Bhagyaraj Barua : Spearheading the tattoo movement in NorthEast India
Hindustan Bytes 
The art of tattooing is more than 5000 years old. Otzi the iceman whose body is currently being displayed in the South Tyrol museum of archaeology in Italy is a living (or rather mummified) proof to it. Tattoos are an important part of human history, its art and culture. There was a time in the last century when tattoos were considered a taboo and people associated tattoos with slavery, danger and gangs. But fast forward to 2022, tattoos are flaunted by moviestars , politicians , sportstars and practically everyone. No longer are tattoos treated as a taboo and that being said ; it is an amazing time to be a skilled tattoo artist.
We present to you the story of one such successful tattoo artist from the north east of india who is considered one of the best tattoo artist of Guwahati , Assam . Meet Bhagyaraj Barua who runs his tattoo studio in Guwahati ; Xclusive Tattoos. Bhagyaraj Barua has been in the tattoo field for more than a decade now. He has been involved in the tattoo scene of Assam since its inception. Bhagyaraj Barua is one of the first tattoo artist of Assam and is responsible for spearheading many tattoo awareness campaigns in the Northeast of India. He is a student of fine arts and a passout of Guwahati Artist Guild. He got trained as a tattoo artist in Chennai in the year 2010. He was responsible for the first tattoo festival in Guwahati Assam under the banner of Metropolis Asia Aqua Kingdom edition in 2016. This was mostly an awareness campaign for safe and hygienic tattoo practices. He was one of the judges along with Santanu Hazarika and Alex Shemrey for the tattoo competitions in the said event.
A lot of hardwork went into changing the mindset of the general population . We, the people of India have been using tattoos for a very long time. Everytime we cast our vote we get a mark on our left hand index finger by the indelible ink. This is nothing but a temporary tattoo .The temporary ones are proudly flaunted yet the permanent ones are looked down upon or judged . I see no logic behind that and hence decided to educate people about safe tattoo practices and general awareness about tattoos to rid their misconceptions says Mr. Barua .
Another unique gift to the tattoo community by Mr. Bhagyaraj is the concept of Assamese tattoos. In his many years of practice; Barua noticed that people were more inclined towards Chinese , Japanese and American tattoo designs. That is when in 2015 he developed the idea of including Assamese cultural and historical design elements in his tattoo compositions and designs. He began his journey from a one horned Rhino tattoo. Rhino being the state animal of Assam and practically synonymous with Assam . Mr Barua and his team of 7 artists recently conducted an awareness campaign with the theme “Save Rhino Save Nature” where they all tattooed each other simultaneously . Their effort was acknowledged by India Books Of Record. “ Tattooing is easy for us as we do it on a regular basis, but tattooing another person while getting a tattoo was challenging “ says Mr. Barua.
As of today Bhagyaraj gets clients from Germany , America and Japan and the rest of India who prefer to get an Assamese tattoo as a memento of their trip to Assam . Our machines are German , inks are American and our artists are proud Indians says Mr. Barua .
He also worked with students of IITG design department to design a template for Assamese tattoos which can be used by other artist as a base. This movement is slowly and steadily gathering momentum and more and more people are getting tattoos which represents their history , culture and identity. “ This is my contribution to my state and my craft as a tattoo artist “ say Mr Barua.
His studio is a mecca for tattoo collectors and aspiring tattoo artist . The clientele of Bhagyaraj is the who’s who of Guwahati and North East India. Xclusive tattoo is the best tattoo studio in Guwahati Assam and home to the best tattoo artist in Guwahati. They are well known for their custom tattoo designs , solid black and grey works , beautiful portrait tattoos , microblading services , cover up tattoos and of course Assamese tattoos in Guwahati and throughout North East India. Xclusive tattoos also provide laser tattoo removal in Guwahati . Bhagyaraj Barua has been training aspiring tattoo artist since 2016 .Till date , more than 40 students have completed tattoo training and many of them are successful artists working in their own studio or in studios across India. Xclusive Tattoo is considered the finest and best tattoo training academy in Guwahati . Unfortunately not everyone can simply join their training. There is a basic test done prior to admission in the tattoo training course . “ I want quality over quantity when it comes to my students “ says Mr Barua.
