See the Allusionist live show this autumn!
Tickets just went on sale for Toronto! We’re also coming to Austin, Boston, Bristol, Chicago, DC, Dublin, London, Los Angeles, NYC, Philly, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver. For dates, venues and tickets, visit
theallusionist.org/events
APPLE PODCASTS • RSS • RADIOPUBLIC • MP3
“I wanted a story that actually lives, and actually dies, and disappears.”
In 2003, artist and author Shelley Jackson started the Skin Project: a story printed, word by word, as tattoos on volunteers.
See photos of some of the tattoos at the bottom of this post.
ADDITIONAL MATERIALS:
This episode pairs with the previous one, Trammels, about adding obstacles to the creative process.
Guidelines and FAQ about the Skin Project.
The Melancholy of Anatomy, Shelley’s short story collection that was the original home for the Skin story.
Read Shelley’s story Musée Mécanique while you’re waiting for her new novel Riddance to be released.
The history of the invention of the electric tattoo needle.
Some beautiful mastectomy tattoos (many via the non-profit P.ink).
Radiotopian pal Nate DiMeo of The Memory Palace recommends the tattoo artists’ reality TV competition Ink Master.
The Szpilman Award was for ephemeral artworks.
Another word-by-word, person-by-person tattoo project: a love poem by the remarkable tattoo artist Amanda Wachob.
Books bound in human skin = anthropodermic bibliopegy (shudder).
The transcript of this episode is at theallusionist.org/transcripts/skin-story.
YOUR RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
plantigrade
CREDITS:
Shelley Jackson is an artist and writer. Her new novel is Riddance. Read her other books and stories, see more of her work at ineradicablestain.com, and follow her snow story on Instagram.
This episode was produced by me and Martin Austwick, who also composes all the music for the show. You can hear his songs under the name Pale Bird.
Send me your word tattoo photos on the socials: facebook.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/helenzaltzman and instagram.com/helenzaltzman.
