Last year Ink Butter featured photography from Tattoo Stories. The book is now available and is an excellent read with great stories for an equally great cause.

Tattoo Stories by Marvin Malzhan of Smart Imagination is a series dedicated to a five-year documentary on the stories behind tattoos while at the same time raising funds for children in need through the Starlight Children’s Foundation.

A minimum of $4 will be contributed to the Starlight Children’s Foundation for every copy of Tattoo Stories sold on or before December 31, 2011, with a guaranteed minimum donation of $10,000.

Tattoo Stories ask why do people get tattoos and why are tattoos more readily acceptable in parts of today’s society compared to generations ago? Is there a deeper meaning or connection that most people do not realize when they make the decision to get tattoos?

Tattoo Stories draws readers in for an intimate look at journeys, experiences and cultures, through spoken word paired with photography by Marvin Malzahn.

The book features a forward by Chester Bennington and people from all walks of life.

There’s also a great section in the back of the book where tattoo artists are given credit for their beautiful work.

Gillian Goldstein is a native New Yorker and received her first tattoo at the age of 17. She studied illustration at The Academy of Art University in San Francisco and is an apprentice with Regino Gonzales at Troy Denning’s Invisible NYC.

She works in graphite, watercolor, inks and acrylics when working on her personal artwork.

Her work was chosen for the cover of Art by Tattooists: Beyond Flash which is where I was fortunate enough to discover her work.

“Sony Pictures has optioned the English-language screen rights to “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” the first of three titles in the Millennium Series of crime thriller novels by late Swedish journalist-activist Stieg Larsson.”

Via: variety.com

Related Post: Män som hatar kvinnor

Estevan Oriol is holding a book signing this Friday, December 11th from 7pm to 9pm in LA. Details above and below…

Estevan Oriol “LA Woman” Exhibition and Book Signing
SURU
7662 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90046
Friday, December 11th
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Related Post: The Photography of Estevan Oriol

Black Tattoo Art: Modern Expression of the Tribal by Marisa Kakoulas.

“This amazing book is a photographic journey across the globe – from Borneo to Belgium, Argentina to Athens, New York to New Zealand and beyond – in search of avant-garde tattoo art that pays homage to the ancient roots of tattooing in their contemporary interpretations. No other publication has curated the work of so many esteemed international tattooists working in black ink and gathered them into one compre-hensive volume. The journey begins with a look at the history of tattooing before featuring black tattoo portfolios divided into the following chapters: Neotribal, Dotwork, Art Brut, Traditional Revival and Thai/Buddhist.”

Click here to view pictures from the book.

“Tattoo Stories by Smart Imagination is the premier book in a series dedicated to a five-year documentary on the stories behind tattoos while progressively raising funds for children in need through the Starlight Children’s Foundation.”

The English-subtitled movie for the the award-winning novel Män som hatar kvinnor (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) by the late Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson premiered yesterday in Europe. See the trailer after the jump.

Here’s another book related post. Hannah Lackoff of the Little Rock Books Examiner reviews "The Tattoo Artist" by Jill Cimemt.

New York Post article on "Tattoo Machine" by Jeff Johnson.