As a queer tattoo artist, being in this industry I
believe motivates other queer people,
especially queer black people, especially queer dark skinned black people,
to collect tattoos more comfortably.
Ink the Diaspora is a
community effort to highlight unheard and silenced voices,
not only from tattooers, but from tattoo clients.
So this is the design I'm going to get.
And it's a house that can Kiski,
head of the male rainbow lizard.
And I'm Yoruba and like we have these like interlace
patterns on our traditional clothing as well.
I'm getting it because it looks cool.
Oh, period. Being like an intersex,
a gender person, I feel like society projects a lot
onto my body.
So like I've been trying to find language that's more
specific to my blackness and my cultural background and experience.
I'm prepping my needle that I'm going to use for
the tattoo today,
supporting it against a tongue depressor to stabilize it.
So I have like a wider base to hold in
my hand.
Getting tattooed, stick and poked.
It feels like closer to like the indigenous practice of
getting tattooed
simultaneously. Like it's painful but then like internally it tickles
kind of
Oh my God. I think the sitting still is almost
harder than the actual pain.
My presence as a queer tattoo artist allows me to
take up space in this industry and allow more folks
who look like me to enter into this industry.
It inspires clients to keep collecting,
and it's also inspiring to get tattooed by someone who
looks like you.
I gave myself a color Swatch tattoo because it's a
good example of when I'm sitting down talking with a
client and they're curious about how color looks on more
melanated skin, I can quickly show them a reference on
my skin color.
It's also really powerful thing for dark skin people to
have color Swatch tattoos because it's still being said you're
too dark skin for color or tattoo,
period. We're looking at the tattoo industry as a whole
and we're looking at who practices within it,
who benefits from it. We are still coming to CIS
white men and it still is leaving trans films and
other women tattooers in a very niche and small community
within this whole industry.
All right, let's have a look.
There's really no words, honestly.
Yeah. It's going to be a new level of confidence.
The way I felt after getting my first tattoo by
Tan was beyond definitely an unprecedented feeling.
So I anticipate feeling a lot more confident in my
shoulders and my arms.
You are so
well
now. Yeah. Nah.
What? Let's go. Let's.