A Hobart tattoo studio at the centre of a fight over Tasmania’s mobile tattooing rules will spend an afternoon inking customers for charity, a week before its petition reaches parliament.
Scarr Parlour will hold a flash tattoo day at North Hobart’s Boodle Beasley on Sunday, October 18, with all proceeds going to Lifeline Tasmania.
The studio, run by Jason Scarr and his wife Casey, made headlines in June when its purpose-built tattoo caravan was blocked from operating at Dark Mofo because state guidelines ban tattooing from mobile premises.
Scarr said the charity day would raise money for Lifeline while also keeping attention on the campaign to “start moving the tattoo legislation in a forward, futuristic direction”.
“The idea and the hope is that [new legislation will] give us a permanent movable licence that’s just the caravan but is licensed as a premises,” he said.
The timing is deliberate, he said, with the event being held a week before a petition calling for the rules to change is tabled in parliament.
More than 1,000 people have signed the petition, which is pushing for Scarr Parlour to be allowed to tattoo from its caravan.
For the Sunday event, tattooists will set up in the function room upstairs at Boodle Beasley, next to the bar.
Scarr said the council had already inspected the venue and approved the licence.
A selection of designs will be available on the day and no bookings are required.
“It’s the first in best dressed,” he said. “We’ll have hopefully the ability to tattoo at least 20, 30 people.”
The event will run from 12pm to 5pm.
