Meet Our Guest Artist: Maddie Mo!

By Bailey Jones

Maddie is the first hand-poke guest artist to come to Inkora, and we couldn’t be happier to open our doors to her across June and July. Coming all the way from Perth, Australia, we’re confident she’ll enjoy her time in Oxford and at Inkora. But who is Maddie? I had the privilege of interviewing Maddie to learn a little more about the artist behind the art.

Maddie Mo

Tell us a bit about yourself!

Hiya! I am Maddie Mo, an artist based in Perth, Australia (the most isolated city in the world!). I love frogs, reading and spicy margaritas.

When did your tattoo journey start?

I first started around 2018 while I was at University studying Fine Art, but I knuckled down to learn properly during covid.

What drew you to it as an art form?

I love to sew, and tattooing is just another kind of needlework really. Painting or sewing can be quite lonely, but tattooing is very social - I love to chit chat while I work. It’s also very appealing to make art that I don’t need to physically store or exhibit, because it walks out of the studio on its own two feet as soon as it’s finished.

Hand-poke fruit bowl tattoo

From when you started, how did you go on to develop your style?

I guess I started to develop a ‘style’ while creating designs for embroidery, but it’s not something I’ve consciously tried to do. I feel like pigeonholing myself as an artist to one narrow aesthetic would be limiting- I’m always evolving and trying new things! I try to focus more on exploring what inspires me and experimenting - lots of my work doesn’t go to plan and never sees the light of day, but that’s when the breakthroughs happen, and eventually where a style develops. Unfortunately it’s not a very straightforward process!

What has your tattoo journey looked like?

So incredibly fun! Meeting clients and other artists from all walks of life has been fascinating, and being able to travel new places to work is very exciting. I definitely still wrestle with work life balance and hate how reliant on social media I am but as a whole it’s been a very rewarding journey so far.

What drew you to hand poking as an art form?

The slow and gentle practice of hand-poke is very meditative. I find it generally hurts less, requires fewer tools, heals faster and gives a unique speckled look that I love.

Hand-poked abstract human form tattoo

Outside of tattooing, is there anything else creative you get up to?

Yes, too much! Ceramics has been a big part of my art practice over the last few years. I often work on large scale embroideries, and I’ve recently been getting into gardening; Perth has so many incredible alien-like native plants. I also work at a picture framing shop when I’m not tattooing- it’s very inspiring being around other people’s art all day, helping it shine with the right frame.

When you’re not being creative, what do you get up to?

Hanging out with my beautiful partner Ush, or friends. I love to go camping, visit galleries or just rot in front of the tv.

Is there anything else people should know about you?

I love to gossip - if you book in with me, please bring a piece of gossip from your life as a tip! Family lore, wedding disasters or nightmare housemates are my favourite topics but I’ll take anything honestly.

One silly question, if you were a type of bird, what bird would you be and why?

A kookaburra! Because I too love to laugh and eat BBQ sausages.

Maddie's fine art

We hope that Maddie’s time with us at Inkora is something to remember, helped by just how amazing the reception to her work has been. She’s already nearly booked up, but you can book in with her using this link: https://www.maddiemo.com/booking. You can also find Maddie at on Instagram @poked.by.mo

Catch Maddie Mo at Inkora in June and July… and who knows, maybe sometime in the future as well.