Jai’s Autobiography
Coming back to tattooing was a wonderful and scary process. Throughout the relearning, I was helped by my wonderful mentor, Theresa Gordon-Wade of Epona Tattoo Sanctuary, Southwell.
I was born in Australia and spent my childhood in a rural community before moving to Sydney at the age of 18 in 1989. I had studied dance, theatre and art for most of my childhood and eventually found my home in the roleplaying community. After moving to Sydney, I worked in theatre, film and television, with a number of film and theatre credits to my name, mostly for costume and set design and special effects. Additionally, I explored the subversive arts, working as an SM Mistress with the performance group Twisted Narcissist, which sparked my interest in the transformative effect of ritual pain. Following my heart I moved to Prague in 1994, where I worked with Black Box theatre as a producer and creative director while also studying Mural art and interior decoration.
In 1996, I briefly returned to Australia, where I gave birth to my daughter before moving to the UK in 1997. Unable to continue working in film and television, I began training as a tattooist in Nottingham while working in various administrative capacities. In 2004, having worked full-time as a tattooist for almost 7 years, I quit tattooing to explore other areas. For the next five years, I focused on motherhood and worked in various roles, including a support worker for refugees and a surveyor and housing officer within the social housing and local authority sectors. Throughout this period, I continued to study painting and mural art and eventually I began to support myself fully through mural painting.
In 2008, I left full-time work to attend Nottingham Trent University, where I completed my Fine Art Honours Degree in 2011 and gained a residency at the Surface Gallery in Nottingham. I also applied for and obtained a transfer qualification in Secondary Education of Mathematics and I soon started working at a local high school teaching maths. However, after participating in six different exhibitions and reconnecting with my friends in the tattooing world I returned to tattooing full-time in 2014.
Coming back to tattooing was a wonderful and scary process. Throughout the relearning, I was helped by my wonderful mentor, Theresa Gordon-Wade of Epona Tattoo Sanctuary, Southwell. She opened her heart and her studio to me, and without her I would not be where I am today.
In 2018 I opened my own studio, Vellum Tattoo.
