The 4th wall is a theatre term for the invisible wall between performers and the audience. When performers speak directly to the audience it’s considered breaking the 4th wall. As the sociologist Erving Goffman’s dramaturgy suggests, we are constantly performing our identities. The interviews on this page were an attempt to enquire beyond the performativity of self.
The 4th wall is a theatre term for the invisible wall between performers and the audience. When performers speak directly to the audience it’s considered breaking the 4th wall. As the sociologist Erving Goffman’s dramaturgy suggests, we are constantly performing our identities. My interviews are an attempt to enquire beyond the performativity of self.
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During 2012 I was getting tattooed on a regular basis while completing a master’s degree in literature. Through discussions with tattooists, many stories were shared that piqued my interest. Then a chance encounter with the editor of an emerging London-based boutique tattoo magazine (Things & Ink) provided a platform for me to follow-up on these leads. Since then, I have written on diverse subjects that gravitate toward my core interest in alterity.
I have recently completed a PhD and currently work as a Research Fellow at the Emerging Technologies Research Lab at Monash University. My academic work can be viewed here: fareedkaviani.com.
My work has been published by:
The Guardian; The Conversation; VICE; Dazed; Archer Magazine; Inked Magazine; Skin Deep UK; Things & Ink UK; Modern Farmer; The Doctor T.J. Eckleburg Review
I have been invited by:
Backwoods Gallery to write the curatorial text for an upcoming exhibition
AltSex Conference NYCity to present on body modification & BDSM
Gestalten Books to be lead contributor to Forever More: The new tattoo
Melbourne Immigration Museum to cover their tattoo exhibition
MoMa New York to cover their Items exhibition
ABC national radio to speak about tattoo culture
VICE global to write on upcoming television show on tattoo culture
3CR to speak about my writing
I also created an online gallery and supplier of tattooed silicone hands: Thing Gallery
Full list of publications
Tools for torture: meet the dominatrix using tattoo and body modification experts as instruments for pain, VICE, 2019
Our Bodies, Our Voices, Our Marks thoughtfully captures the endurance of tattoo and tradition, The Conversation, 2019
Entangled and disembodied: a neuroqueer exploration of posthumanism and tattoo, Archer, 2019
On why I think the media should stop asking if tattoos have become too mainstream or uncool, Skin Deep UK, 2019
Portraits of South Africa's Bloodiest Prison Gang: The Number, VICE, 2018
“Today, I will suffer for your art”: meet the nihilist going beyond the intersection of kink and body modification to produce traumatic works of art, VICE, 2018
From transgressive folk-art to one of MoMA’s most influential “items” of fashion shaping the 20th and 21st centuries, Dazed, 2017
The dilated pupils of Expanded Eye, in Graves, H (ed.), Forever more: the new tattoo, Gestalten, Germany, pp. 226-234
Whales and crayons: inside the pencil case of Miriam Frank, in Graves, H (ed.), Forever more: the new tattoo, Gestalten, Germany, pp. 7-12
Art, soul, activism: Indomito, in Graves, H (ed.), Forever more: the new tattoo, Gestalten, Germany, pp. 93-98
The blooming vehemence of Kelly Violet, in Graves, H (ed.), Forever more: the new tattoo, Gestalten, Germany, pp. 178-187
The Huxleys Are Performance Art’s Answer to John Waters, VICE, 2017
Inkspector: The Forensic Analysis of Tattoos and Ink, Inked Australia, issue 45, 2017
Meet the Tattoo Collective Who Prioritise Pain Over Aesthetics, VICE, 2017
A body-modifying ‘hybrid human’ on his life and tattoo power, Dazed, 2017
Grace Neutral and Viceland, Skin Deep UK, issue 275 (syndicated in Inked Australia, issue 45)
Jak Nola, Erotic Art, and The Power of Orgasm, Inked Australia, issue 45, 2017
Festival of dying: is your ‘death literacy’ lacking? The Guardian, 2016
Hong Kong Branding: The Past, The Present, The Future, Inked Australia, issue 42, 2016
Stick & Poking Aboard Convict Ships, VICE, 2016
Persian Ink: The Underground Tattooists of The Islamic Republic of Iran, Inked Australia, issue 35, 2015
Trash Drag Aesthetic, Things & Ink, issue 11, 2015
This Is a Story About Getting Your Balls Inflated, VICE, 2015
Ricky Luder Review, Things & Ink, issue 11 (syndicated to INKED, issue 32), 2015
Anthropomorphic Curiosities, Things & Ink, issue 10 (syndicated to INKED, issue 31), 2015
Flesh Eating Body Modifiers, Things & Ink, issue 9 (syndicated to Melbourne Permanent, issue 1), 2015
Artists, Tattoos, and Meaning: Pissing Ink in Duchamp's Urinal? Things & Ink, issue 9 (syndicated to INKED, issue 29), 2015
The Buddha Tattoo and Other Sacred Images: Sacrilege?, Inked Australia, issue 30, 2014
Tattooing Under Martial Law, Inked Australia, issue 32, 2014
Initiation: an ancient ritual in a modern world, Things & Ink, issue 8 (syndicated to Inked Australia, Issue 27), 2014
Tattooing in Australian Prisons, Things & Ink, issue 7 (syndicated to Inked Australia, issue 28), 2014
Hanging with Badsville: hook, line, and body modifications, Things & Ink, Issue 6 (syndicated to Melbourne Permanent, issue 1), 2014
O-inked: Is Tattooing a Pig Art?, Modern Farmer (online) (syndicated to Melbourne Permanent, issue 1), 2014
Ink & Pink: The politics of tattoos in pornography, Things & Ink, Issue 6, 2014
Posthumous Conversations: My Transcendental Experience Taking Ayahuasca with a Shaman, The Doctor T. J. Eckleburg Review (online), 2014
Home-made Tattoos: Unregulated, Unprofessional, Unstoppable, Things & Ink, Issue 3, 2014
