Collecting Margins: The Ethics of Tattooed Skin Objects

In 2008, German collector Rik Reinking purchased a tattooed skin at auction. TIM, the artwork in question, sold for 150,000 euros and came with a unique caveat – it would remain attached to its wearer, Tim Steiner, until his natural death. Two years later, Carter E. Foster (ex-curator of drawing at the Whitney Museum) met with Ellsworth Kelly to discuss the artist’s upcoming show in Munich. During the meeting, Foster requested that the renowned color field painter design a tattoo for him, an image that he would have rendered on his body permanently. Once completed, the tattoo was given an inventory number (EK1020) and it was included in Kelly’s extensive oeuvre. As contemporary artists continue to engage the tattoo medium in their work, questions abound regarding the lives of these objects and the ethical nature of their creation and subsequent collection. Historically, orchestrated tattooed skin collections have corresponded with aggressive colonial programs and the emergence of medico-criminal pathologies. Perhaps the best-known example of the former appeared within the context of Aotearoa’s colonization, as newcomers collected and sold mokomokai, the preserved tattooed heads of indigenous Māori peoples. This paper takes historical examples into consideration while positing futures for contemporary artworks that utilize human skins as their primary material support, specifically tattooed skins. In doing so, it argues that twenty-first century creators and collectors should not only consider the collectability of this canonically marginalized artform, but also the marginalization of subjects within tattooed skin collections writ large.