University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Tattoo: a colonization story

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Tattoo: a colonization story

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Content i
TATTOO:
A COLONIZATION STORY
by
Danielle Cansino
A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSKI SCHOOL OF ART AND DESIGN
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF FINE ARTS
(FINE ARTS)
May 2021
Copyright 2021 Danielle Cansino
ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract………………………………………………………………………………...................iii
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..1
Section 1: Tattoo Origins………………………………………………………………………….5
Section 2: Chicano Style Black and Grey……………………………………………..................11
Chicanx tattooing and access to material, inreverly to formal and classical
technique…………………………………………………...…………………………….13
Section 3: Systemic Racism and classism in tattoos …………………………………………….17
The “Chicana Canvas” and women in Chicanx tattooing………………………………..18
Appendix- Mi Familia: Storytelling with Ceeze Casteneda and Danie Cansino………………...19
Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………..28

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ABSTRACT
This thesis gives insight to the ways in which colonization has affected the practice of
tattooing, in particular, tattooing in the United States. It starts with the origins of the practice of
tattooing, where the word “tattoo” comes from, and the various methods in how permanent
marks were made on the body. From there, it goes through a historic chronology of tattooing, in
various parts of the world, and eventually settles on the focus of the practice in the United States.
Having a rich and long history of being practiced in human cultures, this paper focuses on the
superiority of its practice by white men, in the style commonly known as American Traditional.
Within the tattoo community, other genres of tattooing become secondary to American
Traditional, as it is often the foundational genre in tattoo apprenticeships.
My argument is that in some communities, such as Chicanx areas of Los Angeles, artists
have styles and aesthetic principles all their own, that do not fall in line with the category of
American Traditional, and sometimes get dismissed due to their lack of visibility and
representation in the broader sense of the tattoo industry. There is also the factor of access to
material, and the origins of the practice in these cultures, which may have an influence on their
status within the tattoo community. This is also relevant in the acceptance of various art forms in
Latinx/Chicanx culture. Addressing various mediums in my own practice, I am interested in
collapsing the divide between low and high art, and what is considered worthy of representation
in the fine art realm.

