Tucson tattoo artist Sahra Fong-Kee often laughed as she reminisced about her past and described her hopes for the future over coffee during a recent interview.

As far back as Fong-Kee can remember, she wanted to be an artist, but she said her family initially had different ideas for her.

“My family is super supportive now. But back then, my dad wanted me to study something that would make more money,” said Fong-Kee, 25, who was born and raised in Nogales, AZ.

Over time, she said, they saw that she was able to earn a living as an artist and became the supportive family she needed. Fong-Kee moved to Tucson in 2017 to attend Southwest University of Visual Arts. During her final year, the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown were in full swing. The school closed and she did not get to finish.

Fong-Kee began doing art from home.

“I had nothing else to do but prove to myself that I can make the art thing happen,” she said. “It was hard because there were a lot of things pushing against it.”

The journey from art student to professional tattoo artist was not easy or quick for Fong-Kee, but she didn’t give up.

“It was just trusting the universe that it was gonna happen one way or another because I wanted it so badly,” she said.

Fong-Kee’s first personal tattoo is the logo of the band Slipknot. It’s located on her ribs, and she got it when she was 16.

“I got it without my parents’ consent,” she said, laughing, “I was the craziest child you could ever imagine.”

There was a man in Nogales who tattooed out of his house, she said, and he agreed to do it as long as she didn’t tell her parents he was the artist. She continued to get tattooed by him, and her interest in tattooing got started.

A few years after her rib tattoo, Fong-Kee discovered Copic Markers, which provide an easy way to practice tattoo drawings. Fong-Kee started using them to practice her tattoo style.

Fong-Kee said the most significant point in her career was when she started working at a Tucson shop called the Woolly Fern  in 2021. She was their first tattoo artist.

“It set the path for everything,” she said, her voice trailing off as she remembered. Working there and learning about their business helped her to eventually open her own shop.

Fong-Kee had learned how to tattoo at home despite that it is generally frowned upon by the tattoo industry. Many  tattoo artists worry that new artists will learn bad habits that cannot be unlearned later if they start at home, she said, and this can make it hard for self-taught artists to   find jobs.

“I felt comfortable doing it from home because I knew how to keep everything clean,” she said.

She built up her skill and clientele for a few years at home, she said, before beginning at Woolly Fern.

“When Kate walked into Woolly Fern one day I was like, ‘She’s cool,’ and then we got along,” she said, smiling at the memory of first meeting Kate Calvey.  “I already had the thought in my mind that I wanted to open a tattoo shop, and she had the same idea.”

Fong-Kee and Calvey opened Bloodless Tattoo Studio in October 2021. Both Calvey and Fong-Kee were self-taught and that made it even easier for the pair to work together.

“It was nice to meet someone in the same boat,” Calvey said.

Fong-Kee said her greatest accomplishment was opening Bloodless Tattoo Studio: “Most shops are male-dominated with a specific vibe to them.”

“We wanted to make our shop comfortable for everyone to come in and just completely be themselves,” she said. “We created that space!”

Fong-Kee said she felt great at Bloodless’ recent grand re-opening event.

“Having a bigger shop and seeing all the people who came to support, seeing how it got filled and how many vendors sold out, just seeing all of that put together was like, ‘Wow,’ ” she said. “It felt so heartwarming.”

As for the future, Fong-Kee  said she would love to go to Colorado in the next two years.

“I do want to eventually make posters for bands,” she said. “I was studying illustration for a reason!”

Whatever happens, she said, she will continue tattooing.

Arizona Sonoran News is a news service of the University of Arizona School of Journalism.