Meet the Brutal Black Project, Constructive Torture
Warning: Some images may be graphic. I chose images that weren’t too bad, if you’re interested in seeing how brutal this project can get I’ll include more resources that have more photos and interviews at the end.
The Brutal Black Tattoo Project is a lot like it sounds, a brutal take on your typical blackout tattoo. Blackout is when the artist completely covers the area or limb with black ink so that there is no skin tone, or underlying tattoo visible, just black. People choose to do blackout for many reasons. For some people it starts as a coverup or a coverup of a coverup and their last resort is just to blackout that area or even that limb. Some people know already they like blackout tattoos and jump in right away and start getting their skin blacked out. Brutal black takes this one step further in their philosophy, technique, and brutality.
The 3 creators of the Brutal Black Tattoo Project, Cammy Stewart, Valerio Cancellier and Phillip ‘3Kreuze’ specialize in large scale blackout tattooing. They sport Brutal Black tattoos as well, which I think is really important for this style. They have their own philosophy and ritual around the practice of Brutal Black so it seems right that with such strong beliefs they were also participants. Now in a brutal black session all 3 of them are tattooing you, to no mercy. Their philosophy is all about the ritual of pain, through a means of tattooing. They have no concern for aesthetics or how the end product looks, it’s all about the process and pushing yourself to new levels of pain. Not for no means, participants learn a lot about themselves and that is the goal of these sessions. The artists explain it best in an interview by Fareed Kaviani in Vice magazine:
“At what point did you realize the Brutal Black project was more than an aesthetic thing?” Fareed asks
Things started to change in my head when I saw the reactions of the clients during the tattooing process. The project is not always about the outcome; it’s about the process. Taking things back to the primitive, the rite of passage. Pushing the limits of your inner self. How much do you want something? Can you see it through to the end? The marks left from the tattoo are only a reminder of what you learned about yourself during the process. To me, the marks left in skin are less important than the marks left in your mind.
Cammy Stewart
Nothing was defined, nothing was planned, nothing was forced. It wasn’t still clear what it was going to become, but an awareness was born.”
Valerio Cancellier
This is really what the Brutal Black project is about. The difference between a regular session (blackout or not) and Brutal Black is the brutality, it’s not just a name. The artist’s mantra is definitely no pain, no gain. During a regular session it’s not normal to be fighting the needle in pain, these are sessions of volunteered torture. This pain they subject themselves to isn’t for no means, the artists and participants see it as constructive, a way to test themselves and learn more about their inner being. Numero magazine summarizes their philosophy well saying,
“A true rite of passage, it makes pain an end in itself. Inflicted and received in order to push the limits of the body and mind, pain is seen as an effective means of going beyond oneself. While we’ll never know exactly what pushes the participants to take part in such a project, we can only guess that they’re seeking to get rid of one identity in exchange for a form of excellence. More than just a tattoo, it is an essence, an improved identity that they’ve acquired through this extraordinary strength of character.”
To achieve this all 3 artists mercilessly tattoo at the same time with no compassion for their willing victim. They recall that there are no breaks for client comfort. In an interview one man who took part in the project, Polo, says there were only 2 short breaks, 1 to throw up quickly and 30 seconds to puff on a joint. Polo remembers his experience fondly though telling The 4th Wall in an interview,
“Every session has a lasting impact on me; anytime I get tattooed I learn something new. Whether it is something new about me, my body, my journey or others, I appreciate this side of the whole process of modifying my body and what it has taught me throughout the years. And it was the same for this session. The tattoo itself was important, but the ritual part of this experience is something I will never forget.”
Polo
Brutal Black is also a statement against modern tattooing. They deliberately don’t care about the aesthetic in a more meaningful way that just ignoring it, disregarding it has a set intention. In modern tattooing a lot of symbols have lost meaning, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. For example not everyone who has a swallow tattoo has earned it by sailing the nautical miles. The creators see that as tattooing gets more popular it means less and less what it used to, when only carnival people and outcasts got tattooed, though this isn’t a bad thing they prioritize taking tattooing back to something extreme. This style certainly isn’t for everyone, those that do choose to be willing victims really believe in the philosophy that Cammy Stewart, Valerio Cancellier and Phillip ‘3Kreuze’ have put forward and that they’re better people for getting through their Brutal Black journey.
“Pain is perishable, and pride remains eternal!”
-Philip 3Kreuze
Sources:
- https://www.numero.com/en/culture/brutal-black-tattoo-project-cammy-stewart-phillip-3kreuze-valerio-cancellier-no-pain-no-gain
- https://www.vice.com/en/article/pg5qx7/meet-the-tattoo-collective-who-prioritise-pain-over-aesthetics
- https://www.the4thwall.net/blog/2017/9/23/brutalblackinterviews
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-D9Y3u_m6Is
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-A1XIBm4Oo
