Canterbury, UK - UK tattoo artist MJ Smith has opened up about the state of the body art industry, and what it's like to work in such a male-dominated space.
Smith has been working as a tattoo artist for around 10 years, having started as an apprentice in a "lovely" shop that, admittedly, had no other female employees.
"It took five years of me working there for another woman to join the shop. And it's the same in most shops. It's still very male dominated," Smith told the BBC. "But we are breaking through. We are coming through."
She's now quite an accomplished body artist, having work that's soon to be showcased in an extraordinary exhibition called Mark Making: Women Making Their Mark in Tattoo Arts at a university in Canterbury.
She touts her unique tattooing style as being at least in-part due to her experience as a female worker in a male-dominated space. Recently, she's been sharing her extraordinary work on Instagram – where she has more than 12,000 followers!
"There's a new style that I like to call girly pop trad, which is basically the trad style, so bold lines, limited color palette but it's fun, girly sort of things," she explained.
"Not to say that you have to get girly tattoos if you're a woman," Smith said.