by: Sarah & Belinda
Tattoo studios and their artists have been affected by the Circuit Breaker restrictions. We talked to five of them to see how they have coped with it and how they plan to go forward.
Miss Scarlett Khor, 19, hard at work tattooing a client (PHOTO: Scarlett Khor)
When we think of COVID-19’s impact on the economy, who do we think are the most affected? Some might say that people in industries such as the aerospace or retail industry would be hit hard by the pandemic, and they aren’t wrong. According to statista.com, the unemployment rate in Singapore has jumped from 4.11% last year to 4.30% this year, and the COVID-19 pandemic could have been a major cause of this unemployment spike.
However, do you know that people who are not directly involved in the pandemic are also facing threats to their source of income? Tattoo artists, who are rarely talked about in society, are currently at risk of a reduced income or potential job loss due to the restrictions brought about by the pandemic.
A modern-day plague
COVID-19 (or the 2019 novel coronavirus, if you want to be fancy), is the pandemic that’s been on everyone’s mind for a large chunk of this year. It has spread to virtually every country in the world in the months after the first case was reported in Wuhan, China. Governments all over the world have imposed measures such as lockdowns, quarantines, and compulsory mask-wearing, in an attempt to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
In Singapore, the first confirmed case of COVID-19 was reported on January 23rd this year. Since then, almost 60 thousand people have contracted the virus, and 28 people have unfortunately succumbed to COVID-19, or side effects that were exacerbated by COVID-19.
How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected tattoo artists?
With the COVID-19 pandemic currently raging around the world, many businesses have been setting off an economic downturn and massive job losses. Despite not being involved in industries such as aerospace and food services (both of which were hard-hit by the pandemic), retail businesses, such as tattoo studios, have been affected by the Circuit Breaker, and the subsequent Phase 1 of reopenings.
The Circuit Breaker officially started on 7th April 2020, which meant that all non-essential services had to close. Tattoo studios were among these non-essential services, and thus, they were unable to operate during the Circuit Breaker period. To make matters worse, they were unable to shift their business online, since their job revolved around tattooing people’s skin on the spot. Even when the first wave or reopenings commenced on 2nd June, tattoo artists were still unable to resume operations.
Despite the odds, five tattoo artists we spoke to coped with their predicament rather well.
They are:
Jerene Tham, 31
Emelyn Ashley, 23
Gwendelyn Lim, 18 (Pictured on the left)
Scarlett Khor, 19
Sarahann Violet Hoyer Chan, 31
Miss Tham, a tattoo artist at Tooth & Nail tattoo parlour at Kandahar Street in Bugis (which first opened in 2015 under a different name), was initially shocked to find out that she could not spend time with her colleagues, whom she regarded as a second family. However, she managed to forge through the Circuit Breaker by finding time to do things she hadn’t had the time to do, and kept up with her friends via virtual means.
Miss Ashley, Miss Tham’s colleague at Tooth & Nail, felt “a bit lost” when the Circuit Breaker began, as she wasn’t sure when it would end, and she still had to pay her bills despite being out of a job. She also lost motivation and her sense of discipline at home, due to a lack of routine to abide by while at home. She initially spent her unexpected free time drawing and sleeping, but eventually started exercising and spending time with her family.
Miss Lim said that COVID-19 has affected her quite a bit. She was not able to do any tattoos, which completely cut off her income for a few months. However, she started learning how to do embroidery and started selling some of her creations through Instagram, which did help her pull through this tough time.
Surviving COVID-19
An example of Miss Tham’s work done at Tooth & Nail. Her Instagram feed features many colourful tattoos depicting various animals and flowers. (PHOTO: thamjerene on Instagram)
As tattoo parlours had to be closed during the Circuit Breaker period, this meant that tattoo artists were essentially out of their jobs. Getting through a global pandemic and facing uncertainty about the future of their careers must have been quite the task for them.
For some tattoo artists like Miss Ashley and Miss Tham, they relied on their savings to get by during the Circuit Breaker, when they were unable to work. However, that period also brought up other issues for the tattoo artists.
Miss Thor, a tattoo artist at Black Dot Tattoo in Jalan Besar, said that the biggest issue she faced was “The period of not working and feeling really uncertain of when we can resume work.”. “Even now, we are anxious whenever we might have to stop working again if the situation gets worse,” she added.
Miss Thor also stated that she was “really bummed” when she learned that she could not tattoo during the circuit breaker. She faced a creative block at the same time, which made it difficult for her to get motivated. To make matters worse, she was also concerned about her clients, as she was unable to give them a fixed date to reschedule their appointments to.
In order to cope during these tough times, she tried to take her mind off tattooing and drawing designs and started to create for herself instead. “It has been a while since I actually drew without any pressure for it to be a design for someone or for social media. I just drew to release my stress and frustrations and it was really healing” she said.
Tattoo artists, post-Circuit Breaker
Miss Emelyn Ashley, sitting on the steps leading up to Tooth & Nail where she works at (PHOTO: Emelyn Ashley)
Even though it has been quite a while since the tattoo parlours were allowed to resume operations in Phase 2, issues have cropped up for the tattoo artists. Artists like Miss Khor reported that there was a slight decline in the number of clients, while artists such as Miss Tham, stated that there was no change in the number of clients they had.
However, quite a few artists did express that heading back to work after such a long period of inactivity felt rather odd. Miss Ashley said that “it was great” being back to doing something that she loved, but it “took some getting used to all over again after being stagnant for a while”.
For Miss Tham, the news of the Phase 2 reopenings (indicating that tattoo parlours could finally reopen) caused her to panic. “Phase 2 was announced 4 days before we could re-open.”, she said. “I was panicked. I think I spent 2 to 3 days trying to reschedule all my appointments. I was a bit nervous to start tattooing, as I haven't stopped tattooing for so long since I started my tattooing career. Before we were back in business, I tattooed my husband, just to reassure myself.”.
Miss Khor reported that the number of clients had decreased slightly, as people are more cautious about hygiene and they could have been affected financially. Fortunately, the impact was not too severe, although she had to deal with a lot of reschedules from bookings affected by the Circuit Breaker. Ms Khor also said that she and her colleagues try pushing themselves to work harder by drawing more flashes (common designs displayed on the walls of tattoo shops), or organising online flash days (where clients can choose flash designs artists post on their social media pages).
With tattoo parlours now allowed to open, studios now have to take heightened safety measures and take extra care to ensure their stations are sanitised.
For Tooth and Nail, they conduct mandatory temperature screening, sanitising touchpoints such as doorknobs and work stations, and only allow one client to one tattoo artist at a time in the studio.
"Once in a while, we do have clients who are unhappy that they are not allowed to bring a companion for their session. But overall, everyone is very understanding,” said Miss Tham.
Miss Lim stated that: “We have to make sure all clients do Safe Entry, and we have to ensure that all our clients are at least 1 metre apart. As for our equipment, needles and most items are single-use.”.
Miss Sarahann Chan does both handpoke (hand-powered needle) and electric tattoos.
(PHOTO: manandhand on Instagram)
With tattoo parlours now open and the tattoo artists are back to work, things are mostly back to normal for them, with most of them saying it’s great to get back into tattooing.
When asked about her plans for Phase 3, Miss Chan said: “My plans are pretty much the same, just do my work and enjoy life.”
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