Canterbury exhibition spotlights Kent's female tattooists
Mark Making: Women making their mark in tattoo arts goes live in October
This October, a group exhibition bringing together the work of three local artists to explore the creative practice of tattooing, opens at the Herbert Read Gallery, University for the Creative Arts (UCA) in Canterbury.
Mark Making: Women making their mark in tattoo arts, features painting, photography, and collage, tracing the journey from the first mark on paper to the finished work on skin. It invites audiences to look beyond the tattoo and consider the artist behind the mark, the gesture, the line, the sketch, and the decisions that connect them all.
The exhibition will showcase work by three distinct, locally based artists, MJ Smith, Amia Town and Katya Taylor, giving a unique perspective to the art of tattooing.
For MJ Smith, an early-career tattoo artist working at Drawn & Quartered, process is central to the practice. Her work lets us consider the tattoo, not simply as a finished image but as the outcome of an evolving artistic process, beginning as an initial sketch on paper.
While, Amia Town, a Kent-based tattoo artist, UCA alum and owner of Beloved Light in Rochester, combines tattooing with painting, each informing and enriching the other. The exhibition includes a series of her paintings, many created especially for Mark Making, revealing the wider artistic practice of a tattoo artist whose work is most often encountered on the skin.
Alongside these artists, Katya Taylor, a photographer, and recent MA graduate from UCA, turns her camera towards the spaces and people that make up the tattoo community. Based in Canterbury, Taylor has created a new series of portraits and photographs made in tattoo studios in and around the city, focusing on female-presenting and female-identifying tattoo artists. Her work exposes the individuals behind the practice –a creative community known more through the tattoos it creates.
Professor Charlotte Frost, Associate Dean of UCA’s Canterbury School of Art, Architecture & Design, said: “The tattoo industry is in flux. It's estimated that only around 25% of tattoo artists around the world are women. That number is rising, but beyond a few niche forums, we still don't know enough about their work or the impact they're having on the industry. We're thrilled to be sharing this work and recognising the quality of talent we have right here in Kent.”
The exhibition asks audiences to reconsider what it means to be a tattoo artist, foregrounding these practitioners as artists first and foremost, with the word “tattoo” becoming almost silent within the title.
Mark Making runs from 5 October to 4 November 2026, Monday-Friday, 10am -4pm at Herbert Read Gallery, UCA Canterbury. The exhibition is free and open to the public.
Mark Making: women making their mark in tattoo arts
Date: 5 October to 4 November 2026
Address: Herbert Read Gallery, University for the Creative Arts, New Dover Road, Canterbury, Kent, CT1 3AN
Opens: Monday to Friday, 10am to 4pm. Free
Exhibition Preview: Thursday 8 October, 5-7pm
For more information: uca.ac.uk/events
