Taiwanese woman pursues full-body tattoo dream despite pandemic interruption

儘管因疫情中斷，台灣女性追求全身紋身夢想

Woman saved money from part-time jobs over many years to be inked by tattoo master Chen Wei-zuo


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) —A Pingtung County woman surnamed Chen (陳) has continued her pursuit of having a coiled snake tattooed on her body after the progress was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, CNA reported.

When Chen was 19 years old, she was enthralled by the social media posted artworks of international award-winning tattoo master Chen Wei-zuo (陳韋佐). She then saved money from her part-time jobs for four years, hoping to store up enough to have the master ink a coiled snake on her skin.

When Chen finally saved NT$400,000 (US$13,793), she made an appointment with the tattoo artist to meet at the 2019 Taiwan Kaohsiung Tattoo Convention to discuss her dream of getting inked, per CNA.

The tattooist told media on Tuesday (July 20) that when they met, he tried to dissuade his prospective client from pursuing her dream by telling her that getting a full-body tattoo could make it very hard for her to find a husband. However, the Pingtung woman emphasized that she did not care about how other people would look at her, and she went ahead and procured his services.

Since April last year, Chen had regularly taken a train from Pingtung to Yunlin County to have the tattoo master work on the ink before taking the last train back. The coiled snake ink was originally planned for completion by the end of July, but the tattooist put the project on hold in May, citing concerns about the outbreak of the Delta COVID-19 variant in Pingtung.

Worried the interruption could cause the shades of the ink to appear inconsistent, the tattoo enthusiast provided the master the certificate of a negative rapid test result in an attempt to persuade him to continue the body ink project.

As the epidemic curve in the country has flattened, he promised this month that he will continue to work on the ink, which is 70% complete and set to be finished by the year’s end.

The coiled snake ink extends from the woman’s arms to her back and thighs. Chen said she felt the most pain when the needles penetrated the skin in her hips and tailbone.

The tattoo master expressed his appreciation for the woman’s persistence and planned to invite her to be a competing model in overseas events, per CNA.