There are a lot of things that separate Guam from most places in the world. For starters, you have to cross thousands of miles of ocean to reach a larger land mass. Because of this great distance, Guam has a unique ecosystem and endemic species of both plants and animals. Cultural interest and identity has made many tattoo collectors seek out imagery specific to Guam as the perfect souvenir or a way to identify with the island we call home.

Despite thousands of military personnel and over a million visitors a year, Guam remains a rather small community. While our environment provides us a close up view of our flora and fauna, there is not a lot of tattoo reference available to get ideas on how to approach truly local tattoos. Doing custom local tattoos can often be both a big challenge and an opportunity to create artwork that makes a tattoo one of the best reminders of Guam anyone can get.

In this case, we have a tattoo of our territorial flower, bougainvillea. Though not an endemic species, you would have difficulty finding someone on island who is not familiar with the flower. Bougainvillea is grown as an ornamental in many front yards and it’s thorns are probably the leading cause of flat bicycle tires in the region.

Initially, I could find no examples of tattoos previously done. Not that I had any intention of copying another tattoo… I was more interested in seeing different compositions and color schemes. I think I was only able to find one tattoo from an artist in California, but done on a young lady from Guam. Perfect!! This guaranteed that any work I put into the drawing could not be negated by a few minutes of browsing the internet (which is super common the last few years). For those of you who draw a lot, you may also find yourself unintentionally drawing things similar to the stuff you have seen before. Inspiration for sure, but sometimes it ends up being really close without you realizing it. I really had none of the typical design issues to worry about, and I was able to exercise a lot of creativity at every stage of the process.

Long story short, I love doing these types of tattoos! If you or anyone you know is interested in something along these lines, I can be found most days at Eli’s ink in Anigua. Feel free to stop by and see what we’re up to or give us a call before you come through at 989-6087. I’d be more than happy to help!