The largest tattoo convention in the Southern Hemisphere.
Several hours before opening the queue was already snaking around the block and they just kept coming, topping 20,000 over the 3 days.
The Sydney Tattoo & Body Art Expo is now firmly established on the international tattoo convention scene as a "must attend" event and with 
including 86 internationals and 51 retail vendors it certainly delivered on the promised hype.
World-beating tattoo art, hot music, sexy burlesque dancers and cheeky performances from the 12 Pin-up Girl Pageant finalists, fashion parades and the constant hum of tattoo machines going flat out meant there was something for everyone to get excited about.
Famous international pin-up model 
was a big hit as the "face" of the Expo and she was kept busy judging the first Pin-up Girl Pageant and the Tattoo of the Day Contests as well as meeting her legions of fans and friends.
Sabina's warm and down-to-earth personality, as well as her awesome good looks, proved a magnet for show-goers, with some even getting her portrait or signature tattooed on their bodies at the show.
The biggest audience of the show watched the final of the inaugural Pin-up Girl Pageant on the Sunday afternoon where 12 finalists (from an initial field of 57 entrants) strutted their stuff on stage, wearing 40's and 50's inspired clothing and then swimsuits or lingerie. Judges had a real hard time picking the winner as the standard of each finalist was outstanding, eventual winner and face of the Tattoo Expo for 2011 was 
.
Tattooed rock legend
summed up the mood of the show when he said
"It's just exactly what I hoped it would be, an opportunity for tattooed people to hang out with lots of other tattooed people & let's face it if you can attract some of the top tattoo artists from around the world you must be doing something right" also he made a great point "A lady came up to me on the 1st day and said 'I don't have any tattoos' and I said to her 'tattooed people don't care if you don't have any tattoos... its OK!'"
The addition of the "Iron Body" Custom Car, Motorcycle and Low-rider cycle displays were a great counterpoint to the Performance Stage in the Entertainment Hall and some of the meanest street cars, rods and custom motorbikes attracted a steady stream of enthusiastic visitors.
Advanced Airbrush and Twisted Arts Factory brought along some awesome airbrushed cars and motorcycles and to the delight of the audience airbrushed the bodies of some very attractive young ladies to showcase a different side to their talent.
Another "first" was the introduction of the Painted Skate Deck display where 100 blank skate board decks were sent to tattoo artists to hand paint and bring to the Expo, the resulting silent auction of the decks raised over $10,000.00 for the official Expo charity 
who support children with cancer and their families through the Oncology Unit at Westmead Childrens Hospital.
Cure our Kids are very appreciative of the support that the extended "tattoo family" provide and as well as the Skate decks initiative, the Tattoo Art Fusion Project raised more funds for this worthy cause, all in all a total of just over $13,500.00 was raised at the Expo.
The daily tattoo contests were very well supported with 252 entrants and the standard of entries was extremely high with many of the judges reporting a noticeable "lifting of the bar" in terms of the workmanship and quality of the tattoos entered in the different categories.
The Tattoo Art Gallery gave tattoo artists at the show a chance to showcase the depth of artistic talent that underpins their awesome skin art and provided visitors with a chance to buy some one-off pieces.
Of course the 
held on stage each day gave artists the chance to show how their art takes shape straight from their minds in the ever popular collaborative art fusion sessions, a big thank you to our artists
- Manu Farrarons, Tahiti
- Dong Dong, China
- Delmar Seevers, USA
- Tutes, Aust & NZ
- Tong, Thailand
- Tairaku, Japan
- Matt (Blue) Selwyn, Australia.
- Dave Rand, Australia.
- Teneile Napoli, Australia.
A big thank you to all our sponsors, Deadbeat Magazine, Dickies, Freestyle Magazine, Room101 Silver, H2Ocean, Oztatz.com, Protat and Safari Lee.
"We can promise an even bigger and better Expo for 2011 with more international artists, attractions and support activities" said organiser Mike Sedin who added that the show returns to a Friday, Saturday & Sunday format, dates are 11 - 13 March 2011.
