Who Did Your Ink?: Eva Bryant says doing her own body art is cost-effective

Who Did Your Ink? is the Straight’s weekly feature, where we ask badass Vancouverites about the talented artists, indelible stories, and, at times, questionable antics behind their most treasured tattoos.

What’s your name? Eva Bryant.

What do you do? I'm a tattoo artist at a private studio and an equestrian.

Who did your ink? In Vancouver, I've mostly gotten work from folks working at Black Medicine (441 Gore Avenue) and the private studio I work out of. I got my favorite tattoos in Sweden from William Fjellman and Emil Sarelind at Deep Wood Tattoo. I've also done nearly everything on my legs, my own hands, and some of my left arm. 

Why did you choose these artists to do your tattoos? Tattooing yourself (in a safe sterile professional environment) is quite reasonably priced! These days, I mostly trade with my fellow artists and look forward to collecting as many as possible. 

Is there any meaning behind them? Tattooing is meditative, spiritual, and very intimate. My tattoos tend to focus on themes that are important to me—I have lots of botanicals and occult-type things. I've chosen to do only black tattoos because it makes such a collection of small works (at last count at had 170) in different styles very cohesive.

Who’s your favourite local tattoo artist? Rebecca Dewinter, Ali Bruce, Yi Stropky, Shannon Elliot, Layla Chen, Colin Cej, Maryellen Groundwater and Katie So.

What’s next on your ink list? I'm spending August in Berlin and will see how many I can get while I'm there!