TO APPLY FOR A LETTING GO SESSION please read the information below, including the Terms and Conditions and reply via this link/email.

TO APPLY IN GERMAN see here

THE LETTING GO is a participatory art practice, which uses bloodline tattooing as part of a holistic, ritualised experience.

What would you like to let go of?

In response to the above question and during a consultation with Natascha, a personal obstacle is identified, named and inscribed on the body (bloodline tattoo). Over time as the wound heals, the word slowly disappears. The practice encourages self-awareness and a state of empowered vulnerability.

Tattoos and cuts have historical practices as initiation, identification, adornment and sacred rite. A bloodline tattoo is a marking of the skin that fades over time, created when a tattoo machine is used without ink. This is not scarification and Natascha follows strict protocols around confidentiality, health, and safety.

In 2012, I began developing the practice as a performance art project, to explore an alternative form of intimate personal enquiry in the contemporary art setting. The project has evolved both as public performance art and private practice. I am frequently in awe of the stunning surrender, catharsis and agency that THE LETTING GO inspires – for not only participants but also in spectators and myself. Why I love this work? It can help us see the wonder in our wounds.

Natascha Stellmach

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THE LETTING GO can assist in helping to overcome a personal obstacle by

• identifying and naming
• harnessing (fleeting) pain to embody and observe the body’s capacity for healing
• watching impermanence play out on the body
• engaging in a restorative process of self-care
• owning, honouring and accepting.

For some the practice has been profoundly cathartic and transformative, for others it has introduced a nurturing ritual and at the very least, becomes an intimate, unique tattoo experience; without the permanence.

THE LETTING GO takes its inspiration from the traditions of ritual tattooing (Sak Yant etc.), Buddhism (impermanence, stream of consciousness and mindfulness), psychoanalytic theories (Anzieu) and artistic-healing practices (Abramovic, Jodorowsky, Beuys).

Although Stellmach’s therapy background [BSc(OT)] and former employment in pain and stress management is undeniable; these sessions are not ersatz counselling or therapy.

Session Fee: € 500 payable in advance.
APPLY FOR A LETTING GO SESSION

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TESTIMONIALS

I am so PROUD to have my OMBRA tattoo! Francesco, Geneva

It is especially powerful to be confronted by a word as a wound on one’s body. Unsettling, but brings with it great clarity. Katja, Hamburg

Natascha gives voice to vulnerability.
Audrey, Melbourne

Art that hurts. Art as ritual. I don’t do drugs, but afterwards I felt so very high. Andreas, Cologne

Natascha was like a gracious doctor or shaman that specializes in exorcising demons. Rachel, Brisbane

At the end, Natascha congratulates me and asks how I feel: as if I’ve had really great sex, or as if it were the first time.  Reinhard, Fürth

The horror of having that word scrawled above my ass forever gave me a much-needed kick. It’s more than the fear though – I named my problem. Natascha helped me.
Lily, Melbourne

Thank you for helping me remind myself each and every day to explore myself! Mathias, Hamburg

The day after the tattoo felt like Christmas morning. It had not disappeared overnight. It was visible and true on my skin. I was visible.  Inga, Bremen

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PARTICIPANT INFO’s | TERMS and CONDITIONS

• A LETTING GO session takes 2-3 hours and is strictly confidential.

• No tattoo experience is required (most have reported that the pain is less than expected).

• Universal safety tattooing precautions are followed, using sterile equipment, supplies and lotions.

• Stellmach’s Text-Tattoos avoid adornment and are intentionally kept simple.

• The word should disappear: the wound will heal and fade across 1 week to 9 months, dependent on several factors including your care and how our skin responds to a cut. In rare cases, the word may faintly recur from time to time.

• Participation is not permitted in cases of pregnancy, psychiatric illness or certain medical conditions where wounds are to be avoided (i.e: diabetes, epilepsy, hemophilia, cardiac insufficiency, HIV, Hepatitis C, organ or blood-thinning medication recipient), unless your Medical Practitioner refers you.

• Although Stellmach’s therapy background is undeniable; these sessions are not ersatz counselling or therapy.

• Participants (consenting adults) need to sign a standard tattooing waiver and follow simple Aftercare instructions. Given the process does not use ink, the aftercare and healing is simpler.

• To date, over 120 people have experienced this process …

Session fees are € 500 and payable in advance.
APPLY FOR A LETTING GO SESSION

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WHY PHOTOS / SELFIES?

As an artistic project, The Letting Go forms part of a long-term research project and archive of our collective vulnerabilities and the human condition – in an attempt to inspire more compassion for our human conundrums.

To keep the project alive and unless for reasons of complete anonymity, I welcome that you share your insights with me through selfies and/or text.

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PRESS

Stellmach hears many secrets: nonetheless in strict confidence, as would a doctor or therapist.  Yet what she discovers can be likened to a mirror of fears and desires. With her artistic intervention she literally does get under the skin. Heinrich Oehmsen | Hamburger Abendblatt (transl.)

Stellmach’s artistic practice is all about transformation. Her tattoo-works, the words that she scribes into the skin of participants – are demons from which they wish to be released. Frédéric Schwilden | Die Welt (transl.)

At the end they all leave the gallery with a smile. After all, it is always a wonderful experience to have overcome ones fears. Ingeborg Ruthe | Berliner Zeitung (transl.)

MORE PRESS
Barbed Magazine |  The Letting Go: artist portrait, Issue 05 / Spring 2017, Detroit, p. 55
Teaser Magazine | Künstler Portrait: Natascha Stellmach by Katrin Kobberger – Artist Portrait, 2015 (Deutsch)

Essay | Gespannte Erwartung: Ecce Me! – by Rafael von Uslar, 2015 (Deutsch)
Nürnberger Nachrichten | Mit Herzblut gezeichnet – Review by Reinhard Kalb, 2015 (Deutsch)
TV – Hamburg 1 | Diese Tattoos verschwinden von selbst, 2015 (Deutsch)
Hamburger Abendblatt | Wenn das Museum zur Tätowierstube wird – Review by Heinrich Oehmsen, 2015 (Deutsch)
Der Tagesspiegel | Vom Regen ausgewischt – Review by Michael Nungesser, 2014 (Deutsch)
art in berlin | Scheitern – so many ways to fail – Review by Inge Pett, 2014 (Deutsch)
Dazed Digital | Under The Gun – Review by Natalie Holmes, 2013
Berliner Zeitung | Das Böse ist immer und überall – Review by Ingeborg Ruthe, 2013 (Deutsch)
Die Welt & Berliner Morgenpost | Kämpf den Dämonen – Review by Frédéric Schwilden, 2013 (Deutsch)
Deutschlandradio Kultur | Kunst die unter die Haut geht – Andreas Main, 2013 (audio & transcript: Deutsch)
TAZ, Die Tageszeitung, Berlin | Tattoo-Happening zur Selbsterkenntnis – Review by Meike Jansen, 2013 (Deutsch)
a.muse Berlin | Beyond The Smoking Gun – Review & Interview by Julie Anne Miranda–Brobeck, 2013
Troublemag | Review & Interview by Carmen Ansaldo, 2013

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THE PRACTICE

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PERFORMANCES

Performance participation forms part of a public experience with photography and spectators – at no cost to participants. Consultations are kept private/out of earshot. Performances will be announced here and through newsletters (places are limited).
MORE INFOS