1
INTRODUCTION
I’m writing a thesis about tattooing because it is central to my artistic process and to how
I think about what my artwork can do. Using classical drawing technique, I create photo realistic
images that have the aesthetic principles in line with Chicanx style tattooing. Tattooing is the act
of marking the body— and though it may seem similar to my practice of painting or drawing in
its mark making, I'm interested in the historical practice of this art in regards to its role in culture.
Tattooing is often seen as an act of permanence, though it only lasts as long as its surface’s
lifetime. After all, human skin is not an archival material, thus the only history we have of its
tradition is through archived documentation. Tattooing is also crucial to my skills and thought
process because it has spawned creative communities that otherwise would not have an outlet in
the mainstream art world or United States culture in general.
The prevalence of underground communities shapes, influences, and impacts our lives in
ways that sometimes never get brought to the surface, especially if that community participates
in activity that isn’t acceptable by the standards of our society. The tattoo community has
experienced various degrees of acceptance globally, with some genres ignored or dismissed as
degenerate acts because of prejudices against their origin, social class and race of participants.
In his Roski Talk for USC in 2020, Eamon Ore-Giron described the acts and practices of
descendants from a persecuted people, the Native American Yaqui tribe (USC Roski, April
14,2020). Giron pointed to the attitudes of these descendants that have grown up here in Los
Angeles, their families’ stories of migration, how it has impacted this generation, and how most
don’t know their own history themselves, due to lack of representation and of archives of their
history. Likewise, the lack of an academic archived history of Chicanx style tattooing has kept
the practice in a place of little visibility in relation to accepted art world and academic
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institutions, and sometimes deemed degenerate. The most prevalent form of representation of
this art is seen through actual tattoos— collected by the people immersed in this community and
culture. In her 2017 book Chicana/o Remix: Art and Errata Since the Sixties, Karen Mary
Davalos claims that collecting Chicanx art is a stand against social injustice: “It promotes a new
way of seeing oneself, one’s cultural community, and the cultural production of that
community.” Davalos continues on, stating, “[t]he Chicana/o act of collecting, therefore, is an act
of critical witness that generates a space of recognition and documents a vision of self and
community” (Davalos, 2017).
This point about exclusion is not to say that the art of tattooing itself has not been
archived (although in the broader perspective, it hasn’t in comparison to other art practices), but
to stress that there is a vast lack of representation, accreditation, and appreciation for the genre
known as Chicanx style black and grey even within the tattooing world. This style, though
having been present since the 1940’s, runs parallel in time to American Traditional tattooing— a
style practiced amongst white Americans, which is much better documented.
I think about this comparison between American Traditional tattooing and Chicanx style
black and grey realism, in the same way that I’d compare narrative and figurative oil painting to
ballpoint pen drawings on lined paper— similar to those one would see in prison letters, or the
kind of doodles one would do in grade school. Speaking from personal experience, I had never
used any kind of oil paint before it was introduced to me in community college when I was 26
years old. All of my drawings or paintings were done with materials that I had easy access to,
the firsts of them being graphite pencil and ballpoint pen. These materials are cheap, and
something that anyone can purchase at just about any grocery store or pharmacy. Later in this
thesis, I will discuss my ballpoint pen work, which is indexical to this experience, and vice versa.
3
What does this comparison of access to materials have to do with tattooing? This
distinction between “low” versus “high” art materials gives insight into the difference between
American Traditional and Chicanx style tattooing. While American Traditional artists, mostly
white men practicing in large cities in the United States, may have access and means to purchase
color pigments, needles and needle bars, amongst other equipment, Chicanx style tattooing
started in the prison systems (History of Chicano Tattoos, 2014). While incarcerated, it was
difficult for artists to find means of getting quality tools needed to make the same kind of
imagery as those working at professional tattoo parlors on the outside. Artists in prison systems
would use ink and needles they created inside, which required a different technique and created a
different aesthetic— later to become popular beyond the original prison context and still a
prominent genre today (Atkinson, 2013). The Chicanx style is the technique I was taught
through my mentorship, and the genre I practice most. The style, since it moved out of the prison
systems around the 1960’s, has been handed down through Chicanx communities. It was taught
to my mentor through generations of collecting and sharing knowledge. Chicanx style of
tattooing plays a role in defining a certain Chicanx subculture, in places like Los Angeles.
In this thesis I will flesh out histories of Chicanx style tattooing in relation to community
formation and the artistic practice of those influenced by its aesthetic principles, including my
own work. In the first section after the introduction, I will sketch the origins of tattooing as an art
practice, and various styles around the world. From there, I will move into the history of Chicanx
black and grey tattooing in relation to the mainstream market. In the second section, I will
connect tattooing to other forms of creative practice common in Chicanx communities and show
the links with this tattooing tradition. I will also describe the complexities of demographics,
class, and access to materials in ways that have been limiting to Chicanx art. In the third section,
4
I will explore the issues of systemic racism and classism in tattoos, and the role of women in the
Chicanx tattooing culture.

