Today we’d like to introduce you to Tankgirl Aka Sarah London
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I always dreamed of being in the modification community. At 13 years old I would spend hours researching piercings and body modifications, reading forums, looking at picture after picture, and truly thought I would do that one day. In high school I had many paths I could have followed. I was smart enough on paper to earn a scholarship, passionate about journalism and politics and research. I LOVED math, and started at college as a math major! But two prominent things I did in high school shaped who I became in life: drugs, and an apprenticeship at a tattoo shop that had just opened in my neighborhood.
I learned to pierce at that shop, but it was brand new and there was no business. I quit by the end of my first summer after high school, and went to college for a year or so. On my birthday at 19, I went to the sister shop of the one I learned at for a tattoo. There, I was offered my job back as a piercer, at a studio that had established business where I could make actual money! Of course, I took it….
…and I ultimately learned to hate piercing. It was nerve wracking, clients were anxious, then in pain, then leaving. It took me about two years to figure out I really didn’t want to pierce, but in that time I realized I could do something I never expected.
As my own worst critic, I stopped making art for myself as I got into my teenage years. There was too much self loathing to have fun with it anymore. I never once considered making tattoos for people when I was growing up. But here I am today, celebrating 15 years of tattooing.
Long story short, my first mentors were fabulous traditional medium artists– paintings, murals, etc, but their tattoos were not incredibly well applied. My second mentor did fantastically applied tattoos–solid color, clean lines, smooth shading, but he could not draw. He found a way to make custom pieces with references that worked well for him.
I, who felt I was no artist, saw something technical that made sense to me, applied by someone else who was not an artist. So, when his tattoo apprentice quit, I asked to fill the spot and immediately realized how much I fucking love this. It wasn’t long before I realized that my abilities were beyond art, or the application of the tattoo, but I have a talent with the connections forged. Every single client I work with, I also build an authentic connection with. I build relationships, get to know family members, help memorialize, and heal. I hold stories on top of stories in my heart. Tattoos are long haul, and the connection was what I was missing when I was just a piercer.
Tattooing is everything.
Remember when I said doing drugs prominently shaped my life? I spent a number of years abusing substances, starting in high school, later enabled by the fact that tattooing back then was already associated with a certain lifestyle. I moved to Austin in 2013 with less than 4 years of tattoo experience under my belt, running from my addiction, my life style, my friends group. I got here, and here I still was. It took three more years before I finally reclaimed my life from drugs and alcohol, in 2016.
I worked at True Blue Tattoo on Airport Blvd (now closed, demolished for the I-35 expansion) for a decade. Came in a full blown addict, survived and was honest through my rock bottom, got on stable ground and gave 7 awesome years after that to those folks who became my family. If it weren’t for that one piece of self, of stability, and vulnerability that tattooing at a safe shop with good folks is, I would have a very different story today.
My name is TankGirl, I am 34 years old, and my life was saved by every single one of the lives I get to participate in when I tattoo you. The stories your work will tell—the healing, growth, and life milestones I get to witness and be a part of, has been a life raft in the worst of storms.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I got married in a drug fueled haze in 2012. “The world was ending” we said, though we knew the Mayan calendar had nothing to do with our decision to unite in misery. It was doomed from the start, but together we made it from South Florida, to Austin in August 2013. That relationship ended with a bloody nose, and a protect order after the abuse I was enduring had snowballed to the point a neighbor called 911. Afterwards, I catapulted myself into bigger and badder drug use, to escape, avoid, maybe get revenge? Most addict logic never really makes sense. I knew I was out of control, but I didn’t get sober until a while after my next partner passed away from an overdose.
The most substantial moments in my life, many of which are horrible things, made me exactly who I am today. And I couldn’t be more grateful for the hardships I’ve overcome and the mistakes I made along the way. I have empathy for my clients in some unique ways, I have lived experience to pass along to someone else who might need to know its possible to survive, I have comrades who are the most unlikely companions but we all survived similar tragedies. My life is rich because of the obstacles I’ve endured. I wouldn’t change a thing.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m a tattoo artist! I love hearing the stories that accompany my clients’ tattoos. Tattoo artists get to connect in an incredibly intimate and unique way with people. We help heal, make new memories, memorialize old ones, improve body image, alter perception of self and how the world interacts with us.
I love working with people on reclamation; whether its large scale tattoos that require perseverance, patience, and hours of pain, covering up pieces that you are less than happy with, or doing a first tattoo for a nervous 18 year old. The experience of getting a tattoo is primal, and ancient. We suffer for it, and earn something to show of it later. Every single one of us does. And, we do them for so many reasons that get imbued in the work. It’s magick, and it’s everything I love about humanity.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I am pretty safe, generally speaking. I live by routine, stick to what I know, and don’t change things up often. I don’t gamble or ride bicycles. I dont judge others risk taking behaviors, and sometimes I do catch myself thinking it would be fun if I took more risks, but I just don’t feel the need.
Pricing:
- Day rate $1000
- Hourly rate $200
- Discounts for large scale projects
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tankgirltattooing.com
- Instagram: @tankgirlsgreatadventure
