摘要：When I first arrived at the storage archives, I spent two weeks undergoing a formal induction into the museum, learning its protocols and storage systems, fulfilling security checks and passing object handling training, before I could begin work on the tattoos. I was introduced to the conservation staff and given a curator's pass. Once I had completed my initiation into the museum, I was allowed to enter the storage archives freely. On arrival I sign the staff log at secu-rity, where I am then given a pass and keys to the human remains room. The pass admits me through a turnstile and a further three alarmed doors before I reach the part of the building where the tattooed skins are stored. Thus my work at the museum archive involves key passes, log books, trolleys, stor-age rooms with distinctive smells, cool echoing corri-dors, as well as conversations with conservationists, curators and security staff. It involves fume hoods and latex gloves, computers, cameras and measur-ing tools. I rely upon my senses to analyse each tat-tooed skin closely: I look, I touch, I can smell them - I am attentive to what their materiality may tell me of their origins and history.