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SECTION 1
TATTOO ORIGINS
Tattooing has a long tradition of practice, with evidence dating back to over 5,000 years
ago. Tattoo is a permanent process of pigmentation to the skin by introducing substances to the
subdermal layer. This can happen unintentionally, as in the case of road injuries, which are called
a traumatic tattoo (Pesapane, 2014). Tattoos were also given for identification, punishment, and
medicinal purposes in history (Schmid, 2013) (Pesapane, 2014). The most common tattoos are
decorative, relating to a symbolic meaning or a current trend. Decorative tattooing has gone in
and out of cultural practice during and after political colonization. Tattooing was adopted into
mainstream and is an accepted culture through its reintroduction in the style of American
Traditional by white male tattooists (Pesapane, 2014).
The origin of the word “tattoo” is believed to be derived from the Polynesian language.
The word “ta” which means “striking something,” and the specifically Tahitian word “tatau”
which means “to mark something.” This word was introduced in Europe by English explorer
James Cook, who described the Polynesian technique of “tattaw” in his written description of the
voyage (Pesapane, 2014). As far as physical evidence on actual humans, the oldest recorded
tattoo is on Ötzi the Iceman, from 3,000 bce. Ötzi was preserved in a glacier found in the Alps
between Italy and Austria. Ötzi had tattoos on the arms and the upper part of the back. It seems
Otzi had therapeutic and ornamental tattoos. The marks that ran down the spinal column were
similar to acupuncture sites in the ancient practice of Chinese Zhenjiu needling and burning
(Shmidt, 2013).
Tattoos were banned in the 4th century by the Emperor Constantine after he converted to
Christianity, as it was considered an act of paganism. Though the practice of tattooing the body
6
was never fully accepted by Christianity, Crusaders used tattooing symbols on their body to
identify their religion, to ensure that they received a Christian funeral in case they died in a
foreign country. Tattooing came back into Western Culture with the Oceanic expeditions in the
seventeenth century (Pezapane 2014).
In the mid eighteenth century, British naval officer Captain James Cook made three
voyages to the South Pacific. During this time, there were many people stolen from their
homelands to be exhibited in Europe. Some examples of this are: The Iroquois chief in 1710,
Mohawks and Cherokees in the 1760s, Eskimos in 1772, Prince Omai from Polynesia in 1774,
Hottentots Venus in 1810, and Lapps from the Northern Scandinavia in 1822. The initial intent
of these exhibitions were to satisfy their own curiosities, but later became a scientific means to
observe the practices of the people inhibiting the lands they had invaded (Shmid, 2013).
The transport of Prince Omai, from Polynesia to England in 1774— is considered one of
the most impactful elements in the history of tattoos in Europe. At the time, the only Europeans
with tattoos were criminals who were left off in the Southern Pacific. The islanders would tattoo
them once they were established into the community. The exhibitions of tattooed people sparked
interest in a form of taboo pleasure from Europeans. At first, designs for the tattoos were
initially taken from the local aesthetics of the islands. This eventually evolved into more
European art designs that would represent Island life: “Images like palm trees, anchors, hearts,
women as well as weapons such as swords or cannons… Links between these idealistic designs
and Christian symbols can be observed at that stage. A palm tree, for example, can be compared
to the date tree that symbolizes fortune and peace in the bible, while the naked woman represents
Eve in the Garden of Eden or the Hula girl” (Schmid, 2013).
7
Due to the increase in popularity for tattoos in Europe from the mid nineteenth century
onwards, having tattoos and being tattooed took on a different meaning. The fascination of
tattoos grew in the twentieth century, with a popularity amongst European aristocrats. “It was the
first time in the history of tattoos that the body decoration was seen as a beauty accessory or
jewelry and at the same time a manifestation of individuality and personal freedom.” (Schmid,
2013).
The tattoo culture in Japan is also notable as a long and changing lineage. Since the
fifteenth century, tattoos have been popular in Japan among the working classes. After 1720,
criminals in Japan were branded with tattoos, resulting in the differentiation amongst "decent"
people. Since persons with tattoos could not be integrated back into society, a new demographic
group of tattooed people was developed in Japan, the Yakuza. The practice of branding criminals
was abolished around 1870, but tattooing remained completely forbidden until 1948. Although
tattooing has become increasingly popular in recent years, it still carries negative connotations in
Japan. It was legalized in 2020 (Schmid,2013) (Leung, 2020).
Into the twentieth century, the social circles in Europe and America envisioned the
viewing of tattooed people to be an exotic form of entertainment. Such exoticism to be
“spiritually vulgar” and “culturally uncivilized” (Atkinson 2013). However, as sailors traveled to
different lands and returned home with cultural artifacts inscribed in their skin, tattoos began to
be increasingly popular in European and eventually North American society (Atkinson, 2013).
Carnival and circus workers are another group that played a major role in the history of
tattoos, and it is assumed that this was the first time that being tattooed had professional
connotations. From the mid nineteenth century and onward, a tattooed person was in every
sideshow of an American circus. In addition, opportunities of employment developed to earn
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money as a professional tattooer. North Americans and Europeans shared a mutual fascination
for and repulsion towards tattooed bodies that can say to be influenced by European constructs of
the tattooed body as a symbol of primitivism, due to the exhibitions of people from places
deemed “primitive” such as the Pacific Islands, and going into the original “Freak Show" lineup
on display, in comparison to savage beasts like lions, and tigers, and bears. It also created work,
as a tattooist could take their trade on the road and administer tattoos to clients more efficiently.
A tattooist would set up shop at a carnival when it arrived in town, and set it up to secretly
perform the tattooing in offstage areas of the fairgrounds. An even greater sense of exoticism
and eroticism grew around the tattooed lady, and framed images of the pursuant of this woman
forcing her receiving tattoos to cover her entire body. In addition, the amount of the female body
exposed in the performance took the tattoo show to the level of a “blue” exhibition. This
sexualization and taboo eroticism could have also pushed the ideas and feelings about tattoos
being a sinful or degenerate act, as it questioned a person's forbidden desires (Atkinson, 2013).
Tattoo side shows became a vehicle for exploring deviant yet exciting body practices as a
means of engaging in forms of corporeal subversion strictly forbidden in everyday life. About
the same time that circus shows were peaking in their popularity, the first documented
professional tattooer in the U.S. emerged. Martin Hildebrandt, a German immigrant who arrived
in Boston, Massachusetts in 1846, opened the first professional tattoo shop on the East Coast.
Between 1861 and 1865, Hildebrandt was tattooing soldiers on both sides in the American Civil
War (Atkinson, 2013) (Schmidt, 2013).
The invention of the tattoo machine in 1891 changed tattooing completely. Bob O'Reilly
in New York developed a machine that would deliver 4mm needle strokes into the skin
vibrationally, through wire wrapped electric coils, and a spring tension (Atkinson, 2013).
9
In the early twentieth century, the tattoo parlor became a fixture in downtown areas and
neighborhoods in North American cities such as New York, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, and
Toronto. The local parlors catered to working class military personnel. They were hidden down
dirty alleys, crammed into the backs of barbershops or pool halls, and scattered across the cities.
They were frequented by carnival workers, servicemen, criminals, social outcasts and tough guys
alike. A tattoo parlor became a social club where individuals existed on the fringe of society to
feel accepted and befriended. It was also a setting for men to prove one's masculinity to others.
“They were the locker rooms of the first half of the Twentieth century, where aggressive
sexuality and conquest over women were openly discussed and local men became legends in the
neighborhood” (Atkinson, 2013).
Sailor Jerry (Norman Collins) was one of the first famous tattooers, a traveling artist
popular amongst sailors and military men in the 1920’s. Collins settled in Hawaii and opened
shop in the 1930’s. His innovations such as the use of single use needles, needle bar groupings,
and pigment developments— are still practiced in tattooing today. Sailor Jerry created tattoo
designs known as “flash” (said to be hung on sheets of paper, easily ready to grab and remove
“in a flash”) that have become iconic images in the history of tattooing, and are still used by
many today. This style came to be linked with the name American Traditional, and was known
for having black bold line work, and black shading, and small pops of the colors red, or yellow—
not so far from the style of Japanese Traditional tattooing. Tattooers established an artist
apprentice system, like carpentry. Don Ed Hardy was an apprentice of Sailor Jerry, and was a
leader in the next generation of American Traditional tattooing. In fact, Ed Hardy went on to
study Japanese Traditional tattooing with Master Horihide in Japan in 1973, furthering the
merging of American and JapaneseTraditional motifs. With other artists like Lyle Tuttle, then
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following generations including Bob Roberts and Jack Rudy, the American Traditional tattoo
genre became more popular, and is considered the iconic birth of modern tattooing to many
tattooers and patrons today (Marrow, 2021).
Tattooing also became prevalent in American prison systems, with tattoos functioning as
communicative symbols to denote various gang affiliation. Examples of images used are playing
card symbols, weapons, spiderwebs, and teardrops all served various meanings. The techniques
of tattooing commonly seen in prison systems during the 1970’s were fine line, single needle
tattooing, using black or blue ink made from a spot of burnt rubber from shoe soles, or burnt
mineral oil. A guitar string would be used, sharpened to a fine point, and pen shafts were used as
guiding tubes. Electric razors were used to battery power tattoo machines, that were sometimes
back then called “guns.” As the popularity of tattooing grew in U.S. prisons, the practice no
longer was the property of the white urban working-class convict within the system. Chicanx,
Latinx, African Americans, Asian Americans and Native Americans were tattooing, and getting
tattooed. As Atkinson notes, “[b]y the end of the 1960’s, prison tattoo styles and imagery had hit
the street and will influence the dominant tattoo styles and practices for the next 20 years”
(Atkinson, 2013).

