By Melissa M. Thompson, October 2008
Photo By Zachary Bennett
The ink was barely dry on Kenny Medford’s first tattoo, a rudimentary sketch of his initials on his calf, when the 17-year-old ordered his own tattoo kit online. Soon thereafter the teen was hooked on ink as art, using his own body as a practice canvas where his initial ink creation looked more like a cave painting than a Picasso.
“I did a heart with some green goo coming out of the top of it,” he recalls. “It seemed like a good idea.”
Now the Miami native is more likely to etch custom designs on the biceps of the college crowd than images of glowing goo as a cartoon sketch specialist who brings more than a decade of experience to Body Tech Inc., Gainesville’s tattoo and piercing hotspot.
After graduating from a piercing and tattoo apprentice to full-time artist in South Florida, Medford traveled to Gainesville on a whim, visiting a friend who worked at Body Tech. Looking for a place to refine his technique and more bodies to ink with images, he joined the Body Tech team in 2006, where he said tattooing has not only developed his ability, but serves as an act of therapy.
“At one point I had my dad trying to come back into my life, and he said I wouldn’t do much in this profession,” said Medford, who was raised by his mother and grandparents. “I’ve worked so hard to prove him wrong. This job has opened my eyes to living.”