So, you've spent thousands of dollars to have someone jab ink into your skin. Someday you're going to get old and die, and then what will become of all that hard work and important art? A tattoo and graffiti supply store owner in Amsterdam named Peter van der Helm has a solution: have your skin removed and preserved for your family.
The Foundation for the Art and Science of Tattooing has launched a program where for a starting price of €300, pathologists will (according to The Guardian) remove the skin, "pack it in formaldehyde and send it to a laboratory where the water and fat will be removed and replaced with silicone." Preserving tattoos is not a new development, but this program is certainly a modern idea. The Surgeon's Hall Museum has a full chest piece from the 1800s, but we don't think the person who wore that skin planned for it to be on display 200 years later.
1.
"Preserving your skin can be done for many reasons," reads a post on the Walls and Skin website. "Preserving the artwork, the story, the emotional value or preserving tattoos for your next-of-kin. We recognize the value of preserving tattooed skin for the art and history as also for the last wishes of the donors." The Guardian writes that over 50 people have already signed up for the service since it was created a year ago. We just hope that they have art worth saving.
[via Guardian]
