By Jamilyn Hall

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Students entered Rasdall Gallery in the Student Center on Thursday night to view sketches, dot work, and finished tattoo photographs in “Your Body is Your Canvas: Exploring the Art of Tattoos.”

“Some of the tattoos are interesting. I could appreciate it, without wanting it,” anthropology senior Bethany Williams said. “Definitely seeing all the different styles made me open up my eyes more.”

The event consisted of a question-and-answer segment with artists and a gallery showing.

The gallery showing will remain open until Feb. 27 and is free for students, faculty and staff.

“Over 30 percent of the students we surveyed requested to see a tattoo exhibit and were more likely to come to an exhibit that showcased tattoos,” said Taylor Hamilton, the Student Activities Board’s Director of Cultural Arts.

“Your Body is Your Canvas” includes work from Kentucky and as well as other states.

“We wanted to include local artists and to maintain relationships with the local art community,” said Hamilton, an international studies junior. “We do have artists from different parts of the country as well. ”

The exhibit also showcases The Lexington Tattoo Project, a collaboration between Kurt Gohde, an art professor at Transylvania University, and Kremena Todorova, an associate English professor at Transylvania University.

“Though people generally talk about (tattooing) as art and think about it as art, it doesn’t often come into art galleries,” Gohde said. “It is not seen as the same type of art and I think that it is that traditional separation of high and low art, unfortunately.”

Gohde and Todorova heard Lexington poet Bianca Lynne Spriggs read and asked her to write a love poem to the city of Lexington. Gohde and Todorova asked residents to have the words and phrases of the poem tattooed on their bodies, creating the Lexington Tattoo Project.

“We started this artwork with the Lexington Tattoo Project and with that, anyone could participate, as long as they were of age,” Todorova said.