Poked by Paige Wilson

PA I G E W I L S O N

Copyright ÂŠ 2017 by Franc Nunoo-Quarcoo All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Printed in the United States of America First Printing, 2017 ISBN 0-0727097-0-7 Penny W. Stamps School of Art and Design 2000 Bonisteel Blvd Ann Arbor, MI 48109 www.stamps.umich.edu

CONTENTS HISTORY BIAS

... 8

... 10

ORIGINS PROCESS

... 14

... 18

INTERVIEW

... 22

TA L I A M I G L I AC C I O OPINIONS

... 34

... 24

A special thanks to... Talia, for taking the time to help me understand the magic of the craft Malcolm, for always participating in my art projects (even when itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s permanent) SG, MH, JM, and CA, for trusting me with a needle taped to a pen

Section dividers and cover tattooed by Paige Wilson, photographed by Claire Abdo and Paige Wilson Historical images from ARTstor Talia Migliaccio images from Instagram @taliamigliaccio

My interest in tattoos, especially ones created by hand rather than by machine, sparks from my passion for expression and using my own hands. I express myself visually: with my clothes, with my makeup, with my art. And two years ago, I started helping my friends express themselves with tattoos. As an art student who values equality, kindness, and acceptance; I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t fathom judging someone harshly based on art covering their skin. This is for the people who are judged as well as the people who are judging. This is in hope for a happier world. Remember the history, stop the bias, spread the craft.

HISTORY

Two of the most prominent things to consider when thinking about tattoos over time are biases and origins. In order to fully understand tattoos, one must know the context on when they started and where they came from. However, a lot of people donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t understand the expansive history of tattoos and only realize the immediate associations from the past century.

BIAS Everyone has a bias about tattoos. Whether it be from media, ideas passed down from generations, or some sort of personal experience, our opinions on tattoos affect how we perceive the people with them. Typical associations to tattoos are carnivals or circuses, warriors or soldiers, sailors, rock stars, and holocaust victims. The stereotype of people with tattoos usually connects them to some sort of delinquent group in society. But there is a huge artistic community and expansive history around tattoos.We see business executives and models and politicians and lawyers and actors and everyone in between showing off glimpses of tattoos covered by sleeves or ones worn proudly for the world to see. Judging people negatively because their skin has ink on it isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t a requirement; we could live in a world where people didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t judge. Fortunately, we are getting closer and closer to this world. Over the past fifty years -- even in just the last fifteen -- it has become increasingly more accepted for professions outside of the arts to bear tattoos. The new culture of tattoos, one where fine art is inked onto skin better than a lot of painters or sculptors could imagine, is here. You have already met its participants whether you know it or not: they are your neighbor, your boss, your friend. There are two main fears associated with tattoos. The first 10

is pain; the second is permanency. Reasons for inking your

skin are vast, whether it is for a meaningful reminder or on a whim because it looks cool. But the allure of enhancing our own bodies with ink and visuals isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t a new trend. In fact, it has been around basically as long as humans have. Another reason why tattooing is so inviting is because it is an act of exerting control. Adorning your body with a permanent mark is up to you, and in situations like the prison or the military when a lot of what happens to you isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t under your own control, tattooing is available. Tattoos are also used in the opposite way, as a sort of symbol of conformity. In bikers or gangs, members mark their bodies with representations of their group to show unity and dedication.

