Lindsay: Found Under a Linden Tree

Lindsay, 22

I love seeing art on artists. This is the story of behind Lindsay’s linden tattoo.

It was Lindsay’s 20th birthday and by luck, she had just received the right amount of money to get a tattoo. As she was scrolling through Instagram, she was even more lucky to find that her favorite artist just so happened to have an opening that day.

The tattoo that she chose was a linden branch on her left upper arm and bridges a meaning between her gender identity and her connection with art and her family.

“My parents got married under a linden tree in my grandmother’s back yard and that’s why they decided to name my Lindsey after the linden tree. Sometimes I’ve thought about if I am ever a professional artist if I’d change my name to linden, I like the gender neutrality of it. I’ve always wanted to take that on only because I feel like I am super feminine and super masculine at the same time. I do still identify with she/her but gender fluid as well and I felt like this plant in itself is very gender fluid as well, like it has both female and male sex characteristics. It spawns itself, creates life within itself and has the entire spectrum of what I would say is gender. “

The linden has become a part of Lindsay's persona as an artist, the plant graces her business cards and resume. It is an homage to the force that drove her to start creating.

“My grandmother planted that tree and she was the person who inspired me as an artist and a creator.

So it is a symbol of what pushed me to keep going in the art world and it inspires me on a day to day basis. All I have to do is look down on it and say ‘keep goin’.”