TOTAL TATTOO MAGAZINE FEATURE 2021

  Starting the year strong.

I'm pleased to announce I have a feature in the January/February 2021 Total Tattoo magazine. Total Tattoo is one of the few tattoo magazines I have regularly followed over the years. So when I was approached to be featured I was nothing but happy to take part. Especially as the interview would be coming from the scope of race and representation in the tattoo community, it gave me the opportunity to speak not only as   a tattoo artist but also as a designer.

I understand I'm not the flavour of the month as an artist nor do I covet that position, so I fully appreciate the crew at Total Tattoo giving me space on their platform to speak on something I experience and is very important to me.

I hope you enjoy the interview.

Thank you in advance for your time.

*please perchance the magazine and support independent press, they're the watcher on the wall defending us all from corporate run press. 

They're the ones putting in the hard work and keeping entities like Conde Nast and Facebook at bay*

BUY HERE 

HAIL MARY BACK PIECE

 

I  am a habitual photo taker but this runs in tandem with my habit of moving on to the next project without sharing the images from the project, i've just completed.

 Ironically its the behind the seen and work in progress documentation is the parts i find most interesting in other peoples work, more often than not more interesting than the finished product. It's the journey i love.

with that in mind there are some progress shots for a back piece i worked in tail end of 2019-2020.

in looking forward to seeing this piece fully healed and settled.

its not often i get to work on a piece of this scale so I'm always grateful and honed when clients trust me with there large scale projects.

i look forward to the opportunity like thins in 2021

KEW GARDEN WINTER 2020

 

Pictures from kew gardens Christmas light show.

SOCIALLY MINDED 3D PRINT

Socially minded was born out of an experimentation as most things I make are, I have always loves the analog and DIY nature of red blue (stereoscopic) 3D. With a red and blue pen and a pair of 3D glasses, you can make magic. I remember going to see 3D movies as a kid when they still used stereoscopes technology and I remember now over the exaggerated the 3D elements were. I wanted to echo the same nostalgic feeling with the composition of this piece.

The only other conscious decision I made when putting together this piece is, I wanted the main character / the dreamer in the piece to be a person of colour and also non binary in gender as I don't think having a specific gender helped tell the story in the art so leaving the gender non specific felt correct.

I hope you like it.

The original artwork for Socially Minded was made up of individually painted sections in water colour and ink on water colour paper then digitally finished making it a functioning stereoscopic art. the print is limited to 50 prints and comes with a custom pair of  custom 3D glasses.

the print is on sale in the someone in london loves you shop

INSIDE THE TATTOO INDUSTRY RACISM with Alice Snape for IYNK

 

A few weeks ago I did an interview with Alice Snape editor at things and ink magazine to discuss the matter of race in the tattoo industry. 

The Black Lives Matter movement has slipped from social media and in turn the public censuses, so I was happy to have this interview and keep this conversation going.

As with most interview it got edited down when it finally got published. So in the spirit of UNABRIDGED I have decided to publish the full interview in its entirety.

*full disclosure I didn't know the interview would be published on IYNK.COM a tattoo booking app, I was not payed for this feature and the opinions in the interview are my own and had no outside influence at all. 

Lord 13/2    

Have you experienced racism as a tattooer?

 

Racism is everywhere. I know a lot of people like to think of tattooing as a shining liberal inclusive city on a hill, however it has the same problems as a wider community from outright racist name calling to micro aggression, I have seen and experienced it all. I know this is not a big traumatic story as I’m very aware people of colour have similar experiences and it can be retraumatising, so I’m mindful when sharing experiences. One thing that grinds me in to the ground, is when I have to a walk in and I have heard them talking to a white college normally you and I walk over to introduce myself to them and they switch to a "black voice",  yes I’ m black but I’m not a caricature from a TV show, I’m a well-rounded human being, speak to me properly with respect. 

 

 

 Have you found that tattooists have refused to tattoo dark skin? 

Is this about education and "traditional" apprenticeships? 

