Connection and art have driven a somewhat special project that saw two artists from different worlds come together across mediums.
Friends with long-term creative parallels worked together for the first time on a beautiful collaboration when a client decided to get the work of a local artist inked as a tattoo.
Cole Becker, a Monash PhD student, visited the Dandenong Ranges to get the tattoo in November, after spotting a local artist Skubz Mope’s work by chance.
He said he thought it would be really cool to get inked with Skubz’s work and this led to seasoned tattoo artist Sammi coming onto collaborate.
The fun part? Sammi and Skubz are good friends and have known each other for years.
“I thought the designs were really cool. It’s the exact kind of art that I like,” Cole said.
“The experience was really nice, and I definitely couldn’t have chosen better people to work with.”
Outer East mixed media artist Skubz Mope is currently an artist in residence at Burrinja in Upwey.
Coming from a long-term love of both painting and pottery, to grassroots graffiti art in Gosford, NSW, Skubz said he has always been interested in a little bit of everything.
“It feels pretty awesome,” he said of having his work move through media into the tattoo realm.
‘Sammi Side up’ or Sammi Edney, is a long-term local tattoo artist working from Sassafras and said the chance to both collaborate on and tattoo Skubz’s work was exciting.
“His work is translatable; it was very fun and exciting that we could work together,” she said.
Sammi has been a tattoo artist for nearly 18 years and met Skubz in NSW in a community music-based space known as ‘Rhythm Hut’.
While people often gets well known works or images tattooed on themselves, it’s rare to have on-ground involvement between a client, the tattoo artist and the original creator.
As tattooing gains more and more recognition in the fine art world, Cole’s choice to contact Skubz for his work made the experience positive all the way around.
Sammi said she had never worked with a local living artist before, so using Skubz’s work with permission and collaboration was a privilege and a special moment.
“This is my first local living artists collaboration, which is amazing,” said Sammi.
“I really tried to keep it as true to his work as possible,” she said.
While Skubz has done some designs before, he said the concept of designing for tattoos had always been something he was a bit nervous about, but working with Sammi had expanded his curiosity in the field.
“It was the permanency,” he said.
With tattooing adding an extra layer of process, Sammi said that longevity is often key, and noted that Skubz’s use of contrast and colour lent itself really well to the art form. With his help, the two played with the original and streamlined it to prepare it to be a tattoo.
“There were minimal alterations, “ she said.
Sammi herself has always been quite artistic and came to the world of tattoo artistry after a lightbulb moment with a friend.
With a family of painters and her own interest in body modifications, Sammi said the industry has evolved a lot since she began, as tattooing has become more and more mainstream.
“I love every part of it, and the longer I’m in it, the more excited I get about it,” she said.
“There’s an element of trust that you have to develop with that person initially, before you even get to marking their bodies; it kind of goes across all boundaries.”
Cole, the person who got the tattoo, came to Skubz’s work with the help of some serendipity, or chance, reaching out to Skubz through social media.
“He reached out to me, just curious about getting a tattoo,” said Skubz.
An assistant to Anthony Breslin had shown a friend (another student) some of Skubz’s work, who happened to live around the corner from Cole, who then saw it and connected with the style.
Anthony Breslin was an icon from the arts world and a former Burrinja artist in residence, who sadly passed away in April 2025 after a long-term battle with leukaemia and Skubz said he was ‘amazing’.
Skunz met Anthony whilst he was at Burrinja and the artist also got to know his assistants as well.
“His fortitude. He never really let it (his illness) get him down,” he said.
After picking a piece from Skubz’s portfolio, Skubz connected Cole with Sammi, and the collaboration began in earnest, with the tattoo completed in a couple of sessions in Sammi’s studio.
“I love all the colours and the composition and the way that it’s a combination of abstract but realistic,” said Cole.
Skubz said of the final print chosen by Cole that it came from his current series and style evolved after a particularly rough year for him personally.
“It’s just very it’s all very loose, very non-trying to be anything in particular,” he said.
“I think the beautiful thing about them is that people see different things in them.”
The selected artwork Cole chose and now wears has a kind and watchful energy to it, along with a saturated colour feel, and he said he likes the way that the lines flow and that it draws the viewer’s attention in a guided way around the piece.
“So, it flows very well,” he said.
Already quite established and dedicated to her custom process, Sammi said it was really quite nice to do her best in a technical application sense, to do the work justice in the tattoo form.
“The work itself has opened up possibilities for future collaborations, which is very exciting,” she said.
Skubz was, in turn, inspired by Sammi and said to Star Mail in early January that he’s going to begin learning some tattoo skills from her.
“Tattooing is a way to integrate my creativity, expression and art,” he said.
Skubz said he has been quite interested in the process and treated the opportunity as another way to evolve.
“We’re both very passionate makers, and it’s just a lovely thing that we’ve come together and collaborated after so long and in such an interesting format,” said Sammi.
