Justin Dahse

Connect What inspired your most recent tattoo?

My most recent tattoos are two mushroom-headed figures. One stands alert, almost laughing; the other sinks as fruiting bodies spill from its neck. They grew from my love of fungi, anatomy, and the interplay between life and decay. Their bodies are an amalgam of photos of people I love, making them feel familiar and strange, like memories rooted in something deeper than I can explain.

If your ink could speak, what would it say?

If my ink could speak, it would say, this is the real me, the truth behind the mask. I’ve spent years feeling disconnected from my body. These tattoos are how I stitch the inside to the outside, turning what’s unseen into something I can touch. They’re not decoration. They’re translation.

What would you do with the $25,000?

I would finally book sessions with the artists I have admired from afar and bring my long-held visions to life. There are stretches of skin I have saved for years, waiting for the right moment and the right hands. This would be a chance to create something lasting, something that speaks. It would not just be ink. It would be part of my story, a living memory, the kind of art that breathes with me.