Joe's Back Piece Honors His Grandfathers

On this Memorial Day, we're appreciating this back piece on Joe, who I met at the NYC Tattoo Convention back in March.

When he shared this with me back at Roseland, I knew I'd be saving it for Memorial Day, especially after Joe explained, ""One of my grandparents was in the Air Force, the other one was in the Navy, so I did the World War II scene with airplanes ... and navy boats - I have battleship and I have an aircraft carrier."

This impressive piece took a little over forty hours and was inked by Kenny Restrepo at Leathernecks Tattoo in Brooklyn.

Thanks to Joe for sharing his back piece with us here on Tattoosday, and for helping us honor and thank all the men and women who have sacrificed their lives in service to our country!

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What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger

I ran into Enrique in front of the Borders at Penn Plaza, a prime tattoo-spotting location, as regular readers of Tattoosday know.

He sported three tattoos, including this fresh replica of his wings from the Air Force, where he was an E3 Airman 1st Class:


Here's a sample of what this tattoo is based upon:
This piece, along with the others, was inked by Sandy at Body Art in Manhattan. When the picture was taken, the ink was still drying, having been tattooed only a few days earlier.

Most interesting to me was the line of Hebrew on the back of Enrique's bicep (seen at the beginning of the post)

מה שלא הורג מכשל

A nod to his father, who was in the Israel Defense Forces, the Hebrew translates to "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger". Interesting, there's a whole discussion of this phrase in Hebrew here.

Enrique's third piece is still a work in progress, so is not pictured here, but the central element seems to be a traditional naval anchor in the middle of his left forearm.

Thanks to Enrique for taking the time to talk to me about his ink, and sharing it here on Tattoosday!