Artist Turns Childhood Photos Into Stylish Tattoos So You Always Have Those Happy Memories On Your Skin

Alican Gorgu was either going to get a 9-to-5 job or follow his dreams to become a tattoo artist. Spoiler alert: he went with the latter.

Now, Gorgu shares his tattoo work on his popular Instagram account, Pigment Ninja, which has garnered more than 19,000 followers. In a simplistic style, Gorgu transforms photographs into minimalistic works of art, allowing one’s memories to be tattooed onto their bodies forever. He tells A Plus in an email that he’s often inspired by movies, too.

“It’s an indescribable feeling to tattoo photographs taken in different parts of the world at different times. For example, I have tattooed a family portrait taken in Mexico in the ’60s as well as one of a family in the US in the ’80s,” he writes. He adds that he works with small spaces and reduces the tattoo’s details so only the essential features remain.

For example, in the below portrait, Gorgu omits the characters’ faces, but the heart of the photograph remains:

1. Two sisters

Like these two sisters have got their childhood pictures inked on their arm and chest.

2. Car, mother, and son

Now people could keep their favorite images and memories close to their heart forever. Just get them tattooed.

3. Baby Lullaby

Chances of mistakes are even more when you’re doing this every day. But, it seems as if three years of job as an assistant and the diploma in photography has helped him more than anything.

4. Parents and the daughter

One single mistake in such tattoos could ruin everything. I mean imagine, the memory, skin, and excitement of the client, everything would go waste.

5. Two sisters

As you can see, not all the tattoo artists can do what Alican is doing. These kinds of tattoos require 100% concentration and precision, and the mastery of the art is not an easy task. We can understand how much effort he has put into this to achieve this.

6. Again Two sisters

Alican has got more female clients than men, which only means that women find this form of tattoo more attractive than men.

7. Couple expressions

I just realized, what’s interesting to notice in Alican’s art is his way of giving the exact emotions to the tattoos. Take the picture above, for instance, that girl in the tattoo looks no different than the one in the picture.