For thousands of years, tattooing has been well-established in the Mediterranean

"Straight to the point," "proud to be from Marseille" and other references to OM or Notre-Dame de Lagarde ... In Marseille too, tanned skin sets the tone with protest tattoos inscribed even on the mucous membranes of the mouth. The photographs by Yohanne Lamoulère and Anne van Der Stegen, hanging from mid-May until September 28 at the Centre de la Vieille Charité (2nd arrondissement), as an introduction to the exhibition Tattoo. Stories of the Mediterranean, are a reminder: tattooing has become significantly more widespread over the past forty years, with one in five French people tattooed. These days, it is a matter of individual and collective identity .

In Marseille, the story is already old. "Monick Art Tattoo", the first tattoo parlor opened in 1978 in a camping caravan in Bonneveine (8th arrondissement) before having a storefront not far from Réformés (4th arrondissement), until its closure in 2016. Of course, tattoo artists Monick and Allan first inked the skin of bikers, sailors,