my experience being tattooed it's almost
like a little rites of passage a lot of
times I'll feel like I'm going through a
change or a transformation in my life
where I need there to be something that
symbolizes that being a fine artist I
always wanted to do tattoos getting like
an image edged into your skin what it
looks like when the needle penetrates
through it it's a lot of submission and
dominance so that you have to be really
mindful of especially because I'm
working on people of color it's a really
violent act but you have to perform that
with a lot of care
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so if you could read in initial in the
boxes on the third sheet there's an
after care sheet I don't know if you
need it if you want it it's fine you
know and then the last sheet is like
this design but printed in different
sizes so which one you want you can like
have a seat chill out for all of the
images of like American traditional
tattoos all over the country there's
always a void there's no black presence
there is no imagery and even
acknowledging blackness as a
contribution to American life I wanted
to provide a place for people to feel
comfortable and not only as far as the
environment like who's working here
who's operating in this space but also
finding themselves in the imagery on the
walls to make them feel like this is a
place for them this really hurts it does
the talking helps
oh yeah but I am dying on the inside
though okay I remember being in a hotel
room in South Carolina watching this
white panther documentary and I was
instantly inspired by it so I started
reading up more on you know the Black
Panthers and what they were about I just
hate the timing of me getting this now
because of the movie it reeks of corn
balls yeah it's like really like you
know like you might as well just a to
like you know what calm down my forehead
you know I had someone tell me like oh
you know color won't look that good on
you it's a crime to black people they
can't have color it is a crime they
should never say that and it wasn't like
I don't I didn't hear it just one time I
heard it a couple times so like kind of
discouraged me from meeting getting
something like that I'm bigger I made my
own I do feel like tattooing kind of
provides a nice break for me where I am
still being creative it's just on a
different canvas and that canvas has
everything to do with the rest of my
work conceptually I ended up learning a
lot about the body just through the
process of tattooing
I think it's higher stakes because
people are way more forgiving a fine art
you can have really horrible paintings
like really really really bad
craftsmanship and that that is still
regarded as a work of art where if you
had like a tattoo where the lines are
all shaky and it's colored outside the
lines it's like oh that dude that up
like you should get your money back wait
you see this from the color printer Pole
yeah right yeah it's a closing scene of
the movie where miss Celie who's played
by Whoopi Goldberg she goes into this
dialogue where she's like I might be
poor I might be black I might even be
ugly but dear God I'm here I'm here
I work in technology and I tend to be
someone who most people don't anticipate
belongs in the room or should be in the
room for me having these words is like a
reminder that I am here because I'm
supposed to be here because I'm meant to
be here it also represents just sort of
like a rebellious Ness that I think I
have I think I have that I have
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we're gonna do a black panther party for
the release of the Black Panther film
basically since I saw the trailer I had
it in my mind that I wanted to go into
the film squad deep which meant I need a
slew of other black people to come with
me do you think that you ever see like
white kids dressing up as a black yeah
no it's weird because it is but it
becomes like a black people thing you
know but there's a sec citation for us
to like just absorb and digest like
superhero movies like I feel like black
people have always known that black
people are amazing but we need to stop
like bullshitting around like we need to
really let people know who we are just
like they did in the film you know as
far as myself there were some things
where I would kind of hold back thinking
about fear and not being accepted and I
ended up you know kind of sculpting this
place thinking about what would make me
feel comfortable
all of my work talks about pain that was
inflicted but then in this instance I'm
using pain but as a method of healing I
feel like that's kind of what goes on
when you get a tattoo you're initiating
your own healing and because these
images are so celebratory of black
excellence and black history it's kind
of initiating a healing for black people
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I just imagine myself being like an old
woman
and why looking down at this like hmm
yes I am here oh yeah nice present
yeah I am still here