Episode 3: Loveless Shani " A Different Kind of Rebel"

I thought I knew the type of person who would get an Invader Zim tattoo.

Turns out, I didn't 🤔

I've been wanting to tattoo GIR from Invader Zim for a long time.

If you're unfamiliar with the show, it's a pretty wild cartoon about an unhinged alien trying to conquer Earth with the help of his idiotic helper bot, GIR (who's made from junk parts and about as useful as a screen door on a submarine).

It's comedic excellence. Trust me.

So when Shani approached me about incorporating GIR into her Loveless tattoo, I was excited. But I had questions.

For starters, what kind of person gets an Invader Zim tattoo? I mean, I know what kind of person wants one. Me. And I've already accepted that I'm a little weird.

I expected someone a bit more eccentric. Someone whose personality matched the cartoon's chaotic energy.

Instead, I met Shani. A laid-back, girl-next-door type who seemed perfectly chill. Almost suspiciously chill. 🤔

And somehow, that made her even more interesting.

Here was someone who'd traveled from Baltimore to get a tattoo featuring one of the strangest cartoon characters I could think of, yet nothing about her immediately suggested that kind of taste.

Of course, that probably says more about my assumptions than anything about Shani. Alas, my curiosity was piqued.

And since she'd already agreed to let me put permanent artwork on her body, I figured asking her a few questions wasn't too much of a stretch.

Turns out, Shani had been following Loveless for years. When her sister wanted to visit Atlanta, she saw an opportunity to finally get tattooed and make a trip out of it.

I asked what initially drew her to the work. I figured she'd mention the cherubs or maybe the designs themselves. Instead, she talked about the stories behind the artwork and the passion she saw in me as I created them.

She told me there was a difference between an artist who just tattoos and one who's genuinely connected to their work.

Well, damn.

It's one thing to make something because you believe in it. It's another to find out someone you've never met has been paying attention long enough to travel across state lines for it.

I'll probably never get used to people traveling so far for my artwork.

I tried not to get too sentimental. We still had an interview to get through.

Shani was raised by her Jamaican mother, in a household where rules were the standard and emotions weren't exactly encouraged. Yet the woman sitting across from me was quick to laugh, expressive, and apparently not particularly interested in following every rule she'd been given.

The more she spoke, the more I realized my first impression wasn't necessarily wrong. It was just incomplete.

Somewhere between hearing about her strict childhood and discovering she'd spent eleven years working with children before moving into hospice care, I found myself wondering how all these pieces fit together.

I didn't want to turn this tattoo appointment into a makeshift therapy session, but it made me curious how much of who we become is shaped by what we grow up around.

Did growing up with so many rules make her more determined to live on her own terms? Or would she have found her way here regardless of how tight the leash was?

And maybe that's why I enjoy these conversations so much. You start with a tattoo and somehow end up learning about an entire life you knew nothing about. And many times, that life holds up a mirror right back to me.

Which brings me back to GIR.

The little green robot wasn't the only piece of Shani in the design. Her connection to astrology, the word love, and references to her Jamaican and Antiguan heritage also played a role.

What I initially saw as a collection of seemingly unrelated ideas was really just a collection of things that mattered to her. She wasn't trying to make everything fit into one neat theme.

I mean, why should she?

I think there's something refreshing about that. We spend so much time trying to understand people through a handful of labels that we forget how many different things can exist within one person.

Shani can be the girl next door and the rebellious kid. The person who loves a completely unhinged cartoon and the person who finds fulfillment in caring for others. None of those things cancel out the others.

And I suppose that's what I got wrong before she ever walked through the door.

I expected her tattoo to tell me what kind of person I was about to meet. Instead, I had to meet her to fully understand the tattoo.

The most interesting parts of people aren't always the ones you notice first.

As for me, I finally got to tattoo one of my favorite cartoon characters, standing side by side with something I created. (Foreshadowing for a Loveless cartoon? I'll take it.)

All in all, not a bad day at the studio.

Welcome to The Society, Shani 💔💣