This is the story of Eli Ink, a 27-year-old tattoo artist from Brighton, England, who has spent 10-years tattooing his body black, including the inside of his mouth and his eyes.
The young lad who calls himself a 'Body modification artist', has tattooed almost of his skin black with several coats of ink, dying his eyes and implanting stretchers in his nose and under his bottom lip.
According to him, his obsession with body modification started from a young age after his uncle came back from Spain with a huge tribal tattoo.
Speaking about his transition to Mail Online, he said: ‘In my opinion, the only person who will only ever understand my transition properly is me. I don’t attempt to describe it to anyone.'
‘I’ve always been blown away by art itself. Picasso is a huge childhood inspiration to me, especially abstract art, but I do like all forms of art. Body art was just the next local step for me growing up.’
'I wanted to look like an abstract character in one of Picasso’s paintings. I love the abstract look, no thought , just pure expression,' he said.
Ink's Eyeball tattooing involves injecting the ink in-between two layers of the Scleral of the eye and letting it spread out.
He also admitted that the process of body modification, can have disastrous results if it goes wrong.
'That’s the risk you take letting anyone near your eyes, even trained surgeons can make mistake. Body modification is a risk taker's lifestyle.'
On his relationship, Eli also revealed that he has a girlfriend Holly, who is also part of the body-modification and they are madly in love.
According to Mail Online, the British tattoo artist belongs to a subculture known as Modern Primitives who pay homage to the rites of passage in primitive cultures through their modifications and practices.
Explaining his relationship with the subculture scene, he said the scene is ‘forever expanding its knowledge and growth, with more and more amazing artists from all over the world constantly growing and learning new things about art and the body.’
Eli who studies earlobe reconstruction, tattooing, ear pointing and scarification at the scene, also said: ‘I will never be finished. It will take me the rest of my life to finish my studies but I am dedicating the rest of my life to body modification and perfecting my work.’
‘My work is not perfect, there is still room for improvement, everyone must start somewhere,’ he added.
On negative reactions from people, he said:‘The best is always nice compliments, that’s always nice to hear, either from tattoo collectors or just passers-by, the worst is always older generation looking down on you and making you feel worthless.’
'But this is all a state of mind. I don’t take much notice anymore,' he said.
