“Tattoo Tales” is a series in which The Butler Collegian speaks with a Butler community member about their tattoos and the stories behind them. Read on to discover the next of our Tattoo Tales through a Q&A style interview.
What really is a tattoo? Is it a permanent mark of who someone is, or is it, in spite of its permanence, an ever-shifting reminder of who one can be? Tom Shriver-McGrevy, a Butler human resources business partner, believes in the latter, boasting a cavalcade of tattoos representing various points in his life. Regardless of who he was when he got them, each tattoo now is a symbol of who he is and who he can be.
THE BUTLER COLLEGIAN: How many tattoos do you have?
TOM SHRIVER-MCGREVY: I’ve got a lot of tattoos, most of them on my right arm, going from [my] shoulder down to my wrist. I’ve got a couple on my left arm — some that have kind of faded that I want to get covered up a little bit — [and] some on the legs. I have my whole back done. That’s definitely my biggest and longest piece that I’ve done — the most expensive, too. I lost count after like 15, so I think I’m in the 20-something range.
TBC: Is there a general theme you try to have with them?
TS: It has shifted from when I first started getting tattoos. I really wanted all of them to have meaning, and now I just want them to be colorful. I started off with black and white and [things that were] meaningful to me, and I’ve shifted to [thinking], ‘As long as it has color and I vibe with it, let’s add it to the body, let’s add it to the collection’.
Shriver-McGrevy searches for creativity and color in his tattoos. Photo by Elizabeth Stevenson.
TBC: What is your most meaningful tattoo?
TS: That’s a loaded question because a lot of them have different meanings for a lot of different reasons. This [checkered one] is probably one that I would say is up there with the most meaningful for me. There’s this [tattoo] artist that I followed [named] Patan. His work was really cool [and] super abstract [with] lots of inspiration from lots of different places. I happened to be backpacking across Ireland and saw that he was doing a guest spot in Dublin. So, I got to see this guy that I’ve been following for a long time [because] he was in Dublin the week that I happened to be there. This one, ‘Rugrats in Paris’, is a nostalgic one that’s got a lot of meaning for me because the orange VHS reminds me a lot of [my] childhood.
TBC: Do you plan your tattoos in advance or do you just see a design you like and go with it?
TS: Usually I [just] see a design I like. I might have vague ideas of things I’d like to get. The back piece I definitely planned a little bit more in advance because it’s so big, but honestly, my preferred way to do it is to follow artists on Instagram. If I like a piece of flash they have, I want to get that because I know they’re doing a piece that they’ve drawn because they are passionate about it. They’re going to be able to do it in their style [instead of] me handing them a Pinterest image and [telling them to] trace it. I’d rather have an expression of that artist on my body [than] an idea in my head. I have some that are a little bit more original, but for the most part, flash is the preference.
TBC: Are there any future tattoos that you have planned?
TS: The big [task] I have planned is filling in my arms — getting some gap fillers [like] stars to make it like a full cohesive sleeve, because right now it’s a lot of patchwork and just fun stuff that I liked. But, the biggest [draw] is things that are of interest or meaning to me at that point in life. If I get a tattoo and it’s no longer relevant in 10 years, it still tells me where I was at that point in my life. This one on my left arm [that has] faded — the meaning that I had for it initially isn’t really the same [as what it means now]. I’ve changed since then. I might get it covered up or [let it be] a stamp on my body [that] says, ‘Hey, when I was 19 or 20 and I got this one, this is who I was. This is what I was thinking’. It’s almost like a journal, right? I don’t go in my journal, look back ten years and be like, ‘I don’t think that way anymore,’ and rip the pages out. I think of tattoos the same way. If there is something that a cover-up works for, great. If not, then it’s just where I was at that point in my life.
TBC: If you’re comfortable talking about it, what is the covered-up tattoo?
TS: [Where the eagle is, there] was a cross tattoo, and on the back [of my arm], there was [the] Hogwarts castle. I used to be extremely religious — very Christian. I’ve since changed that part of my life. I’ve deconstructed from religion a little bit, so I just wasn’t as interested in having the cross on my body anymore. [I] don’t agree with all [of J.K. Rowling’s] views from the ‘Harry Potter’ series, so it was just easy to do one big cover up for both of those.
TBC: You also mentioned a tattoo on your left arm you might get covered up. Could you tell us about that?
TS: That one’s Samson from the Book of Judges in the Bible. It’s him and a Philistine soldier — [Samson’s] got a jawbone of a donkey bashing down on the guy’s head. I used to think that was really cool when I was younger, and now I don’t really want to glorify war and violence. I don’t feel like it’s as cool as I used to. So, it’s a reminder of where I was and where my head was at the time that I got it but not really reflective of who I am now.
TBC: Your earlier comment about how tattoos can be a journal on the body was really insightful. Could you expand on that idea?
TS: I think a lot of people view tattoos in different ways. At the end of the day, I think it’s up to anyone to decide what they want to do with their body, whatever that means. So, if you want to put art on it, great. If you don’t, that’s fine too. But my perspective is that it’s a cool way to document what you’ve gone through or who you were at different points in your life in a way that’s a little bit more present than something like a journal is. A lot of people like journaling and reflecting on things that they’ve done, places that they’ve been. It’s a separate practice, obviously, getting a tattoo — it’s a very intentional effort. If I want to sit and I want to explore where I was 10 years ago, I’m pulling out my journal, [and] I’m looking through those pages. When it’s on my body and I’m viewing it in that capacity, it’s a constant reminder, so I can always remember who I was. Quite literally in some ways, they’re scars, right? It’s a big and obvious reminder of where we’ve been and where we may be going.
TBC: How do you relate the permanence of the tattoos you have to how you’ve grown as a person?
TS: It changes as we get older. One thing that I’m going through as I get older is trying not to take myself as seriously [and] letting myself be who I am regardless of [the] perceptions of other people. There aren’t a ton of HR folks that have a bunch of tattoos everywhere, especially with a big cheeseburger being a really prominent one on their arm. It’s an expression of who I am, and I’ve decided I don’t really want to exist in a space where I can’t just be myself. Part of it for me is just confidence in being who I am, even if I know other people may not agree with the way that it looks. It gives me a little bit of confidence and helps me battle some of the self-doubt that I have with that type of thing. I’ve also learned that at the end of the day, a lot of people don’t actually care. They may have an opinion, but that’s a fleeting thought and then it’s gone. It’s almost therapeutic and just [lets] me feel comfortable in my own skin the way that I want to without worrying about judgment from others.
TBC: Is there any tattoo advice you would give to anybody starting their tattoo journey?
TS: I’m a people pleaser, right? So, when the tattoo artist comes to you and they put the stencil on your body, and they’re like, ‘Hey, how does that look? Do you want it bigger? Do you want it smaller? Do you want it moved?’ I’m like, ‘Man, they just drew and printed that stencil. They have a certain size. They have it right there. I don’t want to make him move it. I don’t want to make them have to rub it all off.’ Don’t do that. It is going on your body forever. Make sure it’s exactly where you want it [and] exactly the size that you want it … Don’t be afraid to move it around to wherever you want, because it’s on your body.