ernest Hemingway

I'd be lying if I said my art didn't all come from a deep set need to crawl out of my skin and escape; to transform.

The desire to build new worlds is a thing in me gnawing and scratching away at the inside of my skull relentlessly; and tattooing I thought would dull that. It hasn't. If anything that thing has become louder and more persistent; but I've learnt a comfort in the presence of this thing, to cohabitate with and work together to build the world I present before you.

The process of tattooing is deeply transformative, and for 13 years I've had the privilege of witnessing the transcendence my clients experience throughout and beyond their session. Without the clients pictured before you and the ones not seen here also, my work would not be cultivated into existence.

This is my love letter to their strength, their resilience and their unwavering support of my craft.

There is a point in time where the client looks in the mirror once the session is done and you can never quite capture or describe the sheer joy and gratitude that they're content with the work they've done for you. Sometimes it feels like you see a human become whole before your very eyes. It's a kind of magic. And it's this exact magic and transformation I've chased belligerently since beholding it for the first time.

The title of my show is not intended to be a negative connotation. The little thing that pushes and prods me to create and create has led to every bit of good in life. It's become something bigger, and something I'll never stop studying and trying to understand.

This exhibition is dedicated to every client over the span of my career, to anyone who's transformed through the art of tattooing, and to every artist in my life.

My demons live within you now too.

— Celia Dunne

Opening night: Thursday 9 October, 6–9pm
M2 Gallery, Shop 4/450 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills

Entry is free, but registration is essential, capacity is limited.

Special credits to Tom Wilkinson & Ross Jenkinson (@yadokai)