One never knows what is hiding down a few steps, way in the back, behind a curtain, but here was where I found the nicest guys. One was lying on his back, stripped down, in the process of getting a tattoo, and the others were totally chilling while keeping their buddy company. On another occasion, when we went back to take some photos, our photographer Esteban and I met an equally great group of men, hanging out with the owner, João Paulo Rodrigues. Although deliberately hidden from those walking on 18th Street, we were pleased with ourselves to have discovered Acqua Santa and to have spent the time that we did chatting about the area, the people, and, of course, each of the men’s tattoos.
“I don’t love tattoos; I love people,”João clarified. João grew up in Brazil surrounded by people with tattoos, including his father, but chose to move to Brooklyn as an adult to further his tattooing experience. This art form basically fell into his lap, but that does not mean that he or any of the other tattoo artists at Acqua Santa take their jobs lightly. In their mission statement they describe themselves as a “team of good people who only breathe and survive [through] art and tattooing…”
