They are American, they have tattoos, and they want to preserve them after they die. NAPSA (National Association for the Preservation of Skin Art) offers a tattoo framing service after the death of the beholder.
An inkredible present
While the Tattooists exhibition, tattooed soon ends at the Quai Branly Museum (a visit is definitely worth your while) American tattoo artists contribute to the artistic vision of tattooing through an original initiative for the least: the preservation of a tattoo after the death of its beholder.
It’s the NAPSA association who is the instigator: in exchange for an annual membership of $100 the beholder of the tattoo designates a beneficiary of the tattoo. After the death of the beholder and $2000 later the piece of flesh (which must be removed in the first 60 hours after death) is then shipped of for treatment to preserve and beautify it (and stretch it out if it’s wrinkly).
Artist : JR Tubbs
Too weird?
The prospect of cutting a piece of skin of a dead body to display is the stuff of serial killers. Yet with the increasing in the number of tattooed in the world (in the UK alone, they accounted for 1/5 of the population in 2010).
Moreover, many tattoos are real works of art created by internationally renowned artists. Similarly, if something means so much to an individual that you want it to become a part of your body it is understandable that you would want to pass this peace of treasured art on to a close one. And for the beneficiaries, it is ultimately a keepsake and way of remembering a loved much in the same as keeping their ashes.