“What will your tattoo look like when you’re old?”: a project by American photographer Mark Perrott (11 photos)

What will your tattoo look like when you get old? This question can often be heard from those to whom the very thought of paint under the skin sounds like a crime. In their opinion, an elderly person with tattoos is a shame, horror and a laughing stock. Do you know who twisted their opinion on their nose? That's right, pensioners with tattoos. And this was confirmed by the American photographer Mark Perrott and his project “Ancient Ink”. Let's take a look at his charismatic models.

Mark doesn't name his models, but he says they include Brian (a retired steelworker), Marge (a 74-year-old former police officer), and Henry (an 87-year-old World War II veteran).

According to Mark, the drawings on the bodies of these people tell him about each of their personal history, about resilience, about loss, about mystery and the liberation that sometimes only comes with age.

Her tattoo says, “Fuck cancer. I beat him three times."