Yeah, it's always the question why, but...
I feel more complete every time I have a session, you know.
Everybody wants to look like how
you see yourself, you know.
For the Brutal Black project,
the most important [thing] is the experience.
It's like a kind of rite of passage thing,
like a ritual.
They believe that they want to push their body physically to its limit.
The whole energy changes in the room.
Like, everyone that's tattooing goes quiet, focused,
unless Valerio tattoos them,
and then it's pain.
My job is to take you to the end of it.
And yours is to complete it.
Sometimes, I insult people.
I say, "What the fuck are you doing?
Stay down! Don't fuck around with me!"
It's not black.
It's not fucking black!
They go beyond their limit, so from then on it's all new.
In that moment, they live a new experience,
so they go beyond.
My name's Cameron Stewart.
Most people know me as Cammy Stewart.
I've been tattooing for almost 12 years.
And the Brutal Black Project
is basically a concept that was designed
between me and my friend Valerio
for making wide scale blackwork done in a...
what some people might describe as a chaotic way.
The Brutal Black Project in three words...
could be: ignorant, violent, and primitive.
That's it.
When we do a tattoo,
we modify a big amount of skin.
We work on a lot of skin.
It could even be considered extreme,
so there's a real transformation of this person.
In the beginning, we were more structured
in how we went about making the tattoos more traditional.
Like, we would use a stencil and
preliminary drawing, etcetera.
But, after seeing how people reacted to getting the tattoo,
we would change the concept a little bit,
and it became more about the freedom
of working on someone without constraint.
I basically want to make people look like savages.
I want it be really primitive and tribal.
If you want a brutal looking tattoo,
there's only one way to get it,
brutally.
That's it.
If you want to look brutal, you’ve got to go through the process.
And for the project,
the most important [thing] is the experience.
So I'm Frankie. I'm from the Netherlands.
I arrived yesterday in Italy.
I'm going to get tattooed by Cammy and Valerio.
I think we started about half a year ago,
something like that.
This is going to be my final session with the Brutal Black Project.
I expect a lot of pain,
and blood.
I'm fucking nervous, man.
I've always faced my fear of suffering,
of experiencing the feeling of pain.
Because it's not suffering,
it's just a feeling.
But in our society,
it's labeled as... it's seen as something negative.
Like when a kid falls,
and his mother goes, "Oh, you poor thing!"
No.
He doesn't need an apprehensive mother.
He just needs someone who can help him overcome that moment
of growth,
and overcome his fear.
This is kind of what we do with tattoos.
There's no need for me to reassure you,
to tell you, "Oh, you poor thing!"
Quite the opposite.
Sometimes, I insult people.
I say, “What the fuck are you doing? Stay down!
Don't fuck around with me!”
But, I only do this once they've gone beyond their limit.
They go beyond their limit, so from then on, it's all new.
They don't know what to do. They don't know how to behave.
They have never seen it. They have never experienced it.
In that moment, they live a new experience.
That's enough! That's enough!
If they're pleading with you to stop,
you stop, but only if they really have to.
They are essentially in control.
It's not forced upon them.
They're here of their own free will.
I think some people look at it and think it's like a negative thing.
But, as far as I'm concerned, if they want to get it done,
and we want to do it, and no one's getting seriously hurt,
I don't see what the problem is.
I started tattooing when I was quite young. I was only about 22.
And I had done basic work, any kind of work,
traditional, Japanese, etcetera.
And the work that I made initially was probably
a little bit more refined and less dense.
And, as I got into doing -- learning technique,
and being able to put in heavier amounts of ink,
the work changed slightly,
and blackwork, I suppose, is what came out of it.
I think I'm drawn to blackwork because it was extreme,
and it was pushing it to the limit.
Doing sort of an outsider's type of tattooing
that wasn't commercial.
It just clicked.
For the tattooee,
for the person who's getting tattooed,
I suppose it's kind of difficult for me to comment on
because, I think their interest in it
is different than mine.
They're obviously interested in having work
that appeals to them, sort of, come to us,
because they've seen it online,
and they want to get something like that.
And some people come maybe because they want the experience,
like a kind of rite of passage thing, like a ritual.
They believe that they want to push their body physically to its limit.
It's the same as anything, you know, like skydiving, bungee jumping,
anything that releases adrenaline and endorphins,
[blackwork] could be compared to [as] the same.
I don't give a fuck about pain.
You just need to take it.
If you don't feel pain, you're not alive.
Yeah, I was always into tattooing when I was younger.
My family members, they all have tattoos.
And one time, I went with my mom to a tattoo shop.
I saw how it’s all done [unintelligible] in the tattoo shop.
And I liked it, so...
Yeah, it's always the question why,
but it's the same like, why do some girls do Botox in their lips,
put implants in their ass, and shit like that, you know.
Everybody wants to look like how you see yourself, you know.
This will be the last session of the Brutal Black Project.
We have decided to end the Brutal Black Project here.
We kind of wanted to end it because we don't want it to become dilute
and overdone.
We will work on work together,
but the concept will probably change and develop
just so you're not recycling the same thing all the time.
Clean.
Done.
I think we've already reached our maximum.
We can't do more than this.
It dies here.
We kill our own monster.
When I start tattooing,
I kind of feel like I want to stay quiet.
It's not even purposefully. Like, it just becomes that,
and you just get submerged in it.
I enable people
to live their own experience
to live freely,
to face the challenge
with pain.
You feel like you perceive your body
in its complete wholeness.
This is not black!
- What? - This is not black!
This is not fucking black. Please tell him.
He keeps torturing him, and it's not even fucking black.
If it has to be black, you got to make it black in one round.
It's not black.
It's not fucking black!
Goddamn it!
Basically, you're going to get body-bagged out of here
in the trolley.
I'll push you home man, I promise.
Too much?
Mate, you've only just started. It'll take a while.
I think you'll get more into it over the course of time.
You think you won't,
but you're fucking probably a lot stronger
than what you give yourself credit for.
I'm fucking sick.
I feel bad for him.
Yeah, death to Frankie, man.
It's only going to get worse throughout the day.
The thing is, when someone comes in initially,
they're like normal and they have to adjust,
so your body will release endorphins,
adrenaline, just to get through it.
But initially, it's not easy.
The first hour, not so good.
Second hour, easier.
Third hour, okay.
Fourth hour,
if he makes it that far,
done probably.
I reckon four, four hours max.
So I have to work fast to try and get the coverage.
Wait, wait!
Let's just finish...
Let's finish this spot.
-We can finish it, no problem. -It's fast.
The Brutal Black Project
is an experience that's 100 percent real.
You get it
as soon as you feel very strong pain.
If you decide to take part in it, there are no compromises.
The only compromise is your limit.
Once you go beyond your limit, that's it.
You have reached your goal.
As a tattooist, I think
pushing yourself is a good thing all the time.
Not as a tattooist, as an artist, as anyone
in any job or hobby or...
In my opinion, you should always take yourself to the maximum.
It felt like torturing from medieval times.
In a session like that, you get to know yourself a little bit better.
I'm still feeling sick, but I'm happy with -- that I could take it.
It's never done.
Even if you're fully covered, you're going to find some spot
to fill in.
It's never done,
because yeah,
I feel more complete every time I have a session, you know.