What's the story behind your 'body art'?

This week, guest host Candy Palmater takes a look at a topic she's passionate about: body art! Because choosing to adorn yourself isn't as simple as just sitting down and getting inked. From piercings to tattoos to body mods - every piece of body art has an intimate story behind it. 

On this week's show:

Candy is the proud owner of an art collection of her own... one that she carries with her all the time. Every tattoo on her body reveals something about her. Some are tributes to family members, others mark milestones in her life. She'll tell a few stories about her own art, as well as tattoos of friends and family that have stuck with her.

Plus, she'll talk to Jamie MacKay, the Nova Scotia artist behind most of the pieces of her body. 

One thing you discover quickly when talking tattoos is that people aren't afraid to show them off! Candy hit the streets with a CBC microphone and asked people to reveal their tattoos and uncover the stories behind them. 

Jack LaChance of Sarnia Ontario spent his 19th year as a frontline soldier in the trenches during the Korean war. Before he went to war, he got himself a tattoo - but he had no idea the difference the simple tattoo would make. Sixty years later he still loves telling the amazing story of how it saved his life.

Have you ever gone to great lengths to hide a particular piece of body art from your parents? Winnipeg rocker Romi Mayes tells the story of revealing her tattoo to her mother... in the middle of a crowded gig! 

How many people can say that a book they got when they were 9 years old changed their lives forever? That's exactly what happened to Kim Brennan. After seeing the beautiful drawings in a book about Krishna, she immediately fell in love with Henna. She now does it full-time, and she sure has come a long way from drawing on her friends with magic markers.

Olivia Ikey Duncan is a young woman with a simple tattoo on her forearm: a small image of a disc, with the words "Eskimo Identification Tag" printed on it. The tags were used by the Canadian government for nearly half a century to keep track of the Inuit, something Olivia says has had a profound impact on her family and her people.

Doctor Alberto Hazan was on a routine call: a construction worker had been cut on the job and needed a few sutures on his arm. However, it was what was beside the laceration that caught the doctor's attention -  a large, red, swastika tattoo.

When film critic Christopher Heard was interviewing actor Johnny Depp, he told the famous actor the story of seeing his first book in the window display of a bookstore. That's when Mr. Depp had an idea: to take the unsuspecting writer to a tattoo parlour in West Hollywood to get his first tattoo... The Doubleday Publishing Logo. 

It's the classic parental battle: you're young, you're cool, you're getting a piercing. Somehow, your parents don't agree. That's the fight a 14-year old Zach Goudie finally won! Then Karma jumped up and snapped him right in the butt...or in this case the eyebrow. Find out how a pierced brow almost led to a pierced head when Zach tells us about 'the time he almost died getting pierced'.

This week's playlist:

Stone Mary - Ain't No Lady

Three Sheet - At The End Of The Day

Romi Mayes - Devil On Both Shoulders

Cœur de pirate - Carry On 

Gloryhound - Electric Dusk

Lucie Idlout - E5-770: My Mother's Name

George Leach - Carry Me

The Stanfields - Death & Taxes

isKwé - Slack Jaw