Tattooed+skin+will+be+donated+to+NGA

Geoff Ostling body is covered in tattoos and he has decided to donate his skin to the National Gallery of Australia when he dies. He has spent 15 years having colourful artwork tattooed from his neck to his ankles. Tattoo work covers his back, chest, arms, legs and buttocks.A thematic approach has been taken with his tattoo's, with Geoff's body being decorated with pictures of plants. Many of the flowers are Australian and would commonly be found in Sydney gardens. Geoff Ostling did not get his first tattoo until he was in his forties. Most of the tattoo's have been created by artist eX de Merci. Geoff Ostling has donated his skin to the National Gallery in Canberra when he dies. This donation was the subject of Australian documentary **//Anatomy.//** [|This is an article about Geoff Ostling and contains a short film where you can see his tattooed body.]

[|eX de Merci] is a Canberra based artist who is known for her detailed water colours and tattoo's.





When emailing Geoff Ostling regarding placing images on this site for the class to look at, he made some really interesting comments worth considering and exploring. " Some tattoos are or can be great art, especially those done by French artist, Jean Cocteau (1889 - 1963) and Australian artist eX de Medici, but most tattoos are very ordinary and some are vandalism".