Inked mobilities: tattoos as embodied visual narratives of youth migration between Italy and Australia

This article examines tattoos as embodied visual narratives within a broader study on youth transnational mobility (2019-2023). Focusing on recent Italian migration to and from Australia, 13 tattoos were documented among the 36 participants, acquired shortly before departure, during the stay in Australia, or upon return to Italy. Methodologically, the article proposes tattoo-based interviews as a participatory visual method that mobilises permanently inscribed images as sites of visual elicitation, enabling forms of reflection and storytelling. Tattoos thus operate as relational spaces of dialogue, co-interpretation, and reflexive meaning-making between researcher and participants. Epistemologically, tattoos are approached as visual narratives through which young migrants articulate experiences of mobility, self-definition, transitions to adulthood, and transnational belonging. By foregrounding the tattooed body as a site of visual knowledge production, the article contributes to visual studies by showing how such images mediate mobile life trajectories.