ORIGINS The condemnation of tattoos is a recent trend; for thousands of years, tattoos have been an integral part of many different societies. The exact start of tattooing is still a mystery because the only physical evidence -- skin -- is only preserved through embalming. But we know tattoos have been around for a long time because the first fully-intact human ever discovered had tattoos. From fifty-three hundred years ago, a Neolithic hunter was found trapped in a glacier in the Italian Alps. There were clearly visible tattooed lines on his back and behind his knee. Before the electric tattoo machine was invented in 1891, tattoos were all done by hand poking: piercing the skin with a sharp object and putting some sort of pigment into the wound. The process of tattooing has transformed over time, but it also differs depending on the region. Evidence shows that the act of tattooing was a lot more labor-intensive and painful than hand poking and even guns are now. The Burmese made needles from long piece of bamboo, the Maori chiseled designs into the skin, and the Eskimo dragged soot-darkened threads underneath the skin. A lot of the first evidence humans have found of tattoos are simple and graphic. Patterns of dots, lines, and other simple shapes usually compose the first era of tattoos. Both men and women adorned the designs, but this depended a lot on the area which they were from. For example, the only examples of tattoos found in Egypt around 2000 B.C. 14

were on women. Until a man is found with tattoos in the

area during this time period, it is assumed that only women had them. But there is a lot of evidence that implies cultures practiced tattooing, even if we havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t found humans from those societies actually bearing them. Pottery from prehistoric Japan and objects found in Alaska depict images of human bodies with decorations on them. It isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t concrete evidence, and the decor could just be a design decision, but these illustrations could be also be referencing actual practices in the cultures they are from. Tattoos have often been used to distinguish certain members of society from the others. This othering could signify prestige, like politically or financially, or it could be a negative marking, ostracizing slaves or criminals. In Siberia, a nomadic warrior was discovered with intricate scenes tattooed on his skin. Local animals and mythical creatures were both inked on the manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s arms, back, chest, and one of his legs.

PROCESS

As an art student, I have been interested in tattoos and the process of tattooing for a while. Over the past two years, I have given over ten tattoos to close friends. The process is interesting, especially to people that have never experienced a hand poked tattoo before.

When I give stick and poke tattoos, I either use an actual long tattooing needle, or I make a tattoo rig. A rig involves taping a needle to the end of a pen or pencil so you aren’t holding on to a tiny, thin needle trying to tattoo. I then create a well by taping thread to the pen and wrapping it many times around the needle towards the tip. Before creating the rig, however, I sanitize the needle using rubbing alcohol and boiling it in water. Since I don’t give tattoos in a studio, the environment isn’t sterile, but I take active steps to pull away from the “teen in a basement” stereotype. Wearing gloves and avoiding contact with things that aren’t sterile is important. Disinfecting the area that will be tattooed as well as washing your hands throughout the process are also things I ensure. I draw the tattoo on disinfected skin before I start the process of actually poking the skin. Once my friend likes the placement and design, I begin. Each poke creates one dot, and eventually enough dots strung together will create a line. Once I have gone over the entire design, I wipe the skin with a paper towel. Sometimes the paper towel needs to be a little damp to fully remove the ink that has dried on the skin during the process. Some people I have tattooed don’t take ink as well as others. For example, the first time I went over the tattoo for the cover, only a handful of dots could be seen after. One thing that I have to make sure of is that I hear and feel a sort of pop everytime I poke the skin. This pop usually gives me a sense that the tattoo ink is actually going to stay under the skin. 18

Once I have gone over the design a handful of times, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s done. I make sure that the people I tattoo know beforehand that I am not a professional. All of the people I have tattooed have been pretty close friends. The butterfly here was my first tattoo I have ever done. My close friend that has a handful of tattoos had been begging me to give her one for a while, and eventually I caved. That was two years ago, and now I have given her two as well as most of my close friends.

INTERVIEW

In this section, I interviewed a tattoo artists that practices hand poked tattoos instead of using a gun. I found Talia Migliaccio on Instagram; Talia updates her account frequently with her tattoo work as well as photography of her life and the nature surrounding it. This interview was conducted via email, and her words have not been edited. In hopes to illustrate a part of what hand poked tattoo culture is now, I asked her about her own experiences, practices, and thoughts regarding tattoo culture and connotations.

