Vietnamese tattoo artist featured in book by US writer

Nguyen Dang Thien, popularly known as Danis Nguyen, is the only Vietnamese and one of 16 Asian artists in “The World Atlas of Tattoo” by Anna Felicity Friedman.

The book, published by Yale University Press, uses more than 700 color illustrations and experts’ text to tell stories about both historical and contemporary tattoo practices in Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, North and Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands.

It also tracks the movement of tattoo styles out of their indigenous settings to be transformed into multicultural, hybrid designs.

Thien, 37, who moved to Ho Chi Minh City from Nha Trang, has been studying and practicing the art for around 10 years. He currently runs a tattoo shop with some others in downtown Ho Chi Minh City.