The picture depicts a very youthful Alex starring in the play of the final year students, Country Music, in July 2002. The earliest picture I could find that shows any tattoos, were from the 2003 year-end report of NIDA. We don’t even know if some started out as other smaller works of art and are now covered with what we see and know today.
It must have been a while before Alex, the public figure appeared. We don’t really know when and where it all started. The question that remains is how these tattoos evolved from what we see on Jack in Oyster Farmer to what we see on Alex today? Alex O’Loughlin GQ Australia, November 2011 The Evolution: I had that conversation with so many girlfriends’ parents, explaining that I wasn’t a felon or a Hell’s Angel!
Back then, tattoos meant you’d either been in prison or you were in some sort of gang. I love the outward expression, but there was a period when I was judged, because they weren’t part of popular culture, like they are now.