Ritual, Marking, and Letting Go: Natascha Stellmach in Dialogue with Tattoo Practice
Artist: Natascha Stellmach
Artwork: The Letting Go
Years Active: 2012–2020
Day 1, Moira’s Letting Go, 2019
Day 1, Frauke & Mathias’s Letting Go, 2015
Natascha Stellmach’s The Letting Go is a participatory project combining visual art, ritual, and psychotherapy. Participants meditate on the question: “What would you like to let go of?” Then, Stellmach tattoos that word onto their skin using a bloodline tattoo—no ink, only a subtle scar remains.
The work explores healing, transformation, and embodied memory. The scar acts as a physical trace of emotional release—a deeply personal, shared ritual. It highlights themes of consent, agency, and the tension between private experience and public display.
As a tattoo artist working with abstract motifs and emotional narratives, I relate strongly to Stellmach’s approach of treating tattooing as ritual and dialogue. Her practice encourages me to see tattooing not only as design but as a collaborative and psychological process.
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