I first met Age when I was working in a studio in Bondi Junction a long time ago. I had only been tattooing a little over a year. Age came into the studio, he was friends with the owners and had just got back to Australia from a long work trip in Europe. He needed somewhere to work until he settled and was planning to open private studio. from what I remember he was only with us for a few days. My brief encounter left me with the impression of a massive smile and an almost constant laugh that radiated good, happy, whole heartedness. I liked the idea of working in a private studio and getting some fresh inspiration and artistic interaction. So I hit him up for a seat in his studio a couple days a week and worked there for a couple of years. . . we have been brothers ever since. This is his recount.
“Before being tattooed I am always a little nervous, the older I get the harder it is for me to sit still and not be a total pain in the ass to whoever is tattooing me. Mark has been a good friend for a while now and I have watched the spiritual shift that he is living sing into his art and tattoo work.
I had been seeing the the complex and beautiful mandalas that people from all over the world get to wear on their journey through life. I contacted Mark and asked if he could design me a mandala to symbolise creativity, he came up with this beautiful piece for my throat, Vishhudda.
Before we started the tattoo we meditated and he open’d the space in his own special ritualistic process, the smell of incense and the ringing of prayer bells, bringing my spirit guides into the room we were ready to start.
Im not going to say it didn’t hurt, it did but I know that it would have been a lot harder to lie there for four and a half hours getting my throat tattooed and a lot less of a beautiful experience if Mark didn’t use this amazing process while I receive his art. After the tattoo I was in a blissful state feeling accomplished and proud to wear this beautiful Vishuddha. Definitely the best experience I’ve had being tattooed! Since this experience I have felt a clarity in my life, in my art and creativity. “
Age Grech – 30 – Dermagraphic Artist
Im going to add my own reflection on the tattoo and share some other information that I have recieved from Age that I feel is beneficial to a lot of people who will read this blog. So firstly a little back information, Age was one of the first people that I was able to breach many spiritual conversations with. It was very new to me and my circle wasn’t involved with anything spiritual at the time. He on the other hand was very well versed in this aspect of his life. His mother and aunts are clairvoyants and he had done a lot of development himself.
He told me about his spirit guide, Chief Joseph, and when he first saw him. I had never heard anything like it before in my life and was so amazed. At this point I still had no room for the idea that I too had guides and that in fact we all do. That was a long time ago but back to today and to the tattoo. . . we had been tattooing for 4 hours with the machines and completed all of the design except for the central governing point, which is the key and is always done by hand (no machine). As we began this part of the tattoo a native american drumming song came on spotify and I felt the rooms energy shift. The music stopped in perfect timing with the tattoo and age got up a little dazed. We both knew something pretty powerful had happened and he told me he saw chief in the corner of the room and when we finished he nodded turned and walked out.
Age also taught me to be aware of energy transfer when tattooing. . . mainly about taking on energy from clients when you tattoo. Coming from the old school of sydney tattooing age had tattooed some sketchy people at walk-in studios. If he felt that someone had bad vibes (negative energy/low vibration) he would go into the store room out back and do a visualization. He would picture a golden egg around himself and feel safe and protected in the egg before he went back out into the studio to tattoo. That way he would not pick up any negative energy while doing the tattoos. I still do a version of this method to this day, the circumstances are very different. . . but I do a number of visualisations before and after every tattoo to prepare and cleanse the space, myself and my client.
You can check out Ages work at GFMS
