C

THE MAN BY THE WINDOW

This work was inspired by a story from my client. He once read the Portuguese poem Tabacaria while buying coffee, and the words stayed with him ever since. He wanted a tattoo that captured a sense of loneliness, like a man smoking by the window.

After reading the poem myself, I felt a deep existential anxiety and wanted to visualize that emotion. Because of the limited size of the piece, I avoided too many narrative details and focused on a seated human figure as a symbolic form. The strong backlight and low brightness create a heavy, introspective atmosphere. Ink-like splashes break the stillness, allowing the emotion to spread and move across the skin.