We went to Urban Land in Rome as a small team: me, my regular model and client Tania, @green.vesper, and tattoo artist Dmitry Harley Kharlashin, who works in NeoTraditional style. We met up in Turkey and traveled together from there to Italy.
We arrived in Rome a few days before the convention to have time to explore the city. It was lively and beautiful: the architecture, iconic landmarks, streets—we wanted to see everything. Our feet were blistered, but it was worth it. After getting a good look around and settling in, we smoothly switched into tattoo convention mode and started preparing for work.
Tania and Harley had a joint collaboration, and they won a prize in their category. Tania and I competed in the Healed Tattoo category and took bronze for a healed piece. Christian stood out in my memory: we had previously won together in Lörrach, and at Urban Land I spent three days working on a full black and grey back for him, with subtle red highlights.
The story ended unexpectedly: we were disqualified from the Black and Grey category because the rules prohibited even minimal color accents. In the end, Christian left with an impressive back done in three days, and I learned a clear lesson about carefully reading the convention rules before submitting work. Despite this, Urban Land was a strong experience in terms of both skills and emotions, and it added valuable notes on what to do and what to avoid at international festivals.