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SECTION 2
CHICANO STYLE BLACK AND GREY
Growing up I would see a particular style of tattoos on many family members and
friends, and people around the cities I would frequent. In my fascination for tattooing and my
pursuit of the arts, I followed artists such as Johnny Quintana, Freddy Negrete, and Carlos
Torres, in their old school Chicano style. In their tattoo techniques of black and grey, the
Chicano style of tattooing has evolved, yet still holds on to an iconic aesthetic.
The black and grey Chicano style of tattooing started with the Pachuco gang culture in
the prison system in California, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona in the 1940s. The technique
used sewing needles dipped in India ink and represented classic themes of the Chicano style.
Images of women, skulls, flowers and religious figures prominent in Catholic Art were common
subjects, and all done using only black ink. The classic Pachuco cross was single lined, having
three to four rays surrounding it, and was placed in the middle between the thumb and index
finger. It was a symbol to identify the members of a gang, show affiliation, respect, and loyalty.
With the nation’s lockdown on crime in the 1950s, Chicano style tattooing moved into prison
systems, where artists continued to create artwork with themes that represented the Chicanx
experience in the Southwest (The History of Chicano Tattoo, 2014).
Amongst the Los Angeles community during this time, as the prison style of tattooing
became popular on the streets, various tattoo shops became known for this contemporary style.
Shops around East Los Angeles— a predominantly Latinx part of the city— carried popular
motifs to represent Mexican American local culture, with images like LowRider cars, Payasas
(clown faces), Charras (women in sombrero hats), and catholic representation like praying hands,
the Virgin Mary, saints, Jesus Christ, etc. Artist Chuco Moreno, who began tattooing at the age
12
of 12, attributes this imagery to family, religion, and ethnicity because they will never change.
“You see that imagery your whole life.” (Real California Episode 2: Corazon y Alma, Chuco
Moreno, 2015). However, because of its historical beginnings in prison systems, Chicanx style
black and grey tattooing is not considered a legitimate genre in many tattoo communities.
Though it has been present for over 50 years, it is still not a subcategory in major tattoo
conventions, and is not recognized in the media as a popular genre, in comparison to styles like
American and Japanese Traditional. Even more contemporary genres of tattooing like neo
traditional and geometric have been given more of a platform in the tattoo community.
Like other forms of art in the Latinx Los Angeles community, tattooing much like
graffiti and airbrush art are low brow and not even brought into conversation in an academic
realm. Since the access to archives makes you a scholar, the value of contextualizing these art
forms in scholarly terms is paramount. Without bringing these communities into an academic
realm. The Chicanx body acts as a library of cultural imagery.

