Rare photos and illustration of Russian Criminal Tattoos from the Soviet Prison System

For just over the last decade there has been a huge rise in popularity of black work tattoos and specifically in Russian criminal tattoo inspired flash pieces. Dark, gritty and unforgiving the bold and imposing visuals of these types of tattoos have been behind a new school trend of black work tattoos.

Russian criminal tattoo

Fuel Publications managed to obtain the rights to a huge database of photos by Russian photographer Sergei Vasiliev who photographed and documented hundreds of convicts’ tattoos between 1989-1993. This gave us an unprecedented look into the harsh and secretive lives of people who broke laws or went against the system during the Soviet rule. Vasiliev’s extensive database of photographs also uncovered much of the encoded anti-government codes, badges of status and punishment tattoos which made up a tattooed language which could only properly deciphered by other convicts.

Russian criminal tattoo Girl convict

Fuel published the highly sought after Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia (3 Volumes) which could be seen as one of the first truly global publications to shed light on this grim art work.

Russian criminal tattoo hands

These photos not only serve as an insight into the world of Soviet prison systems but nowadays also as a visual database for a new generation of tattoo artists paying homage to this raw and uncultivated art-form.

Russian criminal tattoo hands 2

The photos we have added here are from a very rare Ukrainian publication which also documented life behind bars in 1991. You can check out this Etsy Shop which sells a digital pdf download of the whole book.