TITS4TATS is Billy Slicks’ creative response to the alarming state of trans healthcare in the UK. The London-based artist trades tattoos for donations to dozens of surgery fundraising pages.
The idea for the project took shape earlier this year, during the first COVID-19 lockdown. Billy tells me that, during that time, they were “seeing friends whose fundraisers weren’t going anywhere, who were struggling”.
Although the NHS (National Health Service) has a legal obligation to provide specialist care within 18 weeks of a referral from a general practitioner, many trans patients wait years for a first appointment. The coronavirus pandemic has further increased waiting times and stalled medical transitions that were underway.
