Pretty pin-ups and rockabilly are expected to take over during the screening of the iconic Hori Smoku Sailor Jerry documentary, focusing on the life of Norman ‘Sailor Jerry’ Collins, considered the father of modern-day tattoing.

Collins’s uncompromising lifestyle and larger-than-life persona made him an American legend. The documentary follows his escapades from his youngest years, when he hopped freight trains across the country in order to learn tattooing from Tatts Thomas, who is credited for showing him how to use tattoo machines.

Practising on drifters, he later sailed the Pacific Ocean before settling in Hawaii. A big brute with a dirty mouth, he often wore plain white T-shirts that exposed his ink-sleeved arms.

Mike Malone, who took over Sailor Jerry’s shop after he died, described Jerry as “a class-A pirate”.

Through rare interviews, photographs and hours of archival footage, Hori Smoku Sailor Jerry: The Life and Times of Norman Keith Collins, explores the past, present and future of the global tattooing phenomenon.

In this film, the first of its kind, Sailor Jerry’s story and mystique is explored in depth through interviews with his peers and those he influenced, like protégés Don Ed Hardy and Malone.

Through their stories and shared memories, a dynamic tale is woven that chronicles the story of a great American artist whose work has never been displayed in museums, but on the bodies of those brave and fortunate enough to serve as Jerry’s canvas.

Hori Smoku Sailor Jerry is being screened on Wednesday at 8.30pm at Cafe Jubilee, Gżira.