ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The 14th annual Roc City Tattoo Expo featured artists from across New York state and the globe. 

“The goal is to just give people in Rochester and the surrounding area access to worldwide artists,” said Dylan Tate, senior artist at Love Hate Tattoo in Rochester. 

And although the tattooing industry is a male dominated field, the more than 250 artists on display at the expo also feature women artists.

“There’s several. I mean, the type of people that do tattooing is the same type of people that get them,” said Tate. “We got a ton of people here, men, women, doing what they love.”

What You Need To Know

  • Roc City Tattoo Expo's 14th annual event highlighted male and female artists from around the world

  • According to data from Pew Research Center, 38% of American women have at least one tattoo, compared to 27% of men

  • The tattooing industry remains a male-dominated field

That includes artists like Eva Lea-Plaza, who was born in Chile and has been tattooing for 11 years. 

“I started in high school and it was kind of difficult because nobody wanted to teach me because I was a young girl,” Lea-Plaza said.

Now she is 11 years into her career and on her second year at the Roc City Tattoo Expo.

“I love American tradition tattoos, so you have to be in like the nest of traditional tattoos because I want to learn you know,” Lea-Plaza said. 

According to Zippia, female artists made roughly 29% of those in the tattoo industry in 2021. 

“I found a tattoo artists, female, and she was like ‘Oh, you can be my apprentice, I don’t know that much but I can take care of you,’ and that's how it began,” said Lea-Plaza.

A number that only continues to rise, compared to females making up only around 16% of artists in 2010.

“I think its something that is just going up you know,” said Lea-Plaza. “I feel like for females it’s way better now with feminism than before, like 10 years before.”

The expo was not only a great place for women tattoo artists, but also for women looking to get tattoos.

“Women love tattooing also because it gives you more confidence and you can feel like owning your body again, you know its like oh this is mine, this is what I want, this is what I’m going to get and I feel like that’s why women have more tattoos than men,” said Lea-Plaza.

And it was even a great place to see art in action.

“This is more than just tattoos, they kind of branch out everywhere with it. Lots of busy hands making really, really impressive things,” said Tate.