At the relatively late age of 20, Sabina got her first tattoo – a classic horseshoe on the nape of her neck. Her dancing career had always acted as a barrier for pursuing her infatuation with ink, on account of the industry’s disapproval of tattooing. It was after a sour trip in Paris, while dancing at the Moulin Rouge, that Kelley decided to go ahead with her first tattoo. The venue had disillusioned the young dancer, who decided to return home much earlier than anticipated. “Honestly I hated it,” she explains, “I was on a one year contract, but I came back after one month. We lived in the Red Light District. It was really sketchy and I saw a lot of bad things.”
Sabina’s prolific tattoo work did not occur through episodes of poor judgement, nor feelings of addiction, rather, she had known for a long time that she always wanted to get two full sleeves. Unsure of why this was, she explains the look had always been appealing to her. “Growing up, I never did see many girls who were tattooed. One time I saw a really pretty girl on a cover of a tattoo magazine and I thought, ‘She can pull it off. She can still be pretty and not look hardcore.’”
With a passion for ‘vintage’, Sabina’s love for old cars and classic ’40s and ’50s style saw her frequenting rockabilly conventions. It wasn’t too long until the statuesque platinum blonde beauty was asked to shoot for a cover with Hot Rod magazine. “It kinda snow balled from there,” Sabina explains, “I did it for fun as an extra hobby. It sort of fell in my lap and I ran with it. It turned from a hobby into my career.”
The modelling world, however, can usually exert a strong authority over what is right and wrong for a woman’s body. Tattooing was certainly deemed as a clear fashion ‘don’t’. “I don’t like people telling me what I can and can’t do,” Sabina says. “Modelling was never something that I wanted to be or do. So when photographers were telling me you will never be a model if you get your other arm tattooed, I didn’t like that.” For a while her one sleeve was acceptable, given that she could hide it through various angles and poses; however it bothered Kelley that there were no heavily tattooed models. “I was breaking grounds and pushing the boundaries. I was unique and it benefited me in a way.”
While she has worked with Vogue Italia (her tattoos covered in the shoot), Sabina notes a lack of representation of heavily tattooed women within the high fashion world. “I kinda trail brazed through the alternative scene,” Sabina explains. “But I would like to do more in the high fashion world…they [heavily tattooed women] are not accepted but men are.” Despite this, Sabina has still worked with some of the most highly regarded fashion photographers, namely David La Chappelle. She describes him as “incredible” having worked with him several times, where he has even shot her children. “I can’t even explain,” she laughs. “He is such an artist. I worked with him really well. I had heard from a lot of people he is difficult to work with. He loved the kids. Anything the kids wanted, the kids got. He was like a little kid himself.”
The rise in tattoo culture over the past decade has “gotten huge” according to Sabina. “I don’t really understand why it’s getting so big now,” she explains, “I think it’s the ‘cool’ factor. Those people getting it to be ‘cool’ will regret it later. Tattoos should always mean something.” Kelley has expanded her career to umbrella businesswoman too. Her tattoo removal business, however, has caused a bit of a stir with some who believe it works in opposition to tattoo culture. “Most of the people who have hard timed me about it were 18 or 19-year-olds who were not heavily tattooed,” she says, “Most of the people I work with are actually heavily tattooed and are removing their tattoos to get more.”
Not her first trip to Australia, Sabina explains her fan base here is huge. She has previously headlined at the Sydney Tattoo expo’s but this will be her first trip to Melbourne. “Australia is probably one of my favourite places in the world,” she says, “I love it. I have a lot of friends and for some reason unknown to me it’s my biggest fan base.”
BY TAMARA VOGL
