At the most recent convention, Selina Jade Jablonka won one first prize for the best tattoo. She says that tattooing helps her express her interests.

“It is some expression of art, and being an artist I celebrate other artists’ work,” Selina said.

Since the very beginning, tattoo art has been associated with some type of pain or sacrifice. So why do millions volunteer their bodies as canvas, permanently, and often painfully branding shapes and symbols on themselves?

Tattoo artist Max MacAndrews said that a tattoo is something that helps you define yourself, your personal expression.

“It is a kind of semi-underground culture, it does not really belong to the commercialized world in the way we might expect it to,” he added.

Belonging or not, tattoos have given birth to a thriving industry in the U.S. with clothing, books, reality shows and advertising built around the so called edgy culture.

Many argue, however, that it is more unique these days not to brand oneself so, which leaves a conundrum: how does one to mark their individuality if tattoos are now the norm?