Calgary tattoo artists participating in upcoming fundraiser to support survivors of sexual abuse
By Kristy Koehler, June 3 2019—
Local tattoo artists are raising money for Calgary Communities Against Sexual Abuse (CCASA). Artists from Calgary’s Altar Tattoo are participating in the ‘Still Not Asking For It’ flash fundraiser event.
Started in 2015, ‘Still Not Asking For It’ was created Utah-based tattoo artist Ashley Love as a way to rally the tattoo community together behind survivors of sexual assault and to bring awareness to the cause. This year, tattoo shops across the United States and Canada, as well as Australia and Europe, are taking part in the June 9 event.
Tattoo flash are pre-drawn designs intended so customers can easily choose a piece of art to have inked on their body. Flash fundraisers have grown in popularity — they allow multiple customers to be tattooed in a shorter amount of time as the hours of work the artist spends drawing and designing the tattoo are done beforehand.
Each participating tattoo shop will have a variety of flash art available to choose from. Proceeds go to the organization of the shop’s choice, all of which support survivors of sexual assault in some way.
“Tattooing has seen its own #metoo movement,” said Calgary artist Jessica Doyle. “More and more inappropriate and inexcusable behaviour is being called out in our traditionally male-dominated industry. As artists, we’re given a platform of sorts through social media, and being able to bring awareness to this and raise money for this cause [in] this way is a unique opportunity. We’ve all directly or indirectly been affected by sexual violence at some point in our lives. At the end of the day, the more awareness, the better.
“It’s important to me to be able to do something tangible to support something that so many are affected by,” she continued. “It’s wonderful being able to bring awareness, but being able to aid in providing some support and help for survivors means a lot to me.”
Doyle, who is based at Altar tattoo, says her style includes blackwork, botanicals and nature-based designs. She’ll have plenty of floral and botanical flash pieces — as well as “a few sassy things thrown in there for good measure” — available to choose from in both small and medium sizes.
One hundred per cent of the proceeds from each tattoo done at Altar for the event are being donated to CCASA and the artists are donating their time.
“Even if you aren’t able to get tattooed, CCASA will have a booth at the shop with swag, educators, outreach and a donation box,” says Doyle.
Artists will be tattooing at Altar tattoo from 12–6:00 p.m. on June 9 on a first-come, first-served basis. Doyle says lining up early is a good idea if you have a specific artist in mind.
More information about the event can be found online. Jessica Doyle’s portfolio can be viewed on her website.