Dina Psihou grew up in Gurnee, part of a traditional Greek household. She visited Greece when she was a kid and lived there for five years in her 20s. And her father was raised in Argos, the oldest city in the country.
Still, she says she might have taken Greek culture and history for granted. That was until 2017, when she visited an ancient amphitheater near her family’s home in Argos.
“I remember sitting there, watching the play ‘Electra,’ and I got very weepy because I was sitting on these steps that people had been sitting in for thousands of years,” says Psihou, 36. “I think that’s kind of when I realized I should research more of the art and be proud of the fact that I have had this privilege my entire life.”
The same year, Psihou came across a post on her Instagram page that piqued her interest. It was a photo of a tattoo that was hashtagged #stickandpoke.
“I had never wanted to be a tattoo artist,” she says. “I looked it up and was really intrigued.”
These newfound interests melded into a new venture for Psihou. By watching YouTube videos, she taught herself to be a hand-poke tattoo artist. She takes her cues from ancient Greek artifacts.
Her Instagram page is filled with posts that emulate ancient Greek style as well as some that draw from Egyptian artifacts.
She now has a tattoo studio in Wicker Park, where she lives.
Psihou wants her tattoos to be “permanent jewelry,” often done on clients’ wrists, ankles and sternums. Her pieces typically are symmetrical and geometric, drawing on historical architecture or artifacts she takes inspiration from.
“Any time I go in to a museum with ancient artifacts, I’m, like, ‘Wow, I can tattoo that,’ ” she says.
The older designs translate well in a hand-poke style, Psihou says. Many tattoo artists use a traditional machine. Psihou never has used one. The hand-poke style — which combines tiny dots to create a design — is an intimate process that generally takes longer than using a machine would.
The first time Psihou tattooed herself, she says something changed, that she felt a sense of control over her body she didn’t even realize she was looking for.
“It was just a tiny triangle, and I just looked in the mirror and was, like, ‘I do own my own body,’ ” she says.
That’s a feeling she says many clients, especially women, also are seeking.
Psihou tattooed Kayla Reda and her mother last summer as a way to remember their 2019 trip to Greece. The two traveled to Athens, Mykonos and Santorini after Reda finished a graduate school program in clinical mental health counseling at DePaul University.
The two got matching designs of a Greek key, an object that’s prominent in Greek architecture and art, symbolizing infinity and the eternal motion of life.
“She’s always been a part of me,” Reda says of her mother Carol. “We just kept talking about how peaceful it was there. It tapped into part of us that we couldn’t even know or describe.”
For Reda’s wedding last September, rather than get jewelry or another item with sentimental value, daughter and mother chose to get their tattoos.
“You can give someone a design, and they’ll find meaning in it,” Psihou says.
