DO Savannah: Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum puts Savannah's nautical tats on display

Sue Finkle, a marine biologist and resident of Savannah since 1997, thinks that octopuses are amazing.

They're hilarious, she said, with lots of personality, and they're cranky and spit water at you, and they are very near and dear to her heart. Her love for the eight-armed celephapods are one of the reasons why a blue one stretches across her chest, its tentacles curling around her neck and shoulders. She got inked in 2017 when getting the simpler version of a biopsy turned into a lumpectomy, and she was awaiting to learn whether or not she had cancer.

"Thankfully, it came back not cancerous, but my breast surgeon at the time said, 'it's not a matter of if you get cancer, it's when,'" Finkle said. "That was also around the time that I came into the understanding that I am gender queer. So, in my version of that I am female biologically but I'm happy to embrace masculine energy and for me, breasts didn't feel like the right version of me."

So Finkle underwent a mastectomy. She eschewed plastic surgery to make everything pretty, but there were scars. Thus, the tattoo ― a distraction from the scars.

Finkle is just one of 40 "tattoo collectors," as Tania Sammons calls them, who were photographed for "Sea of Ink: Savannah Maritime Tattoos," an exhibit opening 6 p.m., Sept. 19, at the Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum, 41 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Each participant and tattoo tells its own story of maritime culture.

The museum hired two photographers who photographed 14 tattoo artists and 40 tattoo collectors.

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Nautical ink

Executive Director Molly Carrott Taylor, who was hired last year to lead the museum, said the idea for the exhibit was born while she was getting a haircut. Her stylist had a unique tattoo, a Victorian design based on a piece of scrimshaw ― a piece of a whale tooth onto which sailors etched designs.

"When she showed me this tattoo, I started thinking about, if she has something maritime related, who else in Savannah has a tattoo that's maritime related?" said Taylor. "So, I started paying attention to people's tattoos."

With its proximity to the sea, Savannah's people are practically awash in the salt life. While developing the exhibition, Sammons said they were broadly interpreting Savannah maritime tattoos and, throughout the process, met with tattoo collectors from all sectors of Savannah life ― from weekend boaters and sailors to professionals in maritime industries, marine sciences and more. Sammons said to expect traditional maritime tattoos alongside contemporary interpretations.

"What Tanya and I want people to come for is to see the photographs of these amazing tattoos and the people who have made them, because I think it introduces a huge and different swath of society to a unique part of Savannah that is really creative and important," Taylor said, "and we're excited to be bringing attention to it."

If You Go >>

What: Opening reception for "Sea of Ink: Savannah Maritime Tattoos"

When: 6 p.m., Sept. 19

Where: Ships of the Sea Martime Museum, 41 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

Tickets: $10

Info:shipsofthesea.org/sea-of-ink

Destini Ambus is the general assignment reporter for Chatham County municipalities for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach her at dambus@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah's Ships of the Sea Martime Museum hosts tatoo exhibition