Tattoo Artist Unites 70 Strangers for Record-Breaking Video Project

While 99.9% of tattoos are stand-alone pieces, sometimes an artist decides to go in a different direction. This is the case for Hungarian tattooer Balazs Bercsenyi, who’s best known for previously working at New York City’s Bang Bang. Bercsenyi specializes in fine-line micro tattoos and has done custom designs on stars such as Bazzi and Winnie Harlow. He decided to create the longest motion tattoo and with the help of 70 strangers, created a project known as ‘A Life of a Rose.’

“I wanted the story to revolve around a rose because it is such a beautiful symbol and metaphor of love,” shares Bercsenyi. “It represents the cycle of life when the rose is born and then used as a tool to uplift and inject expression for a human being. The rose is a perfect example of how we should live our lives, to bloom and give our gift away.” 

Over the course of seven days, Bercsenyi tattooed 70 strangers in his native Hungary and after the project was finished, the tattoos showed the life cycle of a rose from a bud to death. In the process, he unified 70 strangers with one epic tattoo project that comes to life through a flipbook style animation. “The underlying purpose of this animation tattoo project was to create a sense of oneness, where the lasting outcome is in being part of something that is bigger than the individual.”

While Bercsenyi’s animated tattoo project may be the largest so far, we’ve seen several other artists create flipbooks from inking multiple canvases. Back in summer of 2017, a Canadian artist named Phil Berge created a similar effect by tattooing 19 different clients with Bart Simpson flash. In the end, Berge compiled the tattoos to mimic the kickflip Simpson does in the credits of the show. 

Would you get a tattoo with 70 strangers? What do you think of the greater meaning behind ‘A Life of a Rose?’ Let us know your thoughts, opinions, and questions in the comments section on Facebook.

You can check out Bercsenyi’s full video on the project here.