Tattoo festival ‘bigger than ever’
Australasia’s biggest tattoo festival is returning to Taranaki for its 10th birthday after three years of cancellations and postponements.
Event organiser Brent Taylor said the two-day New Zealand Tattoo & Art Festival will be ‘‘bigger than ever’’ when it opens in New Plymouth in November, with 250 artists including Netflix star Rose Hardy.
Hardy, who features on the series Tattoo Redo, is New Zealand born but has been living in the United States for the past 10 years.
‘‘She’s very popular in America, and ever since going on Netflix she’s blown up,’’ Taylor said.
More than half of this year’s artists are women, the most female artists the festival has ever had. ‘‘Ten years ago there might have been 20 women. And now there’s 125 to 150, which is pretty cool.’’
Taylor said having international artists like Hardy was an opportunity to grow the festival. ‘‘They are a drawcard for New Plymouth. It helps bring more people in.’’
A majority of tattoo artists set to attend the festival are from Australia and New Zealand, with others coming from France, Italy and Canada.
The event will also have live music, BMX bike shows, competitions, food and retail. Taylor said the Upbeats will be headlining a drum and bassthemed weekend, with artists such as EMWA also performing.
The festival has been cancelled for the past two years because of Covidrelated restrictions.
Last year’s attempt at going ahead was canned when the trans-tasman bubble closure stopped Australian artists from getting into the country. ‘‘It’s back up to its normal size, which is cool, and it’ll be bigger than ever,’’ Taylor said. ‘‘It could be a blessing having that break – it’s freshened me up, that’s for sure.’’
The event takes place on
November 26 and 27 at New Plymouth’s TSB Stadium, with tickets on sale now. Tickets bought for last year’s festival have been credited to this year’s event.