A new group wants to help people frame their tattoos as artwork for family members
Alison BowenContact ReporterChicago Tribune
After death, tattoos can be preserved as framed artwork.
Loads of thought — and cash — often go into getting a tattoo.
So perhaps it makes sense that people are opting to keep them, even after death.
A new nonprofit, the National Association for the Preservation of Skin Art, just launched to help people, after they die, preserve tattoos as framed artwork for family members.
Founder Charles Hamm, 60, said he received a warm response during a weekend launch at the Biggest Tattoo Show on Earth in Las Vegas, where 40,000 gather to celebrate tattoo artistry.
"The level of artwork that goes into tattoos today is mind-boggling," he said.
So far, they've removed 21 tattoos, including two test tattoos donated by Hamm, who had the skin removed after a 100-pound weight loss.
The idea sprouted when Hamm, who says he has $10,000 worth of tattoos on his back alone, was talking with friends about what a shame it would be to lose them during cremation.
"I thought about that a week or so later, and I thought, 'Why does that have to happen?'" he said.
Consulting a doctor, tattoo artists, embalmers, "the excitement just grew from there," he said.
How it works: Members join NAPSA, with an initial fee of $115 and yearly dues of $60 (dues cover preservation of one tattoo; each additional tattoo is another $100 one-time initiation fee; extra-large tattoos have higher fees). They then upload images, location and even a story behind the ink.
After death, a designated beneficiary — ideally prepped beforehand and not squeamish — contacts NAPSA, which promises to overnight a kit with instructions for removal within 60 hours. A funeral home typically does the removal; prepaid return packaging is included. Within six months, NAPSA returns the tattoo to the beneficiary.
Families can frame it on their own; care instructions are included.
"Basically, it's like any fine piece of art," Hamm said. "You wouldn't put a Picasso in the sunlight every day."
People might pass down portraits of their children, tattooed on a body part, to become portraits in a living room.
Should some family members have second thoughts about receiving framed flesh, a Final Wish Fulfillment Benefit of up to $2,000 can act as an incentive, sent when NAPSA receives the tattoo.
Hamm, who formerly worked in accounting, hopes the tattoos that have meaning for him also will carry lasting meaning for his family. A gorilla signifying protection on his chest will go to his wife; a lizard his grandson designed will go to him; his son will get his back.
"I would hope that my grandson hangs this lizard," he said — "certainly not in a box in the basement."
Tips include talking to family members beforehand just as a person would discuss burial versus cremation, Hamm advised.
"I think at the end of the day, it's really saying to someone close to you that, when I pass away, this is what I want," he said.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifes...s-of-the-dead-health-0922-20150922-story.html
