The Archive They Said Didm't Exist

Mary Dean represents the countless women who worked, often quietly, behind the scenes of tattooing. She reminds us that female tattoo history isn’t just about the flashiest names—it’s about the women who ran businesses, built communities, and kept tattooing alive when the odds were stacked against them. Her Houston shop is part of a broader lineage that connects early female tattooers like Maud Wagner, Jessie Knight, and Cindy Ray to today’s generation of women and queer art

Discover the untold queer and female tattoo history that mainstream archives erased. COVERED is a manifesto for representation—sharing stories of women who ran shops when men refused to tattoo them, queer artists who tattooed through the AIDS crisis, and communities who kept tattooing alive when it was illegal. Tattoo history’s revenge arc starts here.