Gangsta Ink Model

Nia Adebayo

“NiNi”

A London-born makeup artist in Atlanta with a realism sleeve for her mother and a red-ink 222 that became her signature.

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Age: 27
From: Peckham, London, UK
Lives in: Atlanta, Georgia
Style: Black & grey realism
Tattoos: 20+ pieces
First tattoo: At 18

Her story

Nia Adebayo was born in Peckham, South London, to Nigerian parents, and grew up doing her older sister’s makeup for every party on the block. Today she’s a makeup artist in Atlanta, working music videos, weddings and editorial shoots, and she knows exactly how skin and color behave under a camera.

That’s part of why her own tattoos are so deliberate. Her right arm is a full black & grey realism sleeve built around a portrait of her mother, surrounded by roses and peonies. On her left forearm, “222” sits in bold red ink: she was born on February 22, and the number has followed her ever since.

Nia is outspoken about representation. When she started getting tattooed, she struggled to find portfolios that showed healed work on skin like hers. Now her own photos have become that reference for other people.

People told me red ink wouldn’t show on dark skin. It’s been nine years. It shows.— Nia Adebayo

Her ink journey

Age 18
222 in red
Her first tattoo, on her left forearm. Several artists warned her red wouldn’t show on dark skin. One believed her.
Age 20
A butterfly on her collarbone
With a small line of script beneath it, done the week she landed her first paid makeup job.
Age 23
Roses and peonies
The start of her right sleeve: flowers first, so there would be a garden waiting for the portrait.
Age 25
Her mother’s portrait
Finished in time for her mom’s fiftieth birthday. “She cried for ten minutes, then asked why I didn’t fix her eyebrows.”
Age 27
Atlanta chapter
After moving to Atlanta, she closed the sleeve at the wrist and added butterflies and florals to her left arm.