“All my tattoos have a meaning, my body is my journal and all my tattoos are my stories”.
Name: Femke Fatale
Profession: Alternative Model / Festival Hostess.
Residence: Loppem, Belgium.
My name is Femke Fatale and I am an alternative model and hostess for tattoo conventions and music festivals, and I am also the face of Soul Art Tattoo Creme. I work for Monster Energy as well, doing samplings and promo.
I have always had a big love and admiration for body art. As a kid I had a big love for people who dared to be different, dared to be themselves, having a unique personality. I always pointed at those people. My mom thought that to my eyes they seemed weird, but in fact I was so intrigued. I loved watching them.
When I turned eighteen I got my first tattoo done, a tribal haha. I just wanted a tattoo and didn't think about what I really wanted, what I wanted it to mean, so I just googled online. I regretted it instantly and did some online research and went to tattoo shops and checked out the art. I found Jean Harai pretty soon, his work is amazing and I knew immediately that that was what I wanted.
I felt in love with New School bold and colourful ink. I knew that was my style.
Every time I go through something good or bad in life, I get a diary entrance, aka a tattoo. Every tattoo reminds me of a time, of a moment, of a person that's important for my life.
I never really thought I would be this heavily tattooed. I just went with it, went with my feelings, my life and it happened. I would never regret any, I always chose carefully, the artists, the art, I want it to represent something important to me, so I want it to be "perfect", as in how I want it to look.
I choose my artists carefully; I want to have a good connection with the artist, as I want the memory to be complete. I could never get tattooed if I'm not feeling comfortable around the artist.
I started my career thanks to a friend. She is a photographer and she always took photos of me, she posted them online and they got a good amount of comments and interest, so I started posing for other photographers. People at tattoo conventions started taking pictures of me too, and then I got asked to host a convention... It just started and it never ended.
I would never have thought I'd do this job, as I never was into make up and posing really. I just started when that friend wanted me to model, and I thought "what the heck, why not". I guess that was a good decision after all, haha.
I love my job, I get to reach a lot of people, I get to show them that you can be unique, be yourself and get somewhere. You do not need to be mainstream to achieve something in life.
I also want to show people you do not need to be perfect to be a tattoo model and a hostess. I am so not perfect; I haven't got the best body, the perfect teeth, and big boobs. I am just me and what you see is what you get.
You do not need to change yourself to be something, just be yourself, dream hard and work hard.
My biggest loves in life are tattoos and animals. I am the biggest lion/tiger (big cat) lover! I had always dreamt of going to South Africa and work with them. I finally did it this February and it was the best thing ever. I got to work for lions and with lions. This was the best time of my life. It changed everything. I decided that someday I want to go back and stay there forever. Maybe even manage a lion park or even own my own park, so I know for sure that the lions are in a good place forever. I am against canned hunting etc. I hate the fact that people shoot lions for fun. You should “shoot” them as in taking a picture, just admire their beauty and don't kill them for a trophy in your house. This breaks my heart! I want to make a change! I want to save lions and tigers and all the big cats.
I adopted a lion in South Africa, his name is Brutus, and it felt so good! Brutus was rescued from the French Circus and now he is resting at Drakenstein Lion Park. I worked there for a week, and it was hard work but I felt so good afterwards! These people really work hard for their animals. They do everything for them so they are finally in a good space where they can be lions, as they should be. You can really make a big change, you know, by adopting a lion.
Being a tattooed girl is also hard. You get a lot of negative comments; some people have asked me why I made my mom cry.... I asked why they're asking me this and they said "well you were such a pretty girl but now you ruined yourself with all this art". I always get stared at, get gossiped about but I don't care! It's my own choice and I support my body - my art. I would start getting tattooed all over again if I could.
It's a choice of life. It's my life. It's me.
Photos by Ino Mei.
