Ellen Chapman the Lion Queen.

This project was born out of my dissertation ‘Painted Figures: How has Tattooing Empowered Women to Reclaim their Bodies?’

My research began with exploring the history of tattooing as a debased cultural art-form. Following its past across the globe as it eventually becomes the new phenomenon of the west. In western societies, especially after theTokugawa period, tattooing was only for the wealthy. As the Napoleonic wars ensued, and the British Royal Navy had access to global body modification practices, higher society no longer held interest in this now common practice. (That was until the Victorians got involved. Both of Queen Victoria’s sons were tattooed by artist Sutherland Macdonald.) It was also due to this time period that tattooing in the west became associated with criminality. War criminals would be more easily identifiable if they had tattoos. Record keeping in the 1700’s wasn’t as advanced as todays - public records highlight the number of criminals that happened to have tattoos, but there is no record of the general population, and therefore no way to accurately pull links between criminality and tattooing.

Born out of the Victorian Era was the freak-show. A place for society to view a spectacle. The spectacle consisted of people that were classed as societal outcasts. Those with visible and mental disabilities would often make up these shows. I wanted to create a project that pushed together these themes. As my research developed and I was pushed into local history, I discovered the exciting life of Lion Queen Ellen Chapman.

The illustrations below make up my book ‘The Life of Ellen Chapman The Lion Queen’. Original illustrations: A2 watercolour, tea, tattoo ink and pen on 300gsm watercolour paper. A limited run of 25 hardcover books were printed.