iO Tillett Wright

iO Tillett Wright Instagram – In 2019 I made a podcast investigating the murder of my mother’s great love, a punk musician named Billy Balls who was killed three years before I was born. He was shot by the NYPD, and then his body was disappeared. Because they weren’t married, she was never told why he was killed or where he was buried. She gave me recordings she made, of them talking, and of her grieving, in which two things became clear: 1. Billy always had birds, all his life, wherever he lived. 2. She, pregnant, thought I, the product of a grief fling, was a body his spirit would enter into.
I solved the murder, found Billy’s body, and confronted his killer. I took my ma to Billy, and when we were there, in a place of great horror and neglect, the sound of birds was cacophonous; even in death, Billy was still surrounded by his birds. I have a phobia of these creatures, but what better way to conquer your fears than to embrace your legacy. If I am him, then his birds are my protectors too. Without his death, I wouldn’t be alive, so in gratitude, I’m honoring Billy with this 17 hour tattoo by the masterful @lepapillon.tattoo | Posted on 08/Oct/2023 06:18:48