Coney Island Ink
Portraits of the Coney Island Tattoo Festival
- Coney Island Ink is a celebration of the Annual Coney Island Tattoo Festivals from 1986 – 1991 through photographic portraits and essays focusing on Coney Island and the art of tattooing
- Coney Island Ink captures and commemorates a unique event in a history that is slipping away. As New York City changes and gentrifies, residents are looking for ways to preserve the culture that is disappearing, and Santelli’s book is part of that effort to keep the past alive
- The photographer, Thomas Santelli, is rooted in the culture and history of the city. He was born and raised in the Bronx, and started his career within the NYC art and music scene of the 70s and 80s. As such, he provides an informed and authentic lens for the book’s subject matter. This is a slice of New York history shared by a native New Yorker
- This book will contribute to the rich canon of photo books that capture the uniqueness of New York City, a setting famous worldwide for its personality, style, and overall quirkiness
Starting in the mid 1980s, Sideshows by the Seashore on the legendary Coney Island Boardwalk hosted an event distinct from its usual fare of sword-swallowers, contortionists, and other marvels: the Annual Coney Island Tattoo Festival, which gathered together tattoo enthusiasts of every walk of life from all over the city, the country, and eventually, the world. It also drew a photographer from the Bronx with a fascination for tattooing, at a time when the art form was illegal in NYC and widely condemned as part of a dangerous fringe culture. For several years, Thomas Santelli served as the festival’s “unofficial official photographer,” documenting this lively, colourful event and the remarkable people who attended it. In this book, he shares approximately 200 of his black-and-white and colour portraits from the festival, to celebrate the tattooing community and this slice of Coney Island history and to honour all of the people who graciously sat for his camera.
- Publisher
- ORO Editions
- ISBN
- 9781966515531
- Publish date
- 11th May 2026
- Binding
- Hardback
- Territory
- World excluding USA, Canada, Australasia, Asia non-exclusive
- Size
- 298 mm x 241 mm
- Pages
- 120 Pages
- Illustrations
- 100 color
Distributed by ACC Art Books
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