Sezin Devi Koehler

Connect What inspired your most recent tattoo?

My chest piece is a tribute to River Phoenix, David Lynch, Keanu Reeves, plus a purple Victorian lotus in a Bowie-inspired moonage daydream.

If your ink could speak, what would it say?

My huge hybrid jellyfish with peacock feathers actually does talk to me sometimes in dreams. I'd been dreaming about her for years as she moved around my body, so we've had a long relationship even before she landed permanently on my thigh in ink. The messages from her are private, though. :-)

What would you do with the $25,000?

I'm the author of newly released "Much Ado About Keanu: A Critical Reeves Theory" (Chicago Review Press). Sadly these days writing isn't the most financially lucrative career. So, the prize money would give me the freedom to work on new projects including an oral history of River Phoenix, a memoir-in-essays inspired by John Wick, a mushroom horror novel, an action drama screenplay, a mixtape poetry collection, and a coffee table book profiling women tattooers around the world.