i am sassa

Maud Wagner was born in Lyon County Kansas, a dinky little place she couldn’t wait to leave.

As soon as she was old enough to set out on her own, she did what most of us do when wanderlust sets in…she became a contortionist and joined the circus. Pretty average. Oh, and she also was an aerialist…but I mean, aren’t we all really.

She became fascinated with tattoos when she met a man named Gus while traveling to perform. Gus was covered in sweet tats, claiming to have learned the tools of the trade from tribesmen in Borneo when he was a sailor. This all sounds completely made up. Had I been a friend of Maud’s at the time, I may have warned her to be wary of Gus. But then again, if I had been her friend I guess I’d be a lion tamer or something, so maybe I’d have different criteria for what constitutes caution. But I digress.

Gus talked Maud into trading him a date for a tattoo lesson, which is sweet if it was coy and flirty and weird if not. I guess it was fine since they ended up married. Despite the availability of the newly minted tattoo machine, the lovebirds stuck (get it?) to stick-and-poke tattoos. In this method, a needle is dipped in ink, and repeatedly jabbed into the skin manually. Piece of cake! Try it, it’ll be fun! She tattooed herself, her boo Gus, and eventually many others as the first known female tattoo artist ever. BADASS!

Maud and Gus had a daughter named Lotteva who carried on the family tradition, tatting the masses for a living. But get this- Lotteva never got a single tattoo. Is that how you rebel when your parents are literal circus sideshow attractions? Being a heavily inked woman myself, I appreciate Maud’s lil trail-blazing bad ass. If she hadn’t paved the way, I might have to be a circus performer. And as fun as that sounds, I’d much rather paint one.

Thank you, Maud Wagner.