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CHICANX TATTOOING AND ACCESS TO MATERIAL IN REVELRY TO
FORMAL AND CLASSICAL TECHNIQUE
In 2018 I began working at Mi Familia tattoo studio, under the mentorship of Big
Ceeze— a protege of Iconic Los Angeles Artist Johnny Quintana. Ceeze grew up in my
hometown of Montebello, a small town part of East Los Angeles. With Ceeze’s guidance, I was
able to adopt the techniques of single needle style of tattooing; that have been used historically.
This technique has a particular aesthetic that can be recognized by those familiar with tattooing.
Easily noticeable aesthetic characteristics of Chicanx style black and grey tattooing is the
presence of dots, or what an artist would call “dotwork”. Because this style started with a guitar
string, filed into a single needle, and used to create the entire image, most artists that still practice
this style will use a round liner tattoo needle configuration, as opposed to a magnum
configuration which is similar in shape to a flat paint brush. The difference between the two is
like comparing a round brush to a flat bright or curved edge filbert brush. In layman's terms, a
round liner or single needle looks like a pencil or pen coming to a point, and magnum needle
configurations are broad and wide like a paint brush. While incarcerated, artists were not allowed
to tattoo and thus could not gain the materials to configure needle bars, which is what most
tattooers had used at this point: a long bar with multiple needles attached to the end to form a
round or flat brush like tip. With only having access to a single needle, the vibrational bounce of
the homemade machine would leave a dot like finish.
I created my recent drawings with BIC ballpoint pen on lined paper, as to mimic the type
of mark making one would create with a round liner, or “single” needle. A ballpoint pen is the
go-to medium for people who practice Chicanx style black and grey, because of its similarity to
the needle. Ballpoint pen is also the medium that is commonly used in handwritten letters, like
14
those from prison inmates. Growing up, I’d see letters from family members and friends of
family who were incarcerated. A lot of these handwritten letters would have drawings on the
back, or on the envelope, that would usually have the same kind of popular Chicanx motifs and
imagery, like “smile now, cry later” masks, or images related to Catholicism.
My mentor Big Ceeze had suggested I started to do drawings in ballpoint pen, as to train
my hand to be light and delicate in my mark-making. I started doing portrait images for practice
at work in pen, and eventually started to want to create larger works with the same medium. I
had hopes of transforming accessible materials into a piece acceptable in the fine art realm. The
use of ball point to create large scale drawings reflects my interests in collapsing high and low
art forms.
My drawing La Escalera is 18x24in, ball point pen on lined paper adhered to wood. This
drawing narrates two people working together to scale a wall. It gives the impression of one
having to “jump” a wall hastily, with one person holding out their folded hands to use as a step
for the other person’s foot placement. The term “La Escalera” means “the Ladder” in English,
which directly describes the action of movement in the image. The title is also in reference to the
Mexican game of “Loteria”, which means Lottery. It is a type of “Bingo” game commonly
played in Mexican and Chicano culture. Though the original image on the Loteria card is a
ladder, I use this allegory to describe the action of jumping a wall; or needing a boost. The
figure in the drawing that is being lifted up is also covered in paint, with noticeable traces all
over their pant leg. This gives the impression that they may be an artist, and about to do some
type of graffiti work, which is a prevalent form of expression in the Los Angeles Chicanx/Latinx
community.
15
My largest ball point pen drawing to date, “Make Your Mark”, is a topographical map of
Southern California, going from San Fernando Valley to Temecula. I wanted to make a visual
layout of what I consider home, and document the migration I’ve experienced in my 34 years. I
came to the idea of making this work when thinking about how many times I have moved in the
past two decades of living relatively on my own, and knew it was somewhere close to a dozen. I
felt that in my talking with others that are born here, or even living in California for some time,
I’ve encountered many with the same experience. It’s almost normal to Californians, a mode of
operation. I wanted to not only document my own movements, but also to see if other people had
the same patterns as I did. I decided to have the audience eat Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, a spicy
flavor of chips popular amongst Latinx communities, and then smudge their red fingers on areas
of the map that they wanted to mark. I gave no direction or instructions, aside from making a
mark. In asking some of the viewers, I understood that most people were marking areas that they
lived in, were born in, or had fond memories of. The concentration of red Cheeto dust could be
seen in the areas that were the most populated cities. It still left me with the impression that
people had been moved around quite a bit.
This understanding prompted my next large scale drawing, Dodger Blue, a blue ball point
pen work of Sonoratown, which was at the base of Chavez Ravine and home to many Mexican
migrants in the early 20th century. Sonoratown slowly transformed into Chinatown, and Chavez
Ravine communities were notoriously removed for the construction of Dodger Stadium in the
early 1960s (Lopez, 2009).
The use of ball point pen and paper also highlights temporariness. They are simple,
disposable materials, and meant to be used and thrown away. The turnover in having to use these
disposable ballpoint pens, and lined notebook paper is indexical to the constant migration of
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Latina Americans due to diaspora and displacement, and focusing on those experiencing or
having experienced this in Los Angeles, and more broadly, across California and the Southwest.
Though they are cheap materials, they are still made for documentation. Similarly, the
experience and outturn of diaspora is forever part of the history of these areas.
Transforming everyday materials into objects accepted in fine art spaces is intriguing to
me. I also do this in my use of plywood panels for my oil paintings. The inexpensive plywood I
use is purchased at a hardware or home improvement store, like Home Depot. These wooden
panels are very inexpensive, in comparison to linens and cotton duck canvas that is commonly
used for such works. Using my foundational skills developed in my undergraduate education, I
often paint a narrative subject with figures, using classical sixteenth century European techniques
and baroque tenebrism. Drawing on tenebrism techniques and the Baroque era of painting, I
execute full underpaintings, use warm color palettes and dramatic lighting, to depict modern
subjects in a tattoo shop. I also feel that I am bringing tattoo practice into the fine art realm via
narration, when in the broader perspective, it is not often found within the white walls of the
gallery.

