Ink Fest Panama 2012

This past weekend, Friday August 17th – Sunday August 19th, Playacommunity was at Ink Fest Panama 2012. The event was held in El Dorado, at the Palacio Dorado in Plaza Mirage. The three day convention was set up in a Chinese style banquet hall. The hall was transformed into a showroom/concert hall/tattoo parlor/bar in which hundreds of tattoo enthusiasts watched, waited or browsed.

 Playacommunity took in the second day of Ink Fest festivities on Saturday evening, we watched as an energetic band played on a small stage at the front of the room. Their singer belted loudly over buzzing needles. Ink Fest Panama brought talented tattoo artists, foreign and local, together to showcase their work. Like us, many came to get a glimpse of what a tattoo convention was like; for others... this was “not their first rodeo” in the words of expat Shannon Burns. In order to get tattooed at the convention an appointment was necessary. The drill seemed to go like so - After finding a desired artist, one would need to catch that artist between jobs, explain the idea, talk about necessary time etc. and then come back for an appointment at a later time or date during the three day convention. Most artists were hard at work late into each evening of the event.

A personal note: While the convention was smaller than I expected, it was still wild to experience this type of event in Panama. Every day I meet new people, most of whom I never expected to stumble upon in here Panama. The same thing can be said for music and art, there is a plethora of artistic expression in this country just waiting to be exposed. Each year, it becomes more and more apparent that these alternative scenes exist here, as they become more accessible and increasingly popular.

To see more photos from this event visit us on facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/Playacommunity/photos