TALIA MIGLIACCIO Before I jump in Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d like to clarify why I refer to the tattoos I create as Hand Poked vs. Stick Poke. Language is deeply important and deeply powerful. It is a tool we have seemingly forgotten how to use. Like most aspects of modernity, tattoo and its surrounding culture have become extremely commodified and commercialized. We have forgotten its roots as many of us have also forgotten our own roots. In my eyes the term stick and poke is a term of modernity, of surface pop culture, of trend, of forgetfulness. By no means do I find any of this negative but it is not from this place that I tattoo. I tattoo in remembrance of all those who have walked before us - as an ode to the interrelatedness of all beings - as a gesture of the sacred that we so long for. I find the words Hand Poked to offer more respect to this place as they also refer to the use of the hand which is of utmost importance in this technique. How did you start giving stick and pokes? The simple answer is that I just started. You could say that me entire life had lead me to that moment. I had a deep affinity for tattoos from a very early age. I also had the foundation of being a visual artist so it seemed that evolving towards 22

tattooing would be a natural progression. As I got a bit older

I learned more about the ways of the western tattoo industry and immediately felt a deep dissonance and let go of the idea of evolving towards tattooing. When I turned 18 I met someone who at the time was creating all color hand poked tattoos. His work deeply inspired me and spoke to something much more ancient at the core of my being. Watching him work sparked the realization that I too was capable of simply beginning to tattoo. A few months later I synchronously ended up with tattoo supplies and the trust of friends to begin my journey with this art form. It has very organically evolved from there.

What do you like about stick and pokes? So much of what I like about hand poked tattoos is quite relative to machine tattoos. There was a point in time not so long ago that hand poked tattoos of varying techniques and traditions were the only tattoos. Now we have the relativity of the industrialized tattoo industry so there is a different relationship to speak on. For one hand poked tattoos are overall much more gentle on the body. They are less abrasive to the skin not only in the process of receiving one but also in the process of healing. In my personal experience I’ve found that hand poked tattoos feel as though they become part of the body whereas machine tattoos feel as though they sit on the body almost like a sticker. In terms of giving hand poked tattoos I love the meditation that the process offers. That each dot must be intentionally placed - one after one after one. Many pieces to make a whole - many drops to create the ocean. It is incredibly wonderful to not have the buzzing of an electrical current while giving and receiving a tattoo not to mention the joy of being untethered from an outlet. I find that it is much more fulfilling to have to rely on my own body’s ability to create my work rather than the electrical grid. These joys of hand poked tattoo can be applied to many things in our world. A shirt hand sewed with love and intention will absolutely feel different and more full of human spirit than one produced in a factory with machines. What do you think the public’s general perception of tattoos is? What the general public’s perception of a tattoo is right now seems like a very abstract and vast thing to place one’s finger on. We are in great times of shift and transformation and that too applies to the general public’s perception. Overall I would say there has been somewhat of a negative 24

perception of tattoos held in western culture in more recent

times yet tattoos have very much regained popularity in many ways in even more recent years. Many folks probably relate tattoo to the experience of walking into shop and picking out a pre made image when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re young and under the influence and getting that image somewhere hidden only to have some kind of lasting regret or funny story years down the line. The fact is though that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not the general public and that these are only thoughts.

What do you think the publicâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s general perception of stick and pokes is? The general public most likely does not have very much perception around stick and pokes let alone hand poked tattoos or further more how ancient tattoo truly is. If there is an existing public perception it most likely is tethered to prison tattoos or DIY culture. It would likely be considered a dirty and unsafe method by modern standards and fears. Again these are only thoughts. What do you wish more people knew about stick and pokes? Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m going to open this question up beyond tattoo because what I wish more people knew about hand poked tattoos is what I wish more people knew about the world. I wish we would look deeper - beyond the surface - take time to inquire - to wonder - to imagine - to remember the beautiful diverse and rich history of our planet and all of the incredible beings we share it with. I do not feel as though I can speak of tattoo without speaking of the world and the times in which we live. Tattoo has been with us for tens of thousands of years - it is only more recently that we have lost touch with this - lost touch with origins of all varieties whether it be the way we eat and clothe ourselves or the way that we mark our bodies. If you study any traditional culture youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll find that all images and motifs created were in direct relationship with the planet, with the animals, with the plants and spirits that we lived amongst. We have forgotten them - we have forgotten how to live in harmony with all that be. I wish that through seemingly simple acts like receiving a tattoo one may start to remember - to truly remember how to live.

