This artist talk presents Sarah Dubná’s practice across tattooing, painting, and site interventions. The term “scratching” is often used pejoratively in the mainstream to refer to amateur tattooing. It is reclaimed here to foreground self-taught, community-accountable methods in queer, out-of-salon tattooing—against male-dominated norms, without endorsing a lack of skill. The session invites an open, question-led dialogue on how tattoo practice might help unlearn Western ways of thinking.


This talk is open to all tattoo artists. During the week, the venue will remain open for appointments and for those attending talks and workshops for the tattoo artist community.

★ Sarah Dubna ★ In her work, painter Sarah Dubná (1993) combines experiences gained through art, beekeeping and tattooing. She explores the surface and depth of materials - whether it be paper, wall, found canvas or human skin - through techniques of pricking, scraping and perforating, testing the boundary between their destructive and healing powers. Dubná studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague and is currently pursuing a PhD in Fine Arts at UMPRUM (Academy of Arts, Architecture & Design in Prague). She has exhibited both solo (Sift Through Stains, 2021, XY, Olomouc, Pedestrian Escape, 2019, City Surfer, Prague, etc.) and in group exhibitions (Nuance, 2023, Hermetika Gallery, Berlin, Only Transitions and Translations, 2023, Meetfactory, Prague, Imagine a Garden, 2022, Entrance, Prague, etc.). She has also contributed to publications dedicated to tattooing outside salons (PokePokePoke 2, 2020; PokePokePoke 3, 2022). She lives and works in Prague.