Our
Projects

• The Austin Tattoo Project is a subsidiary of Stories That Bind, Inc. developed with the goal to highlight that the Greater Austin Area's citizens have more in common than we know and to express a shared love of Austin, Texas' unique sense of place. We will use mediums of storytelling, music, tattoo, photography, and film to tell the story of Austin and to express that shared love of our great city. 

• We engaged Darden Smith, a well-known and respected Austin singer/songwriter, to lead a cohort of eight Austinites in writing a love song to Austin. Darden's career shows a deep understanding of the connective power of collaborative songwriting. 

• The song will supply the text for individual tattoos.

• The participants will choose the word or phrase from the song that resonates with them personally, creating their own individual tattoo. 

• Kurt Ghode and Kremena Todorova, founding artists of the Nationwide Tattoo Projects, will design a special symbol for the individual tattoos. The symbols are a pattern that surrounds the text. These patterns will come together to form a secret image presented at the reveal party. The image will represent Austin in a unique way. 

• A tattoo artist will ink the chosen text and symbols. 

• A collection of photographic portraits of each individual and their tattoo will be taken. 

• Individual stories of what each participant's word or phrase means to them and what participation in the Austin Tattoo Project has meant to them will be collected. These stories will be shared through social media and a potential coffee table book. Select stories will be read at the final event. 

Makes no difference where you come from
This is a place called home
Makes no difference where you come from
This is a place called home
 

Austin raised me in so many ways
It’s seen my highs and lows
It’s a city now, it used to be a town
It’s still my favorite place to go
Barton Springs, and strip malls, Mt Bonnell, I-35
The violet crown at sunset makes me feel alive
 

And it makes no difference where we come from
This is a place called home
Yes it makes no difference where you come from
This is a place called home
 

Standing on Congress Avenue
Waiting for the bats to roll
Breakfast tacos, margaritas, bar-b-que,
The music feeds our soul
We’re all each other’s neighbor, so much to share
We’re here for the magic and it’s everywhere
 

And it makes no difference where I come from
This is a place called home
And it makes no difference where you come from
This is a place called home
 

Let’s all move it forward
Take the old and the new
More magical moments out on the bridge
For me and you and you and you and you
 

This is a place called home
Well it makes no difference where you come from
This is a place called home
Yes it makes no difference where we come from
This is a place called home
This is a place called home
A place called home

© 2023 Darden Smith Music (ASCAP)