In this episode, I'm at the newly established Celtfest to sit down with historical tattoo artist and musician Sean Parry. We dive deep into the ancient art of tattooing, tracing its roots from 90s tribal flash to the intricate, historically grounded freehand designs of today.
But that is just the beginning. We also explore the deeper cultural and spiritual roots that drive Sean's art, the formation of his band to revive ancient sung poetry, and his profound love for his homeland of Wales.
In This Episode, We Explore:
The Evolution of a Craft: How the tattoo industry has shifted from 80s and 90s generic flash art to deeply researched, historically authentic Norse and Celtic designs.
The Power of Freehand: Why Sean shuns stencils in favour of drawing directly onto the skin, allowing the ancient knotwork to flow organically with the human form.
Historical Evidence of Tattoos: Did the ancient Britons actually have tattoos? We discuss the accounts of the Greek explorer Pytheas and what La Tène type 3 art might tell us about ancient body modification.
Removing the Ego: The beauty of contributing to a continuous, historical art style where the individual artist's name is lost to time.
The Meaning of Hiraeth: Sean explains this uniquely Welsh concept—a deep, soulful longing for a past or a place that one might never have actually experienced—and how it called him back to North Wales.
Breathing Life into Ancient Myth: Why the open-ended nature of ancient myths, like the origin of the legendary bard Taliesin, holds so much more philosophical weight than modern Hollywood storytelling.
Living History & Feasting: The joy of experiential history, from feasting in a Bronze Age longhouse in Tanum, Sweden, to why Sean currently has a goat skull sitting in his kitchen (and why he'll be skipping the fermented shark next time).
Find Seans Work:
Website: https://www.sacredknottattoo.com/insular-celtic-tattoos/sean
https://www.instagram.com/sacred_knot_tattoo/?hl=en
https://www.instagram.com/taranau_official/?hl=en
https://open.spotify.com/artist/0AuQ3y9sCvQP2A3oTomSmS
For Viking age & Halfling recipes and ideas check out my 'Eat Like A Viking!' & 'Eat Like A Halfling!' cookbooks or visit my website www.saxonforager.co.uk
Get in touch about the show: Email saxonforager@pm.me
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