Gus Kenworthy’s sleeve combines work tied to his skiing career and his life with Matthew Wilkas with other designs whose meanings he has not discussed publicly. The Olympic rings and a portrait of their dog Beemo are the best documented pieces; photographs show how flowers and illustrative work fill the rest of his arm.
Gus Kenworthy’s Olympic rings tattoo
The Olympic rings sit on Kenworthy’s upper arm. An Out portrait shows them beside floral ink as he lifts his goggles. Kenworthy won silver in slopestyle at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, and the tattoo marks that part of his career. A 24 Hour Fitness portrait shows the rings against his white Team USA shirt.
Ski, studio and fashion photographs use different light and angles. The rings remain easy to recognize, while the photos give little detail about what the event means to him.
The Beemo memorial tattoo on Gus Kenworthy’s forearm
Kenworthy and Wilkas adopted Beemo from a South Korean dog meat farm in 2018, when Kenworthy was in the country for the Winter Olympics. After Beemo died, they got matching portraits tattooed on their forearms. PinkNews reported that Kenworthy arranged appointments in London as a New Year surprise.
Kenworthy wrote, “I wanted a little piece of Beemo with me forever.” The image shows Beemo’s face in black-and-grey work among the other tattoos on Kenworthy’s arm.
Floral and illustrative work across the sleeve
The British Vogue portrait gives a broad view from shoulder to forearm. Flowers, faces and shaded illustrative forms share the arm with the rings and Beemo portrait. The photos show how those designs fit together, though Kenworthy has not publicly explained every motif.
The sleeve looks different across the Out, Vogue and Out Traveler photos. Outdoor light brings out the grey shading and open skin; a darker studio portrait compresses several designs together. Across the images, the work has an illustrative black-and-grey style, with the rings providing a clear geometric shape.
The Olympic arm work in Gus Kenworthy portraits
Out Traveler photographed Kenworthy with his arm raised and his face in view, showing the rings and nearby floral work together. The sleeve wraps around the arm: some shapes turn toward the inside of the bicep, bend around the elbow and continue down the forearm. A straight-on photograph can only show one side.
The same arm appears in ski, portrait and red-carpet settings. Wider images show how the designs move with his arm; closer ones make individual lines easier to see.
Gus Kenworthy’s sleeve in personal photographs
The Pinterest image is more casual than the Vogue portrait. Kenworthy has his forearm lifted, leaving the Olympic rings and nearby work easy to pick out. A 24 Hour Fitness portrait shows another angle, with his arm extended against a bright background. Styling and light affect how dense the sleeve looks from one photo to the next.
Kenworthy has also spoken publicly about being gay and has worked as an actor and commentator. The portraits span different parts of his public life while showing the same collection of tattoos.
How the collection reads as a whole
The rings and Beemo portrait connect two parts of Kenworthy’s life he has described publicly: competitive skiing and the dog he shared with Wilkas. Flowers, faces and shaded forms fill the surrounding space, creating a sleeve that mixes geometric and illustrative work.
Why the images belong together
The portraits offer different views of the same arm, from broad shots that show the sleeve’s layout to closer images where individual lines are easier to see. The GQ video below is an interview with Kenworthy, adding a moving portrait alongside the still photographs.