Why I love tattoos

Through more than 50 portraits of inspiring people who tell the story behind their tattoos, photographer Ralf Mitsch delves into a personal fascination with adorning one's own body with permanent ink. As a teenager in the 1980s, he noticed how those who had tattoos generally came from social strata with little to do with ruling class norms, or just wanted to rebel. Their decorated skin told a kind of life story in an ever-changing patchwork. Nowadays, tattoos are a fashion item, worn by people from all walks of life. A person covered in tattoos is a painting, full of surprises. Mitsch wants to get under the skin and discover the real motivation: is it about documenting their lives, or simply an addiction?