What do tattoos/does tattooing mean to you? And what do stick and poke tattoos/tattooing mean to you? Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll answer these together since tattoo is more of a general spirit for me and at this point you hopefully have a bit more insight as to why I lean towards hand poked as it is the origin place of this art form. Tattoo quite literally means to mark. We can see this as to mark time, as to mark a significant occurrence, as to mark growth etc. I believe even when unconscious of this meaning we still interact with tattoo this way on many levels. All of the tattoos that I carry on my body have been created at very specific moments in very specific places and for very specific reasons. They are mostly marks of my relationship to spirit in this body and life. Images that

express aspects of souls make up and evolution. They serve as reminders - as allies - as odes. I have a pretty even split of hand made and machine made tattoos on my body currently, although I much prefer receiving hand poked tattoos and imagine I will continue to grow my collection predominantly with that technique. As mentioned before I very much enjoy the way hand poked tattoos integrate into the body. They genuinely feel like a part of me. To me hand poked tattoos also represent the story of the cosmos of this planet and everything that has occurred here and my relationship to that. They remind me that I am a very very very tiny piece of a much larger unfolding universal story. How would you describe your style of tattooing? Predominantly I work on not limiting the tattoos I create by language but rather let the images speak for themselves. In assisting an understanding my work is probably best described as intuitive and ceremonial. In terms of aesthetic style I lean into working with abstract symbology as I find it is most aligned with the concept of universal language. Who or what inspires your art? Everything inspires if you are willing to have a relationship with it. Art making is very much a channel in my experience. Whatever you put into it is what you will get out. In relationship to my tattooing process Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m generally making symbols based on whatever it is that the individual Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m working with is wanting to anchor into image. In a more direct sense I am thoroughly inspired by acts of integrity and loving kindness and further more when people 28

live in devotion to these ways.

How do you think the culture around stick and poke has changed? There are a couple of ways we could approach this question. I feel as though stick and poke does have its own culture that is different yet related to the general culture of tattoo and hand poked tattoo. Stick and poke culture is young and founded in the west and very much related to DIY culture. Then there is also stick and poke culture that resides in relation to prisons. Then you have hand poked tattooing. By asking this question it leads me back wandering and wondering how has the culture of tattoo changed? Because stick and poke does not exist without the foundation of all

tattoo history. In some regards we are seeing an immense trending of stick and poke culture right now yet what is it founded in? I mostly see immense commodification of tattoo culture as a whole yet new culture has also been created thus. How has Instagram influenced you as a tattoo artist? Instagram is a really tricky thing. It can be a beautiful tool that translates into real life connections and it can also be immensely destructive and divisive. I have mostly experienced Instagram in relation to my work as a beautiful conduit of connection that translates into physical reality rather than staying in the transient digital world. I started tattooing around the same time that Instagram was becoming a more widely used platform of social media. It just happened to be that my work grew alongside the popularity of the app. So in many ways it has allowed my work to grow very quickly and provided an accessible public platform for people to know about me and what I offer. There have also been instances where images of my work travel out into the internet unsourced and then someone gets the same tattoo on themselves without fully understanding why the image had been created. Several times those individuals have later found me and expressed guilt in having done that as seeing my work directly they gain insight into the customization of the images I create. Which I suppose is a general symptom of the Internet as a whole. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m fairly disciplined in my relationship to digital technology yet I feel its effects on focus and influence very clearly. Instagram specifically seems to be a master of activating the comparative mind. I often take breaks from it all as it has very much imbalanced our world and is quite likely one of our most common addictions in the modern age. At this point 30

Instagram even in its more positive abilities feels a bit like

a beached whale that we are slowly witnessing the death of. At the beginning it had such an incredible revolutionary spark and now it is full of advertisements and fed through an algorithm which has truly slaughtered its initial beauty. Yet I see this too as a hopeful thread that perhaps more of us will begin to be more present in our everyday worlds. Overall Instagram and its ability to connect has immensely influenced my life but this is only because the connections that have happened through there have actually become a part of my physical life.

