Dermatigraphia is a skin condition that makes your skin hyper-sensitive to touch such that a light scratch mark will create raised welts that take longer to fade as compared to an average person. Brooklyn based photographer Ariana Page Russell sees her skin condition as a unique gift- allowing her to create temporary patterns on her skin from scratching her flesh. She started doodling designs on her skin in 2003, and has been exploring with new shapes and patterns ever since. Russell also creates different colors and shading effects depending on the intensity of her scratches. Although this sounds painful and somewhat grotesque when you look at how red and swollen her skin can get, this process is actually painless, and the patterns she creates with this scratching is on the contrary very intricate and captivating. In addition to these “natural” tattoos, the artist also makes temporary tattoos by first photographing her flushed skin and manipulating the colours to make reds and pinks stand out. She then forms collages from these photographs and then turns them into temporary tattoos using special paper and adhesive. Her collection celebrates our unique gifts and features, exposing the beauty that lies within and without. She catalogs her designs by photographing them. This gallery can be viewed on her blog Skin Tome.  

via feature shoot