KATHMANDU

Nepal International Tattoo Convention, one of the most-loved tattoo festivals in the country, is making a comeback after the COVID-19 pandemic-led hiatus of nearly three years.

The 10th edition of the convention is scheduled for April 7, 8 and 9 in the Capital.

'Around 95-100 booths in the festival will feature some 220-230 tattoo artists from different parts of the world,' informed Bijay Shrestha, Director of Nepal Tattoo Pvt Ltd, the organiser of the festival.

Explaining further on the overwhelming response they have been receiving since announcing the convention for this year, he revealed, 'We are still receiving requests for booths in the convention by tattoo artists from different countries.'

But they are not accepting requests anymore as 'all the booths for this year are fully booked'.

'Our convention has been receiving a very good response. For those into tattooing featuring traditional, black-and-grey, and Tibetan motifs amongst others, this convention has become a must-go place at least once,' said Shrestha about the 'trend' set by the convention.

As per Shrestha, tattoo artists from 19 countries, including Nepal, will take part in the convention and feature some of the big names of the tattoo world like Guy Le, Jeff Gouge who will be coming to the convention for the first time. Meanwhile other international artists coming to the convention comprise Yogi, Pepa, Dillon, Marco, Rhys Gordon, Colin Zombro as well as Nepali artists Binay, Shri Kisi, John and Bimal, among others.

Interestingly artists from some countries like Colombia and Mexico will also be present at the convention for the first time, as per Shrestha. The artists from other countries include Switzerland, Sweden, Italy, Spain, New Zealand, France, Germany, Indonesia, USA, UK, Thailand, Serbia, Australia, Netherlands, Macau, India, along with Nepal.

The core organising team of the convention - that includes Shrestha, and Om Gurung, also the Director of Nepal Tattoo Pvt Ltd among others - coordinates with all artists, sponsors, and media and 'presents this festival of art in the Himalayas' as per Shrestha.

Putting together a festival after a gap of three years has been a challenging job, especially at a time the global economy including that of Nepal has slowed down, said Shrestha.

'Many countries resumed tattoo conventions last year following the pandemic, but we were not able to do so. The market has just opened in Nepal. Plus it is a big expense for artists to travel here, and thus we also kept in mind the economic condition of the country of those artists which is why we did not do it last year,' elaborated Shrestha.

As such apart from the positive response of the artists participating in this year's convention and our team, everything else has been very challenging to put together this festival, he said.

Yet Shrestha and his team are looking forward 'to relive the vibes of the convention this year'.

He shared, 'We look forward to reconnecting with everybody after a long gap of nearly three years. It's like doing the convention for the first time.'

Apart from artists showcasing their skills of different forms of tattoo art, the convention will also put on display the supplies of vendors related to tattooing along with clothing lines. Nepal Tattoo Pvt Ltd has organised the convention presented by Mohan's Tattoo Inn.

A version of this article appears in the print on March 10, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.