MELISSA REED
Senior Design Exhibition
Artist Statement
Riot Grrrls is an interactive exhibit celebrating strong female activists through the art of temporary tattoos. Embracing my personal experiences as a designer and professional tattooer, I created a unique and expressive collection of posters, tattoo flash sheets, and temporary tattoos. Heavily inspired by the characteristics of traditional tattooing, I juxtapose traditional bold lines and simple drawings with a bright non-traditional color palette. Riot Grrrls celebrates strong women leaders who have taken a stand against unfair treatment and inequality, and some of the issues they have fought against. Riot Grrrls consists of a six piece poster system
with correlating sheets of temporary tattoo flash and temporary tattoo packs for each woman. The tattoo flash sheets explore feminist issues relating to each woman through tattoo style illustrations. Riot Grrrls is a
tattoo shop in which all are welcome to apply a temporary tattoo. Through this short interaction of temporary tattoo application, visitors are able to experience a moment to think about what they are applying to their bodies and in what ways it affects themselves or those around them.