17
SECTION 3
SYSTEMIC RACISM, CLASSISM AND SEXISM IN TATTOOS
The most iconic and respected style of tattooing in the industry today is American
traditional. It is the most practiced style in the U.S, and in this country is considered to be the
first style an apprentice should learn when moving into the practice. However, in communities
that specialize in other styles of tattooing, like Chicano Black and Grey, Japanese traditional, and
Polynesian tribal, artists do not begin with American traditional. Still, it is widely believed that a
true tattoo artist should know American Traditional. pushing a superiority of a genre created by
white men, which was spawned from the appropriation of indigenous practices.
Tattoos in cultural history have links to spirituality, religion, and social status in
communities. Though tattooing is seen as a pagan and ritualistic practice to Catholicism, it was
heavily practiced in Native American culture pre-colonization. Due to the lack of an archive of
the practice, there isn’t much historical documentation of the practice in these communities
(Schmid, 2013).
As American traditional tattooing became popular, documented, and accepted into
mainstream, it seems that all the other origins of the practice became muffled- and thus not given
any credit for their long history.
In my recent film and video work, I document the process of getting tattooed by my
mentor, Big Ceeze. During the process, we have an open conversation about our experiences in
tattooing, as well as growing up in Montebello and East Los Angeles. In this work, we are
storytelling and recording, while simultaneously using my own body as a canvas to inherit my
mentor’s work— to be both an image and a living document.

