In a hot pink room with hair to match, Kelsey Turnis prepared for the day’s flash fundraiser tattoo event. Setting up a tray with her tattoo machine and the necessary materials she’d need for the day. Turn is showed off a tattoo that she had just finished prior to the event: a red heart with arms and legs in motion.

The full-time tattoo artist’s room at Gray Goat Tattoo was decorated with nostalgic art and figurines. Betty Boop, Garfield, Furbies, and Spongebob characters were displayed on the walls and shelves of Turnis’ room. Right at the entrance of the room hangs a sign reads, “Absolutely no homophobia, transphobia, racism, or bigotry allowed ever!”

Turnis, who has been tattooing for over a year following an apprenticeship at Dark Cloud Tattoos in Iowa City, began tattooing at Gray Goat Tattoo in January. Following the passing of anti-trans legislation, namely Senate File 418 which removed protection from discrimination for transgender people from the Iowa Civil Rights Act and delisted gender identity as a protected class, Turnis was inspired to organize a fundraising tattoo event after hearing from clients who feared for their safety and protection.

“I love tattooing. I love getting to meet everybody from my community and surrounding and being able to help people feel better about their body and create something awesome in the process,” Turnis said. “I kind of just wanted a way to bring the community together and create something that will last a lifetime and support a good cause.”

A week before the event was scheduled to take place, Turnis released her flash sheet on her Instagram displaying three pages of the tattoo designs that people would be able to purchase and announced all proceeds would go towards the Iowa Trans Mutual Aid Fund — a nonprofit that provides small grants to transgender, nonbinary, and genderqueer Iowans seeking gender-affirming care.

The organization has dispersed more than $100,000 dollars since its conception in June 2021, serving over 200 people. Many recipients have been able to reapply to receive aid for care, including hormone replacement therapy, transition-specific clothing, doctor visits for gender-affirming care, top and bottom surgery, name change fees, laser hair removal, and travel expenses. All of these services can range in costs from $15 to $25,000.

“I have a couple of clients and people I know who have benefited from the organization directly, so I thought that was a great way to give back to the community and support a good cause,” Turnis said. “I can raise more money and help more people by donating my time and energy through tattooing than I could just on my own. So, it kind of makes it more of a collective, community effort, and everyone benefits in the process.”

The flash sheet Turnis released included two pages of her own designs, ranging from a pair of scissors, a lighter with “raise hell” written on it, and a walking middle finger, as well as a page of Keith Haring designs, who was an activist for LGBTQ+ rights during the AIDS epidemic.

“I think it’s a good callback to another time in history where queer rights were really at the forefront, and the community was facing a lot of danger,” Turnis said. “I think we’re unfortunately living in a similar time at the moment with our Iowa legislatures taking away civil rights and liberties, so it’s kind of a call back to a call for action from an amazing artist of the past.”

And for some of the people lining up outside Gray Goat Tattoo, with more than 20 people already standing outside before the event even began, the fundraising event was an opportunity to not only support a local organization aiding transgender Iowans but also to honor an important artist in the queer community.

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“I’m going to get one of the Keith Harings. It would be my second Keith Haring tattoo, but he inspired so many people with his art,” Emma Elam, one of the people in line, said. “Art is incredibly powerful, and he was one of the first artists to gain mainstream attention while being HIV positive and to really bring a voice and face to the cause in the ‘80s and early ‘90s.”

Tara McGovern, who stood beside Elam in line, agreed, calling Haring an ancestor.

“Trans people in Iowa are scared and under attack and any opportunity to provide tangible support is beautiful and important, and I think art is an especially powerful way to do that,” McGovern said.

Back inside, as Turnis was preparing her room for the event, the tattoo shop was abuzz with movement and excitement as the line of people outside of the shop continued to grow.

Beth Gray, owner of Gray Goat Tattoo, and Lexi Clemens, a tattoo apprentice and body piercer at the shop who would also tattooed for the event, were both prepared, with Gray already having someone in her chair and etching ink into a client.

“Art captivates all the feelings of everything all the time — happy, sad, desperate, hopeful — all those things are embodied in art, every single piece you do,” Gray said. “It really can give people hope too. Yeah, it reflects everything that’s going on all the time.”

As many continue to look up to Haring and the art he made, continuing to use his designs as a means of protest and support for the community, Clemens explained how artists act as role models for many in the community.

“So, many people, I think, look up to artists as well,” Clemens said. “For an artist to be able to put their work out there in a manner that’s helping some other community, it’s priceless.”