[BBC] Would you consider preserving the tattoo of a loved one who has died? It's becoming an increasingly common request from people in their final weeks.| If I were to do such a thing, I would be content with professional quality photos, if only because there’d be no chance of mold growth later. |
I can't imagine why.
Chris Wenzel's lifelong love affair with tattooing began when he was just nine years old when his aunt asked him to design her a tattoo, one he ended up partly inking on her skin himself.
By the time he was teenager, both his arms were completely covered in skin art. As an adult, he was a respected tattoo artist who owned Electric Underground Tattoos Inc, a studio in Saskatoon, Canada.
"He loved seeing the ink on people's skin, fell in love with it," says his wife Cheryl, who now runs the tattoo studio with a business partner.
Chris died last October of heart failure, after struggling for years with ulcerative colitis, leaving her and the couple's five sons behind. He was 41.