Getting tattoo more than just getting inked, it’s a tribute to survival for local woman

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This article was published 24/02/2018 (3129 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As the machine buzzed and the needle bit into the skin of her outstretched arm, Kristen Bremner let out a shiver.

“Whooo-hoo-hooo,” she said, and giggled. “Holy crap, that’s a good spot right there.”

It’s a sensitive place to be tattooed, close to the crook of the inner arm. Even dedicated aficionados can dread it.

Bremner, however, has been inked before. So when she settled into a chair at the bustling Winnipeg Tattoo Show on Saturday, and stuck out her arm for visiting artist Jamie Watson, she knew exactly what she’d signed up for.

Besides, she’s been through worse — and in a way, that’s what her new tattoo was all about.

The tattoo Watson designed is a clean and simple one, done in black and white. The centerpiece is a modified anatomical heart, crowned by the words “Strong mind, heart & soul.”

Underneath, a declaration: “Pacemaker proud.”

For Bremner, a mom to three kids, the tattoo is a tribute to survival, both personal and medical. She’s faced a lot of challenges in recent years, she explained, but she’s still standing — and that’s why she reached out to Watson.

Bremner has heart block, a condition in which the heart’s electrical signals fail to fully communicate, resulting in an abnormally slow heart rate. Some people experience few, if any, symptoms; it can go undiagnosed for years.

Even Bremner, who has the most severe form, spent most of her early life unaware of the condition.

“I had a feeling something was wrong, and different,” Bremner said. “But I just lived with it.”

After being diagnosed at 16, Bremner had surgery to install a pacemaker in 2003. It regulates her heart rate, ensuring it beats at a healthy speed; before the pacemaker, her resting heart rate was only 30 beats per minute.

There are a few quirks to having a pacemaker. For instance, going through metal detectors is a no-go. Even putting her phone close to her heart can trigger a fluttery shortness of breath; it’s the tiny magnets in the phone, she said.

“They said I can’t use a chainsaw, but I’ve proved them wrong,” she said, laughing. “I still know my limits, though.”

And getting the pacemaker put in changed her life forever; now she has the tattoo to prove it.

“After I got it done, it was night and day,” she said. “I could feel it instantly on terms of energy, and endurance. I could go throughout my day longer. Whereas before I needed 12 hours of sleep, now I can go on with only four.

“That happens when you become a parent too,” she added, with a grin.

Not all tattoos have a story; some are just cool. For Lindsay, Ont.-based artist Watson, one of more than 130 tattooers buzzing away at the RBC Convention Centre this weekend, inking pieces like Bremner’s are the best part of the job.

“Most people get tattoos for a reason,” Watson said. “We’re putting art on people’s bodies. We’re not doing brain surgery. We’re not curing diseases. But sometimes you’re giving hope to a person who needs that in their life.”

And there have been plenty of stories, and hope, to go around at the first inaugural Winnipeg Tattoo Show, which kicked off Friday and runs through today. By the time it’s done, hundreds will have walked out with new tattoos.

The show’s done good work for the community, too. On Saturday night, the convention hosted its F#ck Cancer Party to raise money for the CancerCare Manitoba Foundation; in tribute, the artists wore pink gloves as they worked.

“It’s been great,” said organizer Abby Stecher of Living Canvas Tattoo, a 17-year veteran of the industry. “It’s a real feeling of the community and the love that everybody has.”

The show’s success was also a testament to the surging momentum of tattoo art in Winnipeg.

For over a decade, local artists hungered to bring a convention to the city. Unusually restrictive local bylaws around body modification stymied the process; Stecher was one of the artists who kept pushing to make it happen.

Early last year, provincial health authorities finally issued the green light.

Since then, Winnipeg has already seen two conventions. Stecher organized this show; in a separate effort, Kapala Tattoo owner Rich Handford launched the Winnipeg Tattoo Convention at the Red River Exhibition Park in August.

That event was packed. This weekend’s convention has been too; though final attendance numbers were not yet available Saturday, a simple look around the bustling floor suggested it was already well into the thousands.

Visiting artists were also enthusiastic about how the weekend was unfolding.

“The organizers here are phenomenal,” Watson said, as he worked on Bremner’s arm. “They are bending over backwards to make not only a really good experience for the artists, but the people here as well.

“I’ve been to a lot bigger shows that didn’t have as much attentiveness to the artists and to the public. It seemed like more of a money grab. But this one is nice, there’s a hometown kind of feel to it. I like it, and I’ll be back next year.”

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca