As she developed and honed her style and skills in her home studio, Gabe eventually made the move out west to Vancouver where she got her first gig in a now-closed shop called Sticks and Stones.

“My first experience in a queer-centred tattoo shop was actually in Vancouver, this lovely shop called Sticks and Stones. That was my gateway experience into what a real shop environment was with multiple artists. I started out helping organize things, getting supplies… I got a good perspective on how places are run and operated.”

Five years on after finding her footing in the industry, Gabe returned to Halifax with newfound confidence and the resolve to make it work in a standard industry shop. It didn’t take long until she was reminded again of the forces that pushed her out in the first place, such as the lack of awareness around the pronouns of clients and how to make space for folks to safely identify themselves. As much as some of the spaces she found herself working in wanted to proclaim they were queer friendly, they weren’t prioritizing something as simple as having a section for pronouns on client waiver forms.

“I kept finding myself trying to carve these spaces out to suit what my clientele needed, but every time I was doing that I was seen as a space hog – a boss doesn’t typically like it when their employee starts telling them how to run the place. I pretty quickly realized I wasn’t going to be able to turn those shops into the kind of space that I, we, needed… which is what led me to make the decision with my best friend Tucker to open a queer-centred shop. We were going to be flaming, we were going to have fun and we were going to provide all the services that are super needed by queer people in this industry.”

Gabe and Tucker go way back. High school best friends that came out and grew up together – the type of connection that from the uninitiated outside would seem like an unfamiliar level of closeness. A bond arguably unique to the queer community in which you’re finding yourself and them at the same time and meet in a strange, vulnerable transitional point in your lives.
“Whether you’re gay, lesbian, trans, whatever – you know, it’s such a crazy weird time and to have someone be your partner in crime is just amazing. We kind of got married in a best friends kind of way, and it was together forever ever since then. We live together, have a band together, own a tattoo shop together… we do everything together.”