One month after the tragic deaths of Kobe Bryant and his daughter, Gianna Bryant, the basketball legend’s older sister, Sharia Washington, debuted a new tattoo in memory of the pair. The ink, which was done by Peter Barrios, is on Sharia’s shoulder. It features Kobe and Gianna’s basketball numbers, 24 and 2, with a snake wrapped around them in the shape of an infinity symbol. The snake represents Kobe’s famous ‘Black Mamba’ nickname, while the infinity symbol represents that Kobe and Gianna will be together forever in heaven.
Sharia shared the photo of her new ink on Instagram, and then Peter re-posted it with the message, “I didn’t take my own photo out of respect but today I had the honor of tattooing a memorial tattoo on @ShariaWash. Thank you for laughing with me today and letting me do this for you. I will never forget our conversations. Much love and respect to your family.” Just two days before Sharia’s tattoo session, she attended a Celebration of Life event for Kobe and Gianna at the Staples Center. She sat next to her parents, Pam and Joe Bryant, as well as her sister, Shaya Bryant.
None of Kobe’s immediate family members spoke at the memorial, but his wife, Vanessa Bryant, did take the podium to give a touching eulogy. She remembered Kobe and Gianna in the most beautiful way, while also agonizing about a future without them. However, she concluded by vowing to always take care of her and Kobe’s three other daughters, Natalia, Bianka and Capri.
Kobe and Gianna were very tragically killed when the helicopter they were flying in crashed in Calabasas on Jan. 26. There were seven other people on the copter, who also all died in the horrific crash. The group was traveling to a middle school basketball game, which Gianna was supposed to play in, at Kobe’s Mamba Academy when the accident happened.
