Sam Bam - NSW Model

Tell us a bit about yourself for those that doesn’t know you?

I am Loud proud and unapologetically myself I’ve been modelling for over 16 years collecting tattoos since I was 16. I’m the person who you will always be cautioned about. But once you know me you will see I have the biggest dumb heart and all I want in life is for people to remember me as a human with a good heart. Looks will fade but the way you treat others and how you make them feel will last forever.

When did you get your first tattoo, describe it and have you added anything to the tattoo?

My first tattoo was a nautical star on my wrist, I think I was 16 years old, was done in a friend’s shed, nothing has been added to it and it’s still just as terrible as it was the day we did it. As bad as it is it’s also a memory. It’s not something that I would want to cover up because it wasn’t a bad memory.

Let’s look at your tattoos in more detail starting with your back tattoo which during your last publishing shoot wasn’t finished. Please explain it in detail?

So, it is a two headed snake guarding an anatomical heart, for me I’m a very placate person but when it comes to my friends and my family I become a bit of a viper I guess. One of the snakes head is calm and placid and the other one is like and aggressive heart so that the basis around that. I gave Gumpy free rain on the idea his choice in colour are amazing.

Then we move to the side your left butt cheek where you have a day of the dead girl and a rose underneath. Care to elaborate?

That was a cover-up, the design itself was designed by the artist Deano Ellis, he wanted to do something that would distract from the piece underneath. Sadly, the piece underneath was just not done very well proportion wise, it didn’t flow plus it was a horrible home job from a younger dummer faze in life. I’m all about flow and I like things to fit the body, it looks terrible so there’s no big story about that, it’s just what the artist thought would cover it up and I went with it. I think giving your artist freedom and trusting their advice is how you get great work.

The tattoo continues to the front of your body with a skull and roses underneath it plus a butterfly is there somewhere?

There is a butterfly in there, so my grandma loved butterflies and dolphins, I’m not a dolphin person myself so I got a butterfly. I never thought I’d be a girl with a butterfly but here I am. It’s not like a girly butterfly, it’s got a bit or darkness and depth in it. As for the skull itself, well I do like bones, skeletons and things like that and I’m really fascinated by that sort of thing.

This then leads into the tattoo of a black woman with two guns on the back of your left thigh. Was this a separate design or part of it all and what does it represent?

That one I was very fortunate to win a tattoo by Brad Sharpe, he had a competition running and I happened to have won it. It was a design that I visually liked a lot and that was the only reason I entered the competition. I feel very lucky to have won it as it fills up a nice spot on my leg. And nothing to do with all this is the little space ship with the words “stay weird” next to the woman. What the hell was going on? I had a few drinks with the girlfriend, she’s done quite a few little tattoos on me and that’s one of them. I’m a bit of a weird person myself. No one is really normal !

On the other side of the front of your body you have a magpie spreading its wings and is very decretive, any reason the tattoo made its way on your body?

I love magpies, I think they are great. Every time I get magpies around the house, I get those cricket bugs and feed them and take care of them so they don’t swoop me. The reason behind the positioning of that is also a cover up, I was one of those silly people that got a boys name tattooed on them. I always wanted a bird tattoo, it was the perfect spot and like I said before I like my tattoos to flow with my body. Where his left wing is, it covers up a massive insecurity for me, I feel a lot of my tattoos I get make me feel a bit more comfortable and secure in my body and it just covered my belly enough so now I feel so confident when I’m in front of a camera for my modelling that I don’t have to sit there and cover my belly. It kind of gives me a security blanket I guess.

Moving to the lion tattoo underneath your breasts, which looks more Indian Culture and you also have a flower between your breasts. Care to explain all this?

I got the lion after a situation in my life that I needed to grow from and become a stronger person, that’s basically the reason behind that one. I was in Bali at the time. The flower is a design I found on an Egyptian scroll, I just really like Egyptian history.

Still on the topics of animals on the front of your right leg is a picture of a horse’s head inside a decretive frame. Did you just like the design or do you have a horse?

I grew up riding horse but unfortunately the rat race I live in now I just don’t have time or the means for it. He was one of my horses growing up and he and I did not see eye to eye, we just never got along riding together. He got to the very end of his life and we finally clicked and sadly he passed away. He was quite old for a horse, he was an ex race horse and I think he was about 17 or 18. But I needed a memorial piece of him and I was really worried about getting a portrait tattoo because he does have a bit of a sunken in eye, not like a normal horse so I needed to find the right artist to be able to capture him perfectly. Todd Bailey did that for me and I’m so thankful for him because it’s probably one of my favourite pieces. Definitely my mum’s favourite piece.

If we look at your right arm going from your shoulder to your hand, can you fill us in on the concept behind this?

They are all flowers, a lot of them are Australian natives, I just really like flowers personally. I had a Majanie design my sleeve for me and she went into the Botanical Gardens, took photos of them. My hand also has a bumble bee a Delft design by my now partner Morgan Rose Gray.

Moving over to a complete different design and one that intrigued me, the mystical woman, the wolf and the moon a tattoo which is on your right ankle.

I love wolves, I feel like they are my spirit animal being a spiritual person myself. I found a design similar to this and then tweeked it, a friend of mine Brooke was an apprentice at the time and said “I’ll give you a tattoo” so I gave her the design. So I drove up to Newcastle and Brooke gave me this tattoo. It was quite a painfull one and I have to say the back of the calf is not enjoyable.

Do you have any script tattoos on your body that most people won’t notice?

I do have a script on my ribs and it says “I will be the wings that keep her head in the sky” I think off the top of my head. I can never read it so sometimes I forget it’s even there.

Since the last time we chatted what is the latest ink you have had done and can you please tell us the meaning behind them?

I have had quite a few new ones added. Matching thorns down my sides with a flower and skull sitting on my chest, Tom Baker did these for me. He has done quite a few on me, my Medusa on my left hand next to an older rose also by Tom. He has done my whole left arm so far with a woman being held by a demonic looking figure and a three headed wolf, no real reasoning just that I like them. The mermaid I have on my upper arm is something I am planning on having reworked to have it blend better. SINNER on the back of my leg. I have an adorable bat on my right shin by Beej Williams. I love Bats and she killed it.

Are there any tattoos we have missed and could you explain them to us?

So many I forget what’s where sometimes, I have three face tattoos a black heart, a tarot design and a floral piece. I have my left shin also done by Gumpy a Capricorn design, it was a struggle to sit my one and only time I will sit at an expo for a tattoo. Love the design and as usual Gumpy’s colour choice was on point.

And before we close out this interview would you like to leave us with a favourite quote of yours and describe its meaning?

Everything happens for a reason. I’m quite a spiritual person and truly believe it.

Featured in Baddass Kulture Mag Issue #6 Feb 2025