Black and Inked

I love tattoos, but until very recently, mainstream tattoo culture (online and irl) didn’t include me or anyone who looked even remotely like me. For decades the histories and traditions of black and brown peoples have been co-opted, dishonoured and erased. Black and POC artists are discriminated against within the industry, and consumers of colour are left to feel as though the art form is not for us. The wave of reckoning brought on by the Black Lives Matter movement has forced the long-overdue conversation about the issues of racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia and transphobia within the industry. I started @BlacknInked because as a black girl who loves tattoos, representation matters to me personally. I felt left out, so I decided to create a space where tattooed melanated skin was celebrated front and center. Where images weren’t desaturated, where no style was “too difficult to do on dark skin”. Black n Inked started as my own #inspo page but is slowly growing into a space for collective appreciation and joy. Watch the Black and Inked film.