The brainchild of brain rot, ironic tattoos resemble the relics of 2009 memes and shitposting spiel you’d find on inactive Reddit threads. Think: upside down Nike swooshes on forearms, “Berlinciaga” on backs, and Hello Kitties wielding machine guns. The popularisation of these post-ironic tattoos are telling of a chronically digital upbringing that has landed Gen Z with a meta-ironic internet persona and an absurdist, self-referential style of humour.

Raised with perceptions of their bodies developed in online environments where self-expression is celebrated not demonised, individuals may see their body art as a reflection of their evolving identities rather than a fixed representation. In other words: yolo.

Fancy your own fix of irony? Below, we round up seven artists pushing the digital frontier with their post-ironic designs.

T444TU

From São Paulo, Brazil, tattoo artist Lau explain that their references come from net art, video art and music. “I currently have a photography project where I take portraits of clients and tattoo them on themselves. I like doing silly typography with scrapbook fonts.” they tell Dazed.

TANNERCLARKFUCKINGSUCKS

LA-based artist Tanner Clark likes to get a reaction out of people, whether that’s good or bad. “I have now begun to just call it transgressive tattooing. By this I mean that my tattoos typically go against typical social standards of tattooing." he tells Dazed.

“I grew up heavily surrounded by internet culture which is displayed through my work. While I do many ironic and provocative tattoos, I still like to show my technical skill as well. My style consists mainly of blackwork which I am heavily drawn towards.”

INKTROVERT.NYC

“My style can best be described as microrealism or small-scale realism but I do think I put a bit of an illustrative twist on my work as well,” says Leigh, a Brooklyn-based artist. “As for references, inside of me there are two wolves: one that loves cutesy stuff like animals, vintage inspired pieces, pop culture stuff like movies, video games etc. The other wolf just wants to use my skills for evil and tattoo memes all the time.”

DIETSODAS

LA-based artist, Tyler says, “My style is hand poked nihilistic irony mixed with internet brain rot.”

INKMOLY

Based in New York, Emily’s work is an ode to post-internet culture. “I go down a lot of rabbit holes online,” she says. “Most of my designs honestly are just things that either trigger my nostalgia or things that I find funny personally.”

ARIELISGOOD

“I love doing cute stuff like Sanrio/animal but also want it to be cool not so boring, so I add some fun yet tough elements to give a twist! I get lot of ideas from internet memes which I think is very funny, also from my photo albums!” says New York-based artist, Ariel.

MALEZAS777

For Madrid-based artist Neivy, inspiration comes easily- although usually through the internet. “I’ve always been an internet rat, and I love it,” they say. "I love provocation, confusion, rage, and scandal, and what better way to create all these feelings than aggressively changing something as sacred to people as appearance?".