18
“THE CHICANA CANVAS” AND WOMEN IN TATTOOING
The research done by Xuan Santos for the 2009 article, “The Chicana Canvas” focuses on the
changes in the tattoo world from the 1960’s to the early 2000’s in East Los Angeles, using the
methodologies of: participant observation, focus groups, and open-ended client interviews.
Santos “dressed the part” and became familiar with four tattoo shops in the Chicano region of
East Los Angeles. Observations were made throughout the daily operation and recorded through
note taking mostly. What Santos found was that the people in this “setting” had similar life
experiences of concentrated poverty, and institutionalized racism, along with police repression.
According to Santos, these kinds of systemic oppression resulted in Barrioization, a kind of
claiming of a neighborhood. This acted as a buffer between Mexican and Anglo-American
Culture.
Tattooers in East Los Angeles, or the “gatekeepers” as Santos called them, are
predominantly working-class Chicano males who come from Mexican/Native backgrounds.
Santos found that these gatekeepers would often use their authority in a shop to sometimes
sexualize clients. One way is through tattoo placement, as a mechanism to control sexuality.
Men would often refuse to tattoo certain parts of women’s bodies, certain tattoo imagery, or
anything they felt didn't align with a proper idea of a Chicana woman. Chicanas are given the
flexibility to construct their own identities, but are constrained when it comes to terrains of
sexuality and gender roles. The insights of this article, although 10 years old, still hold true in my
own experiences working amongst male tattoo artists. The article still exposes the changing
social world of tattoo shops in East Los Angeles, and positions the Chicana experience and tattoo
practice in this area of Los Angeles.

19
APPENDIX
MI FAMILIA: STORYTELLING WITH CEEZE CASTENEDA AND DANIE
CANSINO
Danie: How old were you when you got your neck tattoo?

Ceeze: It was done at the first shop that I worked at.

Danie: So how old were you?

Ceeze: Oh shit, I was like freakin’ … it was like 20 years ago. So i was in my late 20’s maybe?

Danie: What shop did you first work at?

Ceeze: Oh I don’t even want to mention that.

Danie: OK.

(Ceeze laughs)

Ceeze: It was a horrible shop.

