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Thursday, 16th April, 2026
Meet Fukushi Masaichi, a Japanese pathology professor who preserved tattoo history in the most unusual way.
Born in 1878, Fukushi began studying traditional Japanese irezumi around 1907, fascinated by how tattoo ink behaved within human tissue and its interaction with disease. His focus? Full-body tattoos and the intricate bodysuits that covered people from neck to ankle. But Fukushi didn’t just photograph these masterpieces. He made arrangements with tattooed individuals who agreed to donate their skin after passing away.
Through careful autopsy work, he preserved and stretched the tattooed skin, turning it into a living archive of the art form.
At its peak, his collection included over 3,000 photographs and roughly 2,000 preserved skins.
Tragically, most were lost and some destroyed in 1945 air raids during WWII, others vanished during a trip to Chicago when his suitcase full of specimens disappeared overnight after someone showed interest in acquiring one.
What survived? Around 105 preserved tattoo skins, now housed at the University of Tokyo’s Medical Pathology Museum being one of the rarest collections of Japanese tattoo history in existence.
Photos: Yamato Magazine & Sabukaru Online
[04] Rocco and His Brothers: ‘The Good, the Bad, the God and her Lover’.
A body of work which rails against unchecked power structures and operates by “reclaiming the subterranean network as a vital battleground against unchecked scrutiny.
The collective seek to interrogate the panoptic state and the mechanisms that sustain unchecked systems of power. Drawing on ideas of surveillance, control, and visibility, the exhibition explores how authority is constructed, exercised, and maintained within contemporary society.
Open now until 10th May
📍StolenSpace Gallery,
East London, UK.
[5]ExSiloris
Neo Ukiyo-e artist
Modern life reimagined through Edo-era aesthetics.
Mythical animals, dark symbolism & predator themes.
AI-assisted illustrations.
Available for art & brand licensing.
In Potengi, a small town nestled in the heart of the Sertão, the vast arid region in the Brazilian Northeast, the Reisado de Caretas de Sassaré is the only folk group to wear animal skin masks.
The Reisado encompasses the songs, rituals, and characters that bring to life the Folia de Reis, one of the most traditional expressions of Brazilian culture, which symbolically marks the arrival of the Three Wise Men and the end of the Christmas season.
Antônio Luiz de Sousa, a master and performer of the Reisado for over forty years, opened the doors of his house-museum to us, sharing his story, his passion, and his table, and allowing me to pay homage to this living treasure on the walls of his family home.
