Deadly tattoo wins design award

When Wiradjuri man Steve Taylor decided he wanted to get a tattoo of an Aboriginal man on his leg, little did he think he would end up with an award-winning take on one of his brother’s selfies.

The award-winning tattoo design on Steve Taylor's leg based on a selfie taken by his brother Warren Williams. Source: Steve Taylor

When tattoo artist Cat Howes from Devine Gallery in Bathurst told Steve she would need an image to base her tattoo on, he thought he didn’t just want a random image but something that had significance for him.

His brother, Warren Williams, who regularly performs traditional dances with Steve is a prolific selfie-taker and so Steve knew that there would be no shortage of great images to choose from.

Eventually he settled on one of Warren’s Facebook profile pictures, a wide-eyed self-portrait with Warren painted up for a dance, the white ochre contrasting strongly against his dark skin.

“It’s good to have someone you love on there,” Steve told NITV. “Just what he’s doing: he’s painted up and proud of his culture!”

The tattoo parlour, Devine Gallery, which specialises in detailed portraits ran a competition for the ‘Best Idea for a Black and White Design’ and Steve’s idea came up trumps.

A proud Steve shared the photo to Facebook:

I won a competition at Devine Gallery a couple of months back for best black and white design & this is the end result.. It's my brother painted up! Watching him grow in Culture and life is a beautiful thing to watch..  Cat Howes attention to detail and skill is outstanding she is very skillful with the Tattoo Gun... I would highly recommend her and the team a Devine Gallery to anyone #devinegallery #cathowes #Bruvvvvva

Both Steve and his brother Warren have been dancing together for years and last year performed at the ‘Dance Rites’ competition at the Homeground Festival in Sydney. This year the team competed again and finished in second place.

Steve said he really enjoyed sharing their performance with a wider audience, particularly as the Sydney Opera House location drew many people of different nationalities.

Steve Taylor (onstage) and Warren Williams (second from right) performing together at Dance Rites. Source: Steve Taylor

Steve has also been running a traditional dance program ‘Dinawan’s Connection’ for local kids in Cowra for the last two years.

He said: “Dinawans means emu. The male looks after the young chicks and teaches them everything they need to know to survive in life. We are an all-male group and we are teaching the kids about culture but also trying to be a role model for them to help them in life.”

The free program regulars gets more than 60 kids attending to learn dance and culture and have a snack after school.