At the heart of my research is my struggle as an urban indigenous person of mixed ancestry, who wants to locate my sense of self and belonging. The question of identity in this context is one that is plagued by centuries of colonial genocide on the Indigenous peoples of the America’s and the world over. The reclaiming of an indigenous [...]

Filed under: Authenticity, Decolonization, Identity, Nlaka'pamux (Thompson Indian) Tattooing, Tattoo Revival, United Nations Decleration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

This post has nothing to do with Indigenous Tattooing but everything to do with Modern Tattooing, when I seen it I had to post it. I have begun to realize the other day that to deny that portion of me that is not at all Indigenous, the portion that comes from being brought up in an Indigenous diaspora, predominately in [...]

Filed under: Authenticity, Cultural Capital, Identity, Modern Tattooing, Tattoo Music Videos, Video

As I begin to think about applying the designs of my ancestors, I have come upon the question of how to apply the tattoo? People may question the authenticity of a historical tattoo if it is applied in a non traditional way, in the beginning I intend to apply the tattoos with an electromagnetic tattoo [...]

Filed under: Authenticity, Cultural Capital, Decolonization, James Teit, Nlaka'pamux (Thompson Indian) Tattooing, Skin Stitch Tattooing, Tattoo Revival, Tattooing by Hand, Technology

In the Hangover Part 2 one of the main characters Stu wakes up with a tattoo on his face resembling the one on the face of Ex Boxing Champ Mike Tyson. The American tattoo artist S. Victor Whitmill claimed that the tattoo presented in the movie was so close to the one he tattooed on Tyson [...]

Filed under: Appropriation, Authenticity, Identity, Intellectual Property, Maori, Modern Tattooing

I started my journey into Nlaka’pamux tattooing when I found a little publication in a tattoo shop waiting area around 2006. It blew my mind to think that my ancestors had practiced tattooing, something that was dear to me at that time and even more dear to me now that I am completing my tattoo [...]

Filed under: Authenticity, Cultural Capital, Decolonization, Identity, Modern Tattooing, Nlaka'pamux (Thompson Indian) Tattooing, Tattoo Revival