Mr Sebastian (Alan Oversby)

Tattooing and body modification

London, England

The London tattooist and body-modification figure Alan Oversby, central to the queer and leather underground, who tattooed and pierced a generation of that scene and was a defendant in the Operation Spanner case.

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Archive Note

Mr Sebastian, the working name of Alan Oversby (1933 to 1996), was a London tattooist and body-modification practitioner central to the city's queer and leather underground, who tattooed and pierced a generation of that scene from the 1970s onward. He was a defendant in the landmark Operation Spanner case, the British prosecution over consensual body modification and sadomasochism, which made him a significant figure in the legal history of the practice. His archive is held at the Bishopsgate Institute.

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