Abel —
Tattoo artist in Boston.

I grew up in Brazil with one foot in music and the other in the streets.

Pixo and graffiti caught my eye early. Hip-hop came next and stayed. As a teenager, I played drums in a rap-rock band, and later found my voice as an MC.

Music also put me inside a tattoo shop.

I was 17 when a friend I met through that scene opened the door to his studio. I started spending time there almost every day. Watching, talking, taking it all in. At 18, I got my first tattoo — and I definitely didn't start small. I went straight for a full back piece.

Tattooing was already around me. Becoming a tattoo artist would take a little longer.

I studied Marketing and made my way into graphic design and streetwear. Eventually, I started my own clothing brand in Brazil. That project took me to dozens of tattoo events around the country, including Tattoo Week in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, two editions of Brazil's largest tattoo convention.

So even when I wasn't tattooing, somehow I kept finding my way back into that world.

Then 2020 happened.

With everything on pause, I finally gave an old idea some room. I took an in-person tattoo workshop, started practicing, learning the craft and putting in the hours. Something I had thought about for years slowly became my everyday work.

I started tattooing in Brazil. Later came Maryland. From there, tattooing took me to Hawaii, a convention in Chicago, then across the Atlantic to England and Italy, where I spent six months living and working before eventually returning to the U.S.

These days, Boston is home.

I work mostly with fine line, custom lettering, and black & gray. There are pieces of everything I've done before in the way I see a tattoo — pixo, graffiti, music, graphic design, streetwear. Not because every tattoo needs to carry all of that, but because all of it taught me how to look at things.

I care about composition. I care about how a piece moves with the body. And I care about making tattoos that still make sense after the photo, the post and the moment have passed.

Looking back, tattooing ended up doing what music and art had already done for me.

It gave me a language.

And it took me places.