For some people, the idea of having one permanent thing for years to come can feel threatening, no matter how much you love it. Unless that something is a tattoo of your favorite city.
Over the weekend, the Philadelphia Tattoo Arts Festival brought thousands of tattoo artists and ink lovers to the Convention Center. Visitors to the festival wandered from booth to booth looking for inspiration for their next tattoo, amid the sounds of needle machines buzzing and the smell of blood, alcohol, and ink wafting through the air.
While many festival attendees added depictions of their favorite anime characters, portraits of loved ones, and celebrities, or even full chest pieces to their bodily canvases, others walked around the venue with Liberty Bells on their faces and sports logos on their extremities.
We asked four local tattoo artists: What is the most Philly tattoo they’ve ever given someone?
Gritty holding Baby Yoda
In 2021, Kurt Brecheis Jr. received an unusual request from a client, a Gritty holding Grogu — a.k.a Baby Yoda.
Brecheis, who owns Safe In Your Skin Tattoo in Juniata, says he’s done his fair share of Gritty tattoos; but, to him, this crossover captures the city’s energy and boldness.
“Philly has a lot of culture, art, attitude. … A lot is going on all the time everywhere,” said the artist, who is also known as Sad Boy Kurt.
The arm-length piece took four hours to complete. When Brecheis uploaded the photo to Instagram, commenters responded positively, including saying things like, “Praise our Lord and Savior, Gritty.”
Pennsylvania Dutch, with a sporty twist
Growing up all over, Charlie Murphy doesn’t claim any one place as his hometown — although the “PA” and Keystone tattoos on his knuckles and arms might imply otherwise.
Last year, Murphy moved to Philly and the city has won his heart.
“My favorite thing about Philadelphia is the sincere, honest way that the people here conduct themselves,” said Murphy, who works with Floating World Tattoo and Piercing in Graduate Hospital. “Whether or not you take it personally is on you,” he added.
In the last 365 days, he has done at least 20 variations of Eagles tattoos, as well as inking Phillies tattoos and the Liberty Bell. But, when he considers the most Philly tattoo he’s ever drawn, he recalls a Flyers logo with a Pennsylvania Dutch fold card.
While the elements of that tattoo screams Philadelphia, when it comes to the attitude of the city he prefers the “Go, Birds” tattoos. “They go straight to the point,” said Murphy.
All the sports, plus the skyline
As a Philadelphia native, Michelle Farrell, a tattoo artist who goes by Trash Mommy and draws at The Inkwell 215 in Northeast Philly, says she doesn’t know if there is one single iconic Philly tattoo.
During the first two days of the convention, she tattooed several pretzels, local sports logos, and the Phillies “P.” She also kept a poster of Philly exclusive designs — including Rocky, the LOVE statue, and the Liberty Bell — by her stand.
“I love Philly tattoos, I love Philly,” she said. “When someone who is not from here talks about hating Philly, I hate them.”
If she had to pick the most Philly tattoo she’s ever drawn, she would choose an arm sleeve design she made in 2023. The tattoo took 10 hours to complete and features the Eagles, the Liberty Bell, the “Join, Or Die” snake often depicted as part of Sixers iconography, and the city skyline.
But, she says, if she had to represent Philly on her body, she would get a tattoo of the Manayunk Bridge Trail.
Eagles patch ‘sewn’ on the skin
Virlen Reyes, who inks at Crown & Feather, a private parlor with locations in East Kensington and Drexel Hill, says that her unique style of tattooing, which is designed to make each tattoo look like a fabric patch sewn onto skin, can take up to six hours to complete.
After six years of working as a tattoo artist, and over 15 Philly-related tattoos, Reyes thinks an Eagles Patch tattoo she did in 2023, is her most Philly tattoo.
“People like it,” Reyes said. However, her personal favorite is a Gritty tattoo she worked on for seven hours.
