Trey Russell

Connect What inspired your most recent tattoo?

My most recent tattoo is the Weeping Virgin Mary - Catholic icon, and to me, the original sad girl. Raised Catholic and shaped by a decade of reverence for the “sad girl” aesthetic, through the internet, and music, I wanted to immortalize that convergence of faith, beauty, and melancholy. It was done by Irae, a Korean guest artist in NYC’s The Gallery - whose signature metallic gold ink made Mary’s tears shimmer with divine sorrow. It’s reverence and ruin in one fra

If your ink could speak, what would it say?

If my ink could speak, it would talk about the women who shaped me - real, imagined, loved, and lost. It would say that heartbreak isn’t just pain, it’s a rite of passage. It would speak in lyrics and half-remembered prayers, in the voices of artists who made sadness feel sacred. There’s reverence in remembering, even when it hurts. Every face is a chapter, every line a lyric. This isn’t decoration - it’s documentation.

What would you do with the $25,000?

I’d use it to support my dad, who was recently diagnosed with primary progressive multiple sclerosis and is going through a tough time. If there’s anything left, I’d get another tattoo - something meaningful to mark this chapter - and use the rest to help cover the cost of starting over in New York on my own.