‘Ruffians’ to royalty, sailors to socialites and pilgrims to punks, tattoos have been etched into bodies throughout British history.

Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery in Carlisle has worked with tattoo artists from across Cumbria to share the history behind Cumbria’s tattoos.

The new documentary, Talking Tattoos, sits alongside an exciting exhibition which features cutting-edge designers, leading academics and major private collectors, who have designed arms to put on display at the Cumbrian museum.

Tattoo: British Tattoo Art Revealed, which will run between Saturday, October 17 until Saturday, January 16, will be curated by the National Maritime Museum Cornwall (NMMC).

In the Talking Tattoos project, Cumbria residents were invited to contribute images of their body art and video footage, telling the tale behind their tats.

This video piece showcases the artwork, celebrates the diversity, and shares the stories behind Cumbria’s tattoos.

As well as the project, guests to the museum will be able to view an exhibition with more than 400 original artworks, photographs and historic artefacts is now on display.

Charli Summers, Programme Manager at Tullie House said: “We are delighted to be working with NMMC to host Tattoo: British Tattoo Art Revealed, which features unique collaborations between national organisations, collectors, artists and leading academics.

"We have also enjoyed working with people across Cumbria to bring local tattoo stories into the exhibition by creating the Talking Tattoos documentary.”

NMMC director Richard Doughty said: “We are enormously proud of this ground-breaking and award-winning exhibition, and the fact that we were able to turn it into a national touring programme that reached new and very diverse audiences across the country.

“After three years, we are especially delighted to finish the tour at Tullie House.”