Black solid blackwork tattoo of two elongated stylised figures holding hands, placed centrally on the upper back.

Two stylised figures holding hands on upper back

Blackwork · Back · Black and grey · Photo

The tattoo shows two tall, elongated silhouette figures standing side by side with their hands joined. The shapes are solid black with smooth edges and no interior shading or fine detail. The design sits centrally on the upper back against warm, lightly lit skin, with the wearer's head and shoulders cropped at the top of the frame.

Blackwork Back Figure Silhouette Holding hands

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

You are wedging clay in your father's yard before the sun clears the kiln roofs, the black slip working its way under your nails. The harbour merchant has asked for two figures, each as tall as a forearm, with long necks and thin waists, the sort his wife keeps by the door to greet guests. You cut them from the same grey lump so they will match, and you press their hands together at the wrist while the clay is still soft enough to take a thumbprint.

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When the kiln cools and you lift them out, the joined hands have fused into one seam, dark where the slip pooled. Your father swears at the wasted firing and tells you the merchant will pay for one only, and you can break the other for the shards. You say nothing and sweep the dust into a bucket, because you have already decided what you will do with the second figure, and it is not to throw it away.

The merchant comes at noon in a blue cloak, turns the pair over in his fingers, and asks which one is cheaper. You tell him they were made to stand together and cost the same as a pair. He laughs, then sees your face, then counts out coins that are three times the price he named. He does not ask why the hands are joined, and you do not tell him that the clay remembers how it was shaped.

That evening you carry them home along the harbour stones, one wrapped in each sleeve of your tunic. You set them on the sill of your room, where the lamp throws their shadows onto the plaster. From that angle the two shadows merge into one tall figure that bends a little at the waist, as though it has been walking a long way and has no wish to let go.