OPINIONS

Everyone has an opinion about tattoos. Good or bad, cool or scary, a piece of art or a huge mistake: people are all over the spectrum when it comes to accepting the ink. Opinions on tattoos done by a machine and ones done by hand can also differ, and the assumptions people hold about each are often broad generalizations.

There are two main fears associated with tattoos. The first is pain; the second is permanency. Reasons for inking your skin are vast, whether it is for a meaningful reminder or on a whim because it looks cool. But the allure of enhancing our own bodies with ink and visuals isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t a new trend. In fact, it has been around basically as long as humans have. People judge others on numerous factors involving tattoos. Judgement comes from what a tattoo depicts, why it was created, and even just the presence of one in general. A reason why tattooing is so inviting is because it is an act of exerting control. Adorning your body with a permanent mark is up to you, and in situations like the prison or the military when a lot of what happens to you isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t under your own control, tattooing is available. Tattoos are also used in the opposite way, as a sort of symbol of conformity. In bikers or gangs, members mark their bodies with representations of their group to show unity and dedication. Tattoos are also used as reminders to the person with the tattoo. People that have suffered from certain types of diseases or traumatic experience are able to cover painful reminders like scars with a work of art. Another popular method of positive reminders is tattooing a quote onto a part of the body that is seen often. Having inspirational words or imagery that brings positive thoughts can help people through hard times, and the tattoo can consistently be a light to better things.

â&#x20AC;&#x153; I try not to judge. I personally think they are unnecessary.â&#x20AC;?

Even if there is an extensive history of the practice and countless cases where people are happier in life with their tattoos, there is still stigma in today’s Western society about them. There is progress being made, but tattoos still need to be placed strategically in order to cover them up especially in professional settings. During interviews, the interviewer can try to not jump to conclusions, but if they have a negative opinion about people with tattoos, it can reflect in whether someone is hired or not. Having tattoos is often seen as unprofessional although many executives at prestigious companies or even past Presidents have had them. There is a separate stigma about hand poked tattoos. Most tattoos given in America are done with a tattoo gun. Despite people’s opinions on tattoos in general, hand poking is often attributed to old-fashioned and indigenous methods or to kids giving each other them in a grungy basement. The culture around hand poked tattoos is smaller and less understood, but those involved tend to be passionate about the practice and work; it isn’t just basements of teenagers with unsanitary needles and pen ink. Recently, stick and poke tattoos have become increasingly popular and mainstream because of social media. #StickAndPoke on Instagram has over 200,000 posts, and there have been countless articles over the past few years about the “new trend” in the tattooing world. Obviously, hand poked tattoos aren’t new (they’re literally as old as

â&#x20AC;&#x153; I think that tattoos are cool, but I was raised to think that they were trashy.â&#x20AC;?

tattooing itself), but the attention from the media has cast a new opinion about this practice of tattooing. Stick and poke tattoos aren’t only from small islands off the coast or from an angsty teenager’s basement; they are also sported by your favorite celebrities or adorning Pinterest boards. Whether this change in culture is good or bad is up to opinion, but it is important to recognize that this practice is the oldest in tattooing history. Whether you like tattoos or not, it’s also important to understand that they aren’t new, and they probably aren’t going away anytime soon. Judging people based on their appearance is not fair, but this isn’t a new revelation. For decades, people have fought for equality based on gender, race, sexuality, and more; and although being judged for a tattoo isn’t nearly as problematic as judging someone based on their race, it shouldn’t be done.

“ I literally have a tattoo on my ass, but I wouldn’t do that as a fifty year old woman.”