This past September the very first Phangan Community Tattoo Photoshoot (P.C.T.P) was held at Sunset Walk & Harmony Beach Club in Ban Tai, Koh Phangan. We sat down with Jason Marek, founder of The P.C.T.P Event for a quick Q & A.
You’ve been living in Thailand on and off for almost a decade. What made you choose KPG (Koh Phangan) as your home?
I left the States on a one-way ticket to Southeast Asia in search of something a little more authentic, a deeper experience. Like many of us living in KPG, we just wanted to escape the Matrix. The old saying of, “Once your eyes are open, they can never be closed again” always comes to mind when coming to the realization that KPG is where I have decided to plant my roots as opposed to anywhere else, especially one of the many western countries.
At first, I lived on a different island along the west coast of Thailand. I made a few solid business moves during my time there that have since allowed me the opportunity to navigate my way in whichever direction I wanted to. This is when I took advantage of the opportunity to truly experience what KPG was all about. Koh Phangan is a parallel universe, an alternate reality. It is a place to get lost while simultaneously finding out who you really are. A zero judgment zone. It is a place to evolve and transcend one’s self. A place to really let go and experience life to the fullest. KPG is the most spiritual, open, loving, beautiful, sexually charged, underground party island known to man. The only one of its kind. This is why I call KPG my forever home. There are truly no words, pictures, or videos that will ever be able to describe just how surreal Koh Phangan is.
Why do you think KPG has become an expat magnet and is arguably the fastest-growing island in Thailand?
Well Koh Phangan definitely has much more of an island vibe than some of its bigger neighbouring islands. It’s a melting pot for the free-spirited. It’s less developed than places like Koh Samui or Phuket. From a business aspect, I would assume, that many people’s thought process would be that KPG might give them the opportunity to “get in on the ground floor” regarding new business opportunities.
KPG has its positives and negatives to go along with it of course. I would have to agree without a doubt it is the fastest-growing island in Thailand these days. Many foreigners are flocking here from their countries to start a new life. Unfortunately, that might mean that the good old days of expat backpackers coming here to retire on a small savings are slowly coming to an end, as the market value and price points are increasing at a pretty rapid rate. It also means that for the foreseeable future, the competition with foreign-owned businesses will get stronger and perhaps only the ones that possess the higher degrees of quality in regards to their level of service and product will survive.
How did you get involved in the tattoo culture here? Are you a tattoo artist yourself?
I am not a tattoo artist. I just happen to have a huge admiration for tattoos. Living on the islands of Thailand you sometimes tend to become a product of your environment. Tattoos here on the island are about as mainstream as wearing a suit and tie to work in the Western corporate world. In many instances the longer one stays in KPG, the more inked up they might become. It is not until you take a trip back to your home country that you realize how much the Western world still might think of it as a bit taboo: well at least when half your body is covered in them anyways.
The longer I stayed on the islands, the more tattoo artists and tattoo studio owners I had the pleasure of meeting. So naturally over time, I ended up rubbing elbows with some of the bigger names in the industry here. I come from a conservative family, like many people from the United States. Although I had a few tattoos before moving halfway around the world, I received most of my ink on the islands of Thailand.
Why did you decide to create an event solely around tattoos?
Thailand has always been known for having a deep history regarding tattoos. Sak Yant or Yantra tattoos are extremely prevalent here. The techniques mainly used to tattoo on the island are machine and traditional Thai bamboo tattooing. There are more than 40 tattoo shops on the island of Phangan alone. Considering that there are only about 12,000 people living here, that is a pretty big business model for us. Obviously there is a large community of tattoo enthusiasts here, both Thais and foreigners, who are extremely into this artistic expression.
The tattoo culture here is one of many subjects that I want to address and bring to light for the rest of the world to see. The P.C.T.P Event was meant to assemble all nationalities, ages and genders so that they could come together to simply celebrate and show everyone’s love and passion for tattoos.
Who came up with the the idea and why did you think it was important to bring this event to KPG?
I did. However, I was actually inspired to take action because of Sharon Kahati (owner & founder of Phanganist.com). I also had a tremendous amount of assistance along the way with many other professionals who helped me turn this idea into a reality. I learned in business from a young age that if you want to truly be successful, you must surround yourself with people who know more than you. You must drop any ego that you have and come to the realization that if you want to accomplish great things, it really does require a team effort. No one person can achieve a large task on their own, especially if it has many intricate moving parts to it.
