"Does it hurt?" When you're a tattoo artist, that's the most universal question. For Chris MacDonald, the answer is simple: hurts less than a broken heart. Those words are painted above the entrance to his shop, Under My Thumb Tattoos, as a reminder.⍾Chris and his brothers were as wild as the wind, in their house among the fields of Alliston, Ontario, when their parents divorced. Shell-shocked, they were uprooted and brought to Toronto by their dad. Their mother's mental illness worsened in the aftermath, and she disappeared. As a teenager, Chris left home and found himself immersed in the city's underbelly, a world where drugs, skateboarding, and punk rock reigned. Between the youth shelters, suicidal thoughts, and haunted apartments, a light shined: and it was art.⍾He eventually found himself following the path of his brother, Rob, and pursuing life as a tattooist. Then, at the height of a destructive summer, everything changed: he met Megan, the girl who would become his rock of ages.⍾This remarkable memoir examines what tattooing means to MacDonald and traces the connection his artistic motives have to both his family and childhood. “The Things I Came Here With” is about how crucial our past is to understanding our future, but it's also a love letter to his daughter about the importance of expression, life's uncertainty, and beauty. A beautifully written memoir that explores the life of a tattoo artist and what tattooing, and art mean in our lives.
