Signs of the times

Emma Bond.

It's estimated that about one in five of us in the UK is tattooed, with the figure rising to one in three for younger adults. Of those, only 14% have ever had any regrets – in other words, the overwhelming majority of people with tattoos remain happy with their decision to ink. Emma Bond is one of them. At 32, the dental nurse from Norwich has 10 tattoos – ‘behind my ear, on my arms and wrists, on my stomach and back, and on my legs. I also have stretched tunnels in my ears,’ she says. But, since embracing her passion for body art, which began when she was 18, and embarking on her dental career, Emma has struggled with the regulations that seemingly stifle what she sees as her inoffensive artistic expression. She maintains that her professionalism has little to do with the tattoos on her body and wants to see a change in a general attitude towards what has increasingly become a mainstay of modern-day popular culture.