For the P.C.T.P Event, I knew from the beginning that I would need to assemble a top-tier team comprised of qualified professionals: photographers, videographers, event managers, tattoo artists, tattoo models, and support personnel. So once I put together the right team, I worked side by side with all of them in their field of expertise. I couldn’t have asked for a better videographer (Antoney Key - owner of 4REELS). Then I had my Lead photographer Kay Lavelle (who happens to be the exclusive photographer for KPGs Jungle Party Events). The contributing photographers were all Grade-A professionals (Mikhail Panfilev, Charlie Carlin and Marina Vysochina). I was lucky enough to snag one of the top Aerial Drone Videographers on the island as well (Roman Kolchin).
I teamed up with Ink Point Tattoo Studio, Sorry Mom Tattoo Studio, and a few other very talented local tattoo artists. Then I collaborated with Jay Denny (owner of Tiki Tattoo Studio) who really helped steer me in the right direction with many ideas. After that Jay connected me to Jao Pattanasiri (owner of Half Moon Festival, Sunset Walk & Harmony Beach Club). Once that happened I just knew everything was going to fall into place nicely.
Of course, I cannot go without mentioning all of the P..C.T.P Managing Support Personnel (Brenneke Verdonschot, Vanessa Lippold, Mike Yurkov and Jimmy Driesen).
I thought it was important to bring this event to KPG because firstly, it has never been done before. I am sure I wasn’t the first one to think of it. Just perhaps the first one to act on it. And secondly, tattooing here on the island is such a huge draw from a touristic aspect, and there can be very deep meanings behind many of the tattoos that you come across.
KPG is home to some of the most talented artists that I have ever had the pleasure of crossing paths with, and not just regarding tattooing. There are some big-name artists residing on the island that most are not even aware of, from international touring DJs, world renown chefs, actors and actresses, to fashion designers. Koh Phangan has always been home to many undercover celebs I guess you could say.
Do you have any future plans for The P.C.T.P Event?
Well, my long-term reason for hosting The P.C.T.P Event is for documentary purposes. The content gathered from this event will be used in an upcoming full-length/high-end documentary. This documentary will be covering multiple topics regarding the culture here on Koh Phangan. One of the topics is obviously going to be about the tattoo culture here on the island. This subject, however, is actually going to be the smallest of the subjects to be discussed in the upcoming documentary.
With a lot of hard work and a little luck, this full-length documentary will be the first piece of cinematic art to be produced out of Koh Phangan. We want it to be Netflix / Amazon Prime-worthy. KPG is a vastly growing community with new talented people emerging daily, so I am sure that it will definitely not be the last piece of cinematic art to come out of Phangan.
A little bird told us that there might be a possibility of perhaps trying to bring an actual Tattoo Convention to KPG sometime soon. Have you heard anything about this?
Well actually yes. Jay Denny (Tiki Tattoo) and I have been in the works regarding this. We plan to host the very first Koh Phangan Tattoo Convention in the near future. It won’t just be your average “run of the mill” Thailand machine/bamboo tattoo convention that you always see. What is going to separate our KPG convention from other conventions is the fact that we are going to collaborate to make it more of an event. Meaning, we plan to not just bring in machine & bamboo tattoo artists. We will also be introducing hand poke, Polynesian tapping, Samui & Maui tapping, Borneo tattooing, Japanese Tebori, and even Viking Stitching. We are preparing to have educational seminars going over these more traditional styles of tattooing. As well, we will have educational seminars to cover the topics of cultural and ceremonial tattoo practices.
Our game plan is to fly in some of the biggest worldwide names in the tattoo circuit to participate in this KPG Tattoo Convention / Event with the hopes of filling around 50 booths. We want it to be based around the quality and not just the quantity of everything tattoo-related during this special event.
Ok, last question. In your opinion, how come so many tourists that come to Thailand always end up leaving with a new tattoo?!.
Well, when you have an abundance of parties, music festivals, drinking bars and tattoo studios all in the same area, something is bound to come out of that! Actually, there is no wrong reason to get a tattoo while on your travels to one of Thailand’s tropical islands, in my humble opinion. Especially if it is a unique technique being used in the process like the traditional bamboo style. The tattoo and the tattoo experience will represent a forever memory to the tourists, like a picture or badge of honour that they can wear and talk about for the rest of their lives!
Article Photo Credit: Kay Lavelle, Mikhail Panfilev and Charlie Carlin.
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