Genre-Expanding Tattoo Artists

CURATED BY TAMARA SANTIBAÑEZ

About the List

Tamara Santibañez’s list of Genre-Expanding Tattoo Artists reflects their belief that tattooing should never be confined to a single category or tradition. Tamara's selections highlight artists who operate across various styles and influences and create with clarity and a strong connection to personal and cultural identity.

For Tamara, expanding genres involves reshaping a familiar foundation. These artists build on tattoo styles and personalize their designs in unique ways. Some draw from traditional forms, while others take inspiration from subcultures or political histories, yet all advance the art form through innovation and intention.

This list includes a variety of techniques and visual approaches. What unites them is a deep understanding of how tattoos inhabit the body, interact with movement and space, and carry significance for the wearer. Each artist here offers something thoughtful, skillful, and distinctly unique.

Explore the full list of Genre-Expanding Tattoo Artists, handpicked by Tamara Santibañez, exclusively on CO:CREATE.

About Tamara Santibañez

Tamara Santibañez has been tattooing for 17 years and specializes in fine line, black and gray artwork at Flower World in Brooklyn, New York. Their style is precise, intentional, and influenced by their personal history and political views.

Raised in a household surrounded by Chicano and Mexican imagery, Tamara’s visual language formed early. Influenced by punk, heavy metal, and DIY culture, they've always been drawn to creating outside the mainstream.

Tamara views black and gray fine line tattoos not just as a style but as a cultural legacy. Originating in Southern California and further developed within the prison system, this form of tattooing emerged from constraint and resistance. While Tamara's roots are grounded in that lineage, their list spans a wide range of styles. Each artist brings clarity, intention, and a personal approach to both design and experience.

“Single needle tattooing, it's an important vehicle for me. To talk about where it came from, the artists who originated it, and how systemic oppression of the carceral system shaped this really beautiful form of cultural resistance in the tattooing.”

-Tamara Santibañez

“When I thought about genre-expanding artists, I thought about people who might be doing traditional tattooing but are bringing an element of their selfhood and their experience and knowledge to make it new and to make it different and to make it more widely accessible.”

-Tamara Santibañez

“We're listening. We're doing memorial tattoos. We're holding space for people in these large transitions in their lives that they want to mark with a piece. Honoring that experience is just as important oftentimes as doing the tattoo itself.”

-Tamara Santibañez

Curation Criteria

Tamara selected each artist based on the following:

Skill - Mastery in technique, whether through fine line work, bold composition, or unconventional methods.
Innovation and Design - A unique approach to concept and form, focusing on how tattoos live and move on the body.
Cultural Influence - Work steeped in personal heritage, subcultures, or broader movements in art, music, and identity.
Client Connection - A deep ability to listen, collaborate, and hold space, especially during meaningful life transformations.