Tattoo artists, models and community members met at the Koger Center on Thursday night for a runway show. But it was no ordinary runway show.

Ink the Runway, a new event organized by Black Nerd Mafia, was pieced together to spotlight tattooing as a legitimate art form.

The night blended a panel discussion with a runway show, giving artists and models a platform to share their work and the stories behind it. Before the program began, Kwasi Brown, the founder of Black Nerd Mafia, thanked the crowd for supporting an idea that had been years in the making.

“Thank you for supporting something new,” Brown said. “Sometimes you try something once, people don’t show up, and you never try again. But this … this is already successful if nobody else walks in the door.”

The event opened with a panel of tattoo artists whose experience ranged from apprentices to veterans with nearly two decades under their belt in the industry. The organizer said the goal was to bring together a diverse group with different backgrounds in tattooing.

Jarrett Jenkins, one artist on the panel, said tattooing became a turning point after a personal loss.

“Always wanted to tattoo, and I always told myself, ‘Well, I’ll just wait till the right time,’” Jenkins said. “Witnessing my stepfather pass away, like in front of me, kind of flipped the switch for me.”

Another panelist said tattooing offered a path toward fulfillment after growing up in a home where tattoos were discouraged.

“My mom always told me I needed a ‘big girl job,’” artist Alyssa Eskew said. “But nothing fulfilled me. Art did. Tattooing did.”

The panel also addressed a question that still follows the industry: whether tattooing counts as “real art.” Several artists said the perception has shifted as tattooing has moved away from flash‑sheet designs and toward custom work, according to the artist who goes by TattoosBySpirit.

“It used to be you just knew how to use the tools to do this thing,” Spirit said. “And that kind of changed when people started wanting custom work, when people started not wanting to go into a shop and point at the wall and say, ‘I want that.’”

Others pointed to the technical foundation behind the craft.

“If you know how to draw and paint and those actual, like, studio art skills, I feel like it translates over to tattooing with me personally,” said the artist Faith who goes by TattooDragun. “Tattooing is just another medium that you can basically practice and get good at just like anything else.”

Jenkins said the canvas itself makes the art form unique.

“The person wearing it is the medium,” Jenkins said. “They’re the canvas that walks.”

After the discussion, the runway show began. Models stepped out one by one, displaying tattoos that ranged from fun spiritual tattoos to full‑body pieces. Some designs wrapped around ribs and shoulders while others stretched across backs and even lower backs.

One model said walking the runway was a chance to show the audience what she had survived.

“It was special,” Tina Johnson said. “I wanted everybody to see what I’ve been through and what I’ve experienced. The pain, and the beauty that came out of it.”

She said her tattoos form one continuous piece.

“It all tells different stories,” she said.

Another model said tattooing helped her reclaim confidence after breast cancer.

“I have breast cancer, so I have no breasts,” Hope Perry said. She pointed out koi fish, butterflies and a dreamcatcher inked across her torso and back.

“Some women don’t feel like they can still be sexy being sick,” she said. “But I love every single one of my tattoos. You would look at me a think, ‘Oh, she’s not sick,’ but I am. I’m sick.”

For the organizer, the night was about shifting how Columbia views tattooing and who gets recognized as an artist.

“People don’t automatically think of tattooing as art,” Brown said. “But it is. It always has been.”