Matt Lodder

Matthew C. Lodder (born 1980) is a British senior lecturer in art history and theory, director of American studies and an expert in the history of tattooing at the University of Essex. He is also an exhibition curator and one of the University of Essex's Public Voice Scholars. Lodder completed his PhD in 2010, having submitted a thesis entitled Body Art: Body Modification as Artistic Practice. Lodder is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

In 2018, Lodder served as the presenter of 'Art of Museums' for German TV channel ZDF.

Lodder's podcast 'Beneath the Skin' was awarded "Best History Podcast" at the Independent Podcast Awards 2023.

In 2021, he explained to the Guardian how a student in California had impersonated him for years, stealing his academic work and even copying his tattoos.

Selected works Books

Matt Lodder (author): Tattoos: The Untold History of a Modern Art.Yale University Press 2024, Matt Lodder (author): Painted People: Humanity in 21 Tattoos. HarperCollins Publishers 2022, Matt Lodder (author): Painted People: 5,000 Years of Tattooed History from Sailors and Socialites to Mummies and Kings. HarperCollins Publishers 2023, ISBN Lepine, A., Lodder, M. and McKever, R., (eds.) (2015). Revival: Memories, Identities, Utopias. The Courtauld Institute of Art.

Book Sections

Matt Lodder: Hans and "Lady Tattoo Artist" Jessie Knight. In: Manfred Kohrs, Ole Wittmann (Publ.): From the Living Room to Far-off Lands – Tattoo Culture in the Mid-20th Century. IDTG, Wedemark 2025, (German and English) Matt Lodder (co-author): Manfred Kohrs: Vorlagenalbum des Tätowierers Horst "Tattoo-Samy" Streckenbach. IKARUS, Wedemark 2024, Alexa MacDermot (editor), Kathrina Rupit, Matt Lodder: Goblin Market: Irish New Contemporary Art. White Lady Art Books 2012, Matt Lodder (2022) 'Mr Sebastian's Tattooing and Piercing in the context of Operation Spanner'. In Alan Oversby: Documentary Evidence. Editor: King, Paul. Body Piercing Archive. Matt Lodder, (2022). 'A Medium, Not a Phenomenon: An Argument for an Art-Historical Approach to Western Tattooing'. In: Tattooed Bodies: Theorizing Body Inscription Across Disciplines and Cultures. Editors: Martell, J. and Larsen, E.. Palgrave Macmillan. 13- 42. Matt Lodder (2022). ‘”Geijutsu-tekina” Nihon no irezumi to vuikutoria asa Ingurando no shogyo senryaku’ (‘”Artistic” Japanese Tattoos and Commercial Strategy in Victorian England’), trans. Naho Onuki. In: 身体を彫る、世界を印す イレズミ・タトゥーの人類学 (Sculpting the Body, Marking the World: The Anthropology of Irezumi Tattoo). Editors: Yamamoto, Y., Kuwabara, M. and Tsumura, F.. Shunpusha. Matt Lodder (2015). “The New Old Style: Tradition, Archetype and Rhetoric in Contemporary Western Tattooing”. In: Revival: Memories, Identities, Utopias. Editors: Lepine, A., Lodder, M. and McKever, R.. The Courtauld Institute of Art. Matt Lodder (2015). Various artist interviews. In: World Atlas of Tattoo. Editors: Friedman, A. Yale University Press. Matt Lodder (2015). “From Paper onto Skin”. In: Tattoo Masters Flash Collection: Selected Styles Around the World. Editors: Reuss, M. and Hoill, E. Editions Reuss. Matt Lodder(2013). “Neo-Victorian Tattooing”. In: Victoriana A Miscellany... (ex. cat.) Matt Lodder, (2012). Foreword. In: Forever The New Tattoo. Editors: Klanten, R. Die Gestalten Verlag. Matt Lodder (2009). “A Somatechnological Paradigm: How do you Make Yourself a Body without Organs?”. In: Somatechnics: Queering the Technologisation of Bodies. Editors: Sullivan, N. and Murray, S. Ashgate. 187- 206. Al Overdrive (author,inset photographer), Matt Lodder (author of introduction): No Commercial Value: The Photography of Al Overdrive. AO 2008,

Journal articles Lodder, M., (2016). Visual pleasure and gonzo pornography: Mason's challenge to convention in ‘the hardest of hardcore’. Porn Studies. 3 (4), 373–385 Dymock, A. and Lodder, M., (2016). 'The Erotics of Injury: Remembering Operation Spanner Workshops', 10&11 September 2015, University of Essex and Royal Holloway, University of London. Porn Studies. 3 (3), 320–323 Lodder, M., (2015). ‘Things of the sea’: iconographic continuities between tattooing and handicrafts in Georgian-era maritime culture. Sculpture Journal. 24 (2), 195–210 Lodder, M., (2013). Art History in the Pub. Journal of Visual Culture. 12 (2), 332–338

Exhibitions British Tattoo Art Revealed, described as a "visionary exhibition" by anthropologist and tattoo researcher Lars Krutak, began at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall in March 2017 and toured nationwide through 2020. Skin Digging, Art Exchange/University of Essex