I'm Dee.

FOR THE LOVE OF ART

Artist, emerging tattooist, and the human behind ArtxPunk, based in Naarm/Melbourne.

Art has always been my first love. Making it, experiencing it, enjoying it. It's something I've always found my way back to.

Whether its drawing, painting, tattooing, hand bleaching clothes, insects pinning, you can almost always find me making whatever I can with my grabby little hands! (∩˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶∩)

I've been told that as soon as I could hold a pencil, I was scribbling and drawing (which, at some point, extended to the walls of my childhood home. Sorry mum & dad!!).

Somewhere along the way, art became more than something I loved doing. It became one of the ways I make sense of myself and the world around me. A way of taking everything going on inside and expressing it into something tangible. 

There's something ritualistic about that process, from the first thought or feeling, to the final creation.

FOR THE LOVE OF TATTOOING

My fascination with tattoos started in my early teens when I discovered the world of body modification. I was enamoured by the different ways people could alter and express themselves through their bodies, and found something timeless in tattoos. 

Over the years, that fascination grew into something more. I spent so much time around tattooing simply because I loved it, until eventually I realised I wanted to try it myself. So I did.

I feel honoured by the trust people give me to mark their bodies with ink. I love that tattooing allows us to celebrate our bodies as our own, and choose how we want to adorn and express ourselves.

My hope is that you leave with a piece of art that begins in my hands and becomes yours, and that throughout our time together, you feel welcomed, safe and free to be yourself. Whether that means sharing your life story, sitting in comfortable silence, or talking shit for four hours straight, I'm here for it all („ᵕᴗᵕ„)

STILL BECOMING

But tattooing is only one part of what I do. I've never liked feeling boxed into one medium, one style, or even one version of myself. I love the freedom to experiment, challenge expectations and make things simply because the creative impulse is there. There's something liberating about creating without needing to follow the rules of how things have always been done.

I find something equally liberating in knowing that who I am today isn't the final destination. I'm continually unfolding, transforming and getting to know myself in new ways. My art is no different.

Who I am and what I create might look very different in five or ten years' time. And I think that's a beautiful thing. For now, this is me, making things with my grubby little hands and seeing where it all takes me.

Thanks for being here. I'm glad you found your way to my little corner of the universe ♡