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Image of three black and white illustrated birds, with the title "The Things I Came Here With" written in red overtop. The words "A Memoir", "Chris MacDonald" are written in grey at the bottom.

Things I Came With

Image of three black and white illustrated birds, with the title "The Things I Came Here With" written in red overtop. The words "A Memoir", "Chris MacDonald" are written in grey at the bottom.
Cover of “The Things I Came Here With” by Chris MacDonald, 2023 Heritage Toronto Book Award nominee. Cover designed by Michel Vrana.

Cover of “The Things I Came Here With” by Chris MacDonald, 2023 Heritage Toronto Book Award nominee. Cover designed by Michel Vrana.

Author: Chris MacDonald

Publisher: EWC Press

“Does it hurt?” When you’re a tattoo artist, that’s the most universal question. For Chris MacDonald, the answer is simple: hurts less than a broken heart. Those words are painted above the entrance to his shop, Under My Thumb Tattoos, as a reminder.

Chris and his brothers were as wild as the wind, in their house among the fields of Alliston, Ontario, when their parents divorced. Shell-shocked, they were uprooted and brought to Toronto by their dad. Their mother’s mental illness worsened in the aftermath, and she disappeared. As a teenager, Chris left home and found himself immersed in the city’s underbelly, a world where drugs, skateboarding, and punk rock reigned. Between the youth shelters, suicidal thoughts, and haunted apartments, a light shined: and it was art.


About the Author:

Chris MacDonald is a tattoo artist and the owner of Under My Thumb Tattoos, a respected tattoo studio in Toronto, Ontario. He is a songwriter and a guitarist with LeBarons. Chris lives with his wife and daughter by the lake. The Things I Came Here With is his first book.