The human canvas

By Lethbridge Herald on September 17, 2025.

Lethbridge tattoo artist Ryan Buttar of Holy Ghost Tattoos colors a section of a full back piece for local client Brandon Powis, during the 2025 Windy City Tattoo Show. Completing this Japanese-themed piece will take several sessions and approximately 30-40 hours of work. Powis eventually wants to have a full head-to-toe body suit of ink done.

Joe Manio
Lethbridge Herald
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The 2025 Windy City Tattoo Show wrapped-up its 18th year on the weekend, which means many teenagers now old enough to get their first ink were born when the show was established in 2006, and a significant number of the tattoo artists there were children during the show’s first run.

“Tattoos are just another way to express yourself as a person,” says Lethbridge tattoo artist Ryan Buttar with Holy Ghost Tattoos. “And you get to take that and put it in your body and no one’s ever going to be able to take that away from you unless you want to.”

Once considered permanent, tattoos can now be lasered off in a process that’s been described as more painful than getting tattooed in the first place. 

Until the late 1970s and 80s, tattoos had an associated stigma of rebellion and ‘non-elite’ individuals… rebels, misfits and other non-conformists. Part of this can be traced back to the rebellious teenager era in the 1950s when boys with slicked back hair and motorcycles used body ink as a badge of rebellion..

Fast forward to the 2025 Windy City Tattoo show’s opening night, where there were hundreds of tattoo artists and as many tattoo “collectors” ranging in age from 18 to seniors. Many even came as families with their young children in tow. 

Others came with their teenage children and even their adult children. Despite the very adult (at times) subject and content, the Windy City Tattoo Show is a family event.

Many attendees were there to add more ink onto their “personal canvas,” many were there to get their first tattoos, while others were there to take in the show, network with other tattoo enthusiasts and talk about all things tattoo.

Tattoos range from the simple and small on one’s arms, legs and shoulders, to large and complex like arm and leg “sleeves,” full-chest and back to full-body “suits.”

Thirty-one-year old Lethbridge resident Abby Stewardson got two tattoos within five hours of the show opening at noon; the second one was a two-headed cow on her leg. 

Nick Toews was there with wife Gray to add tattoo number six on the left side of his head around his ear. They said they both try to make the tattoo show every year.

There are currently over 20 professional tattoo studios in Lethbridge, as noted in a 2023 article by the Galt Museum and Archives. Some were at the show, including Peppermint Hippo Tattoo, Metamorphosis Tattoo, La Lune Bleu and Lethbridge’s newest shop, Holy Ghost Tattoo which opened in June. 

It was Holy Ghost’s first appearance at the Windy City Tattoo Show.

“Business has been pretty good (since opening). We’re getting by, but we want to get busier of course. But I feel like we’re gaining traction and it’s just kind of building continually,” says Ryan Buttar, who has been inking people for 18 years.

Tattooing goes back thousands of years and across all continents. Early tattoos uheld diverse meanings across cultures, serving as a form of identification, a symbol of social status, tribal affiliation, or religious belief; a means of punishment or protection from evil, and even for medicinal purposes.

The oldest known tattoos, found on the 5,000-year-old Ötzi the Iceman, are believed to have had therapeutic applications, potentially treating ailments like arthritis or stomach pain. 

Tattoos began going mainstream during the late 1970s and 1980s, marked by increasing visibility in media and among celebrities, evolving societal attitudes from rebellion to personal expression and growing acceptance beyond subcultures like the military or prison. 

The 1990s saw this trend solidify, leading to the ubiquitous presence of tattoos in contemporary popular culture seen today, with major networks and social media platforms further normalizing and promoting the art form. 

Despite the mainstreaming over the past 50 years, there’s still a lingering stigma with tattoos, mainly with the older generations. Many job hunting books and career counselors even suggest covering up visible tattoos in certain job interview situations. 

That should change as tattoos continue becoming more accepted and commonplace. Considering the number of families with young children in tow with both parents sporting full arm and legs sleeves of ink at this year’s tattoo show…it’s only a matter of time.