Tattoos of the Statue of Liberty are the focus of this offbeat NYC spot: ‘She’s an ideal’

Give me your tired, your poor — and your tatted masses.

The Statue of Liberty has long been a symbol of freedom and th🎃e American Dream, but also an irresistible option for a tattoo among a surprising number of ink addicts.

“It started off with us wanting something that focused on New York City tattoo culture,” said Dave Herman, founder of Williamsburg’s City Reliquary, which is now displaying a first-of-its-kind exhibit dedicated entirely to the statue’s history in tattoos.

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“For some people, she is the real symbol of New York City, and then for other people, she’s a symbol of the United States … or a symbol of liberty,” Herman — who sports a Lady Liberty tattoo on his forearm — told The Post.

“Liberty the Tattooed Lady: The Great Bartholdi Statue as Depicted in Tattooing” is on display at the small nonprofit museum through January and includes pieces never put on public display before, dozens of antique tattoo flash drawings and vintage photographs paying homage to the famous gift from France.

Display pieces represent private coll🐬ectio🍒ns across the country from Ohio to Pennsylvania, to St. Louis to California, exhibit curator and tattoo artist Michelle Myles told The Post.

Tattooing only became legal in the Big Apple in 1997, but enthusiasts have been getting Lady Liberty’s permanent image for 🌱as long as the statue has been in the New York harbor, said Myles, co-owner of Daredevil Tattoo Shop + Museum.

Myles just inked the latest coloring on Herman’s statue tattoo a few weeks ago, they said.

A Lady Liberty tattoo recipient “could just as likely be somebody who’s not froꦛm New York than somebody who is from New York, and that’s the souvenir they want,” the museum founder said. “Sh✨e has this global presence that has totally endured for over 100 years.

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“Since we’ve done this show … people are inspired to pick something and want to get their own souv🍌enir,” Myles added.

Myles’ own flash is also featured in the exhibit, including a pinup-style Lady Liberty she tattooed on her now-husband in the aftermath𒈔 of the Sept. 11 attack𒁏s.

Other unique finds in exhibit includ❀e a 120-year-old sailor hand poke tattooing kit, a gargantuan flash tattoo stencil and artifacts from industry legends ranging from Bert Grimm to Dainty Dotty to Lou Normand.

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“[Lady Liberty] is such an allegorical figure 𓆉that can stand for so many different i💛nterpretations,” Herman said. “She’s an ideal and it’s something we can always be striving for – but it’s also this reminder that we have to keep fighting for it.”

Herman’s City Reliquary began over two decades ago as a window display at his old apartment, eventually relocating to its existing location in 2006. The per💫manent collection features everythi⛦ng from dozens of Lady Liberty figurines to antiques from the New York City World’s Fair to vintage transit signage.

“Galleries are a narrow demographic as a display to frame an artwork,” Herman said. “That was our goal as a museum, to have a broader audience to be accessible to each 💯of those audiences.”

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Before Liberty the Tattooed Lady closes to the public for good, City Reliquary will be hosting a Statue of Liberty costu⛄me contest as part of a secular New York City “All Saints Day” celebration on Nov. 1. Contestants will be judged based on costume and personality by a pane🅘l of judges led by the iconic voice of the New York City subway, Bernie Wagenblast.

The exhibit party will also serve as a book launch for My🐲les and Herman, who will be releasing an exhibition catalog for Liberty the Tattooed Lady to preserve the tattoo tradition long after the 🐼exhibit closes its doors.

“For us in the City Reliquary, what we’re hoping to do with every temporary ꩵexhibit is to find something that seems very obvious or mainstream to mos💝t people on the surface, but then reveal a side of it that they don’t even know existed,” Herman said. 

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“There’s a whole subtext to this that most peop💮le think they just 🐠assume they understand tattoo culture because they may have tattoos themselves or they’ve seen tattooed people all over the trains. In here, we get to reveal a little more.”