Scott Campbell is a famous tattoo artist located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. His celebrity clientele includes the likes of Courtney Love, Heath Ledger, Marc Jacobs, Orlando Bloom and Penelope Cruz.
Recently, Campbell did a tattoo project called "Whole Glory" where he gave fifteen people a free tattoo. All they had to do was stick their arm through a hole in the wall and they would get inked by the celebrity tattoo artist himself. There was only one catch...
...they had to let Campbell do whatever he wanted. Yup, you could get tattooed for free as long as you were willing to give up the rights to knowing what was going to stay on your body for the rest of your life. Yikes!
Participants were chosen at random through a lottery system and announced every hour. More people than you would think were willing to receive a mystery tattoo, and "Whole Glory" drew lines around the block.
"Whole Glory" installations were held in New York, London and Los Angeles. The events drew people from all over, with one woman traveling from as far as Barcelona for the London event.
Sure, participants are chosen by lottery — but could they actually be chosen by fate?
"If you end up putting your arm through here, there are definitely a lot of stars that have aligned in order to make that happen," said Campbell.
"When somebody puts their arm through here, I can't help but imagine who they are. The whole time I'm back here tattooing them, I create these stories in my head about who these people are. The tattoo that I do is tailored to that imaginary person.
"I feel like everybody gets the tattoo that they're supposed to have," said Cambell.
People seemed pleased with the ink they received.
"Twenty people that I spoke to tonight, everyone thought that they got the perfect one," said a "Whole Glory" participant in New York.
“I’d sit there and I’d shave the arm, and I’d clean it off, and I’d be like, ‘It’s not right.’ Yours included. Every single one, I changed my mind last-minute. Who knows, maybe Malcolm Gladwell would say there are subtle, imperceptible clues I caught," said Campbell.
For many of the people inked by Campbell during "Whole Glory," this was their first tattoo. Which probably takes more cajones than most of us will ever have in our entire lives!