In the late 1980s, in the midst of New York City’s infamous tattoo ban, Sideshows by the Seashore on the legendary Coney Island Boardwalk began hosting an event distinct from its usual fare of sword-swallowers, snake charmers, and other marvels: the annual Coney Island Tattoo Festival. With New York’s tattoo artists driven underground and the art form publicly condemned as part of a dangerous fringe culture, this gathering in “the People’s Playground” served as a safe haven, drawing in tattoo enthusiasts from across the city and beyond. It also drew in a photographer from the Bronx who was fascinated by this world and the people who inhabited it. While not tattooed himself, for seven years Thomas Santelli served as the Festival’s designated “official photographer,” documenting this colorful event and the remarkable people who attended it with care and veneration.
In this book, Santelli shares over 240 of his color and black-and-white portraits from the Coney Island Tattoo Festival, featured alongside cultural and historical commentary by the Tattoo Festival’s creator Amy Krakow, tattoo historian Dr. Matt Lodder, and Brooklyn-based novelist Amy Shearn. Captivating and nostalgic, Coney Island Ink is a time capsule from a unique event in a one-of-a-kind place, a celebration of the irrepressibly resilient tattooing community, and a photographer’s tribute to everyone who graciously sat for his camera.
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About the Author
Thomas Santelli (b. 1952) is a portrait and fine art film photographer.
He has also been a layout/mechanical artist, an illustrator, a graphic designer, an art director. a musician and a college professor (Professor Emeritus of Art - retired). Santelli attended the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan, New York, received his BFA from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York and received his MFA from Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York.
His photography has been published in Photo Metro, The Total Tattoo Book (Amy Krakow, Warner Books), and Black and White Photography, Manifest Visions/An International Collection (James Luciana, Quarry Books/Rockport Publishers).
Santelli’s fine art photography has been selected for numerous national and regional juried exhibitions and he has work in many private collections. Work in permanent collections include: Albany Institute of History and Art, Albany, New York, The Center for Photography in Woodstock, Kingston, New York, Wallace Memorial Library, Rochester, New York and the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), Dublin, Ireland.
Thomas currently lives with his wife Jessica in upstate New York.
Coney Island Ink is his first book.