The
SERPENTS
of
BIENVILLE
86 • SKIN DEEP MAGAZINE
Tattoos and artwork by Daniel Weyandt“No wrong turns—they do not exist.
You cannot diverge from the path—it’s impossible.”
- DANIEL HIGGS
SEAN HERMAN’S TRANSFORMATIVE TATTOO
I
truly believe that tattooing lives in the hearts of
some people. Filip Leu began tattooing in Swit-
zerland at the age of 14, learning from his parents,
and from his hands, tattooing was forever changed.
With one swift hand motion, Filip can create the perfect
dragon, as if it were effortless. Tattooing flows through
him, as a form of communication more than anything
else. It’s as if tattooing is in the DNA of some creators.
That love for tattooing is so deep, why else would we go
through the pain we experience tied to tattooing? It’ssomething that I think about now more than ever. After
being heavily tattooed for decades now, and creating tat-
toos for 16 years, I still find myself in awe of the magic
of the tattoo. It’s a love that I share with my good friend
James D. Norris, or his artist name, Mr. Dusty. Tattooing
is in Dusty’s DNA.
I met Dusty in Atlanta, he was accompanying a friend
who was a visiting guest artist. Dusty was a force of na-
ture, a passionate whirlwind taking everything with him
in his wake. Eventually, tattooing found Dusty, and he ap-
prenticed at a shop I was working at in Mobile, Alabama.
I proudly wear one of his first tattoos, an Ed Hardy piece
with a small inscription under it. For years we worked in
a shop together, constantly in awe of what new historical
bits we could learn about within tattooing and its culture.
I was in love with his artwork, acquiring his paintings
whenever possible. After a separation happened within
the shop, Dusty went on to a different direction in life,
pursuing academia. When tattooing is something that
lives inside of you though, you never leave it, even if you
think you are moving away from it. Here is Dusty’s story
about that time.
“It is hard for me not to smile when I think about tat-
tooing. I think back to that pivotal moment in life where
I decided that I wanted tattoos. I was very young, maybe
even before I was a teenager. Both my mom and dad had
tattoos. My father was a biker and was covered in them, he
even gave me a stencil kit so I could apply images on my-
self. I never saw how they affected his life (whether it was
positive or negative), I just knew I wanted them. When I
could stay with my parents, sometimes they would have