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Having been sued in what’s believed to be a first-of-its-kind lawsuit, Kat Von D went about covering herself in black ink.
The tattoo artist, best known for on appearing reality TV shows LA Ink and Miami Ink, faced a legal case for copyright infringement.
The 43-year-old was accused of violating the intellectual property rights of photographer Jeffrey Sedlik when she used his portrait of Miles Davis as the basis for a tatt she put on a friend’s arm.
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But despite the inking of the American music legend not being on herself, Von D has been going about blacking out the various tatts across her body.
The reality star said in October 2023 that she’d spent almost ’40 accumulative hours’ blacking out about 80 percent of her body over recent years.
The Mexican-born American artist said the tattoos she was covering up ‘meant nothing’ to her and had served as ‘landmarks in dark times’.
She went on to explain why she wanted them gone from her skin: “I had many tattoos that represented a part of my life that no longer aligns with who I am today.
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“Some people are fine with keeping these types of landmarks in time on them — I personally grew tired of waking up to them, and seeing those constant reminders every time I looked in a mirror.”
And when it comes to having much of her body now covered in ink, Von D added: “Also, I really love the aesthetic. I know it’s not for everyone but it is very satisfying to me to see a clean slate when I look down onto my arms.”
Yeah, I know, you might be thinking the obvious: why not just get them removed rather than covering them up?
Well, the star explained that she did actually start off with laser.
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“And although I think laser tattoo removal is effective, I personally wasn’t a good candidate considering how much coverage I wanted to remove,” she told her social media followers.
Von D didn’t go about covering everything up though, keeping inkings such as an image of her father with it able to ‘stand out even more’.
The star beat the lawsuit in 2024 when a jury found that she did not violate Sedlik’s copyright.
“I’m obviously very happy for this to be over,” she said outside the court. “It’s been two years of a nightmare worrying about this, not just for myself but for my fellow tattoo artists.”
