TITLE: Mother Ink

Mother Ink is a part of my ongoing portrait series "Ink Stories", which explores women’s life-stories and sexuality through their tattoos. Leah, who grew up in a small town surrounded by normalcy, was inspired by art and rebellious women in faraway lands. She transformed her skin to reflect the extraordinary she felt on the inside. Moving to NYC, she got into an abusive relationship and became pregnant. Inspired by the love for her child and the strong women portrayed on her skin, she returned back to her small hometown to heal and to raise her son as a single mother.

AUTHOR: Reka Nyari (United States)

Living and working in New York City, Reka Nyari’s practice spans from fashion and fine art photography and videography, to elaborate installation and performance pieces. Oscillating between mischievous eroticism and wistful splendor, her work employs and explores traditional ideals of beauty and gender to portray sexuality from a predominantly female perspective. Nyari’s images of nude figures are not strictly intended as alluring portraits – while deriving their emotional charge from the familiar motifs of erotic photography, they expand the pictorial vocabulary to the realm of narratives, layering in personal histories and fictitious content. Unapologetically, Nyari embeds luscious and empowered bodies in luminous landscapes or against staged backdrops. Nudity, gesture, gaze, as well as objects become intrinsically linked to the feminine identity.