People who live in the North, whether for two years or 30, tend to have a fierce loyalty to the place. Even if they leave, they often don’t want to let it go – it lingers in their bones. Many of these people choose to declare their loyalty with a permanent mark on their skin.

Ravens, northern lights, airplanes, inuksuit, bears – these are among the most popular tattoos around town. There are also plenty of XIAs and 867s, and there are likely a few YZFs too.

Dennis No Body, who prefers an old nickname to his real last name, worked as a tattoo artist in Vancouver for 20 years and recently relocated to Yellowknife. He tattoos at the Shirt Shack downtown on Franklin Avenue. No Body says Yellowknife is a bit conservative, so tattoos aren’t as common here as they are in some places down south. He guesses another reason for that is, a few years ago, tattoo artists in town left some people with less-than-satisfactory results.

“It’s like having your first boyfriend be really sh*$#y to you,” he says. “The next guy who comes along – you might give him a chance, but you’re a whole lot more careful.”

But No Body adds that Yellowknifers are open-minded. Body art is becoming more common, and people tend to get unique tattoos.

“In more of an urban centre you get people who are getting tattooed for the sake of getting tattooed. When I lived in Vancouver, I did 50 million nautical stars and 50 million sparrows and you know, none of them were sailors – they were dudes in really tight pants wearing makeup,” he says. “Northern people are more apt to get tattoos representative of their lifestyle, where they live.”

In Cleo Stinson’s case, that couldn’t be closer to the truth. Stinson grew up in Inuvik and Yellowknife, spending her days on the frozen lakes and paths of the North running her parents’ dog team. A few years ago, Stinson and her two sisters decided to get matching tattoos of a dog sled team with three dogs (they were only able to keep three of their sled dogs when they moved to Yellowknife).

“I think it was really special and it’s nice to have a connection to your roots. And as you grow up, you go south for work or whatever, but you have this memory on you forever,” she says.

The sisters got the tattoos in a Ted Harrison style after growing up around the Yukon artist’s playful images. Stinson also has a pine tree on her back. It’s a skinny, short northern pine – the kind that juts improbably out of the Canadian Shield.

“It’s just, like, home,” she explains. “It sounds so corny – like ‘oh, I love Yellowknife!’ But it’s true and it’s what I’ve been around all my life.”

Tim Edwards, a born-and-raised Yellowknifer, decided to commemorate his hometown and home territory. Edwards describes his X1A tattoo (the first three digits of Yellowknife’s postal code) as a rallying cry for his city. “You know, at the end of the night with friends, you’re doing a shot, you yell out X1A.”