 

I have heard and seen many many times where artists have turned down working on darker, even non white skin or worst yet gaslighting the customer into getting a tattoo they didn't necessarily want, because the artist didn't have the knowledge or the skill to work on a variety of skin types.  

I’m not sure a traditional apprenticeship will help... an apprenticeship yes, a traditional one not so much, the idea of tradition has been a hiding place for a lot of the problems that are now coming to light.

I think it's about accepting your limitations as an artist and having the intellectual curiosity to want to learn and improve. Both in design and execution of the tattoo. As artists we just need to talk more. share information and push the art forward because tattooing isn't just for fair skin people it’s for everybody. We owe it to our customers to be better.

 

How about at conventions?

 

Conventions are really a mixed bag, I really love doing them but I always think it’s funny that people think the three foot wide table that separates them from you somehow acts as a soundproof booth.  We can hear the shit you're saying, you're just there. So, I get everything from customers doubting I’m the artist, who’s portfolio they are looking at, because they expect something more stereotypically associated with being a black artist.  

There are also people who straight up fetishizing my blackness and wanting to get some "gangster lettering from the “black guy". In those situations, the best you can do is talk to the people and try to get them to change their preconceived notions of what a black tattoo artist can do and can be.  

 

 Is representation a problem?

 

Representation is incredibly important because most people can't see something is possible until they see someone like them doing it.

That's one of the reasons I like doing so many conventions. Being front and centre, being openly black as I want to be, blasting whatever music I want and making tattoos you wouldn't necessarily expect from a black tattoo artist. Showing we are out here just in small numbers.

I’ve even had black people come up to me at shows saying they've never seen a  black tattooist before, I always find it hard to believe but if it's true then I know I’m doing my part.    

What can we do to make change?

 

That's the big question.

I think the key to all of this is conversation and education, I mean in 2020 if you're still saying there isn't a problem you have been in a coma or wilfully ignorant. 

There is so much information in the world just educate yourself and challenge your preconceived notions of race because pleading ignorance is no longer an excuse   

 

Do you think change is possible?

 

I have to think change is possible, I have been very lucky to have found people within tattooing who have encouraged me to be the person and the artist I need to be regardless of my background and race. 

The more the conversation keeps going the more people who step forward which makes tattooing a more inclusive place for people of colour, women and people in the LGBTQI+ community. The problem goes further than just race. Everybody has to have a seat at the table and have their voices heard to make tattooing the place we all need it to be. 

 

Do you think an official tattoo board of some kind might help?

 

I’m always torn with the idea of anything official when it comes to tattooing because having some kind of official place to lodge a complaint sounds good but who would be on this board?  When there's talk of putting together some kind of official council all the same old names come up, which doesn’t equate into any change as it’s the same echoed ideas and preconceived notions of what tattooing should look like in 2020.

I don't think the old guard can fix this, if they had any interest in fixing the issues and bringing in new ideas in relation to race/ gender/ gender identity/ sexuality they would have.

I think the only way forward within the wider tattoo community, artist, supply companies, venders and customers alike.

We all have a role to play in keeping the conversation moving and forcing the change needed for the tattoo community to move forward and stay vibrant.

UNABRIDGED

Unabridged is a response to the restrictive nature of most social media platforms. Only allowing space for the most stripped down representations of our creative output, and algorithms created to reward the disposable content.

I wanted somewhere I could show the projects I'm working on in long form.

I also hate the idea of giving over all the images over to facebook corp, and if theres a way we can share what we make without having to give it over to facebook for people to see it, all the better. I miss the old days of everyone having individual sites. So i'm going back to updating my own.

I hope what you find here is of interest.

Lord Montana-Blue

 

MONTANA BLUE X NEW YORK (show me love)

hello all hope everything good with you and yours, here is a video of my recent trip to New York to witness my friends getting married and hang out with the crew at sacred tattoo NYC. i always love spending time in new York and i thing this was be most fun trip so far, cant wait to get me feet back in the streets of the back apple again