Danie: Yeah. But like, how old were you, and how did you get into that shop? We don't have
to mention the shop.
Ceeze: I was working out of my garage, like a scratcher.. And uh, I decided I didn't want to
work out of my garage anymore, I wanted to improve. So I got into shop in Fullerton, and
then I wasn’t really learning anything over there, so I ended up leaving that spot and
going to another shop in Pomona called Ink Chronicles, and I ended up doing really good
over there. But it wasn't until I met my mentor, Johnny Quintana… like before I went to
the shop [Ink Chronicles] I went to his shop, and I walked in as scratcher. And I was like,
“hey I just want to ask some questions” and then they were like, “Oh sorry man, we don't
20
help anybody here.” But then, Johnny Quintana came out and was like “no, wait wait
wait! What's up man? What do you need?” And I said, “I just wanted to ask some
questions man” and he replied, “Yeah come on back!” And he took me in, and he ended
up just telling me everything I wanted to know. He ended up helping me.
Danie: How old were you?
Ceeze: Probably like 28 or 29. Probably 28. No I was like 26… I was young.
Danie: Why did you want to start tattooing? Like what got you into tattooing?
Ceeze: Just being from east LA, and being you know, in gangs and stuff like that and… I got
my first tattoo, from my homeboy with a homemade machine…
Danie: In a living room or in a garage?
Ceeze: In the garage. And uh, I was like, “Oh shoot, I wanna do this”. Cause I was already
an artist, so I wanted to tattoo.
Danie: What kinda art were you making?
Ceeze: Well I was just doing like some… um.. Almost like jailhouse art, you know, your
typical, East LA artist.
(Ceeze Laughs)
Danie: Like what kind of mediums did you use?
Ceeze: So I was just doing like pencil, and stuff. Then I saw… I went to la mirada swap meet
and I saw somebody airbrushing over there. And I was like, “Oh shit! I wanna do this!”
So I hit him up, and I was like, “here where do I get one of those airbrushes at?” and he
was like, “sorry man, you gotta figure that out on your own.” And I was just like,
“Alright”. So I did. I figured it out— ended up buying one. That’s when Coast airbrush in
Anaheim, they used to be in a house, before they were huge like the way they are now.
21
But anyways, so I ended up getting my airbrush. Then I went back to the swapmeet, and I
told the guy, I said “Hey man, I found an airbrush man, how do I use it?” and he was like,
“Sorry bro you gotta figure that on your own”. He wasn't going to tell me any secrets
cause he was like, busy— he was making tons of money— cause back then, this was like,
shoot, early 90’s, so back then everybody was getting air brush done on their sweatshirts
and pants… sweats and all that… all that hip hop style. So, I was determined, because he
told me that I had to figure it out on my own, and sure enough, I just kept doing it, and
kept doing it, and I just got better and better at airbrushing. And then, when I got into
tattooing, when I got my first tattoo and I wanted to get tattooed, and then I saw the way
tattooing was, and I was like, “Oh shoot! I wanna do this”. So I started tattooing, making
homemade machines, and jacking up all kinds of people. All kinds of homies. Then uh,
that's when… you know, so I’ve been… I was tattooing, you know, a lot longer than I
was, but as a beginner: a scratcher. Until I met Johnny Quintana, Johnny was the one that
helped me out. Just by telling me, like what kind of machines to buy, and how to shade.
Then just started getting a lil bit better… lil bit better.. Everybody always says that
practice makes perfect, but nobodys perfect so it makes better. Practice makes better is
what I always say.
Danie: Yeah my old teacher used to say, “Only perfect practice makes perfect.” cause no
one’s perfect.
Ceeze: No one’s perfect.
Danie: But when you were getting tattooed, or when you were tattooing out of your home, or
garage, wasn’t everybody doing that? Like all your friends would have homie that did
tattoos?
22
Ceeeze: I mean yeah, Back in the hood I mean yeah, that's what everyone did, we all just
tattooed with homemade machines out of the garage.
Danie: Cause even my generation, like, everyone I know from my hometown, has at least
one or two living room or garage tattoos.
Ceeze: Yeah.
Danie: Every person I know.
Ceeze: Mmhmm. Yeah, that was the thing. But back then, I mean, there wasn't that many shops
or, there wasn't even that many artists.
Danie: But especially not doing this style…
Ceeze: Yeah, not doing black and grey style.
Danie: DId you ever work in a shop that does like, American Traditional?
Ceeze: Yeah I mean, I never worked at a lot of tattoo shops, this was the third shop that I
ended up working at and I ended up buying it so… I’ve never jumped around, like some
artists today. Actually, like a lot of artists today. Nobody’s content anymore, everybody
wants to be famous fast, without putting in any of the work. Everybody wants to make
tons of money and not even, you know, be in this industry as long as I’ve been in this
industry. You see that all the time.
Danie: Yeah
Ceeze: You know, I’ve had artists, I don't wanna mention any names but, that have made their
prices the same prices as mine, but the work isn’t even close to what I do. So its almost
like, you're comparing yourself to my work then— what you're saying is your work is
just as good as mine. And it's not even about that either…
23
I've been in the tattoo industry for a long time and I feel i've earned the right to get as
much money as i'm getting. It’s like saying a scratcher coming into the business and
being like, “Oh I want $200 an hour”. Well, you haven’t even been in the business that
long. You know, stuff like that. And that’s where people think this is a get rich quick job,
and it's not. You just got to love what you do, and have a passion for what you do… Just
like you, I can see that you have a passion for what you do and you love doing what you
do, and when you do your job that way, you don't have to worry about anything, the
money will come to you. The gifts of your talent will pay off.
Danie: Do you think that’s what separates Mi Familia from other tattoo studios, that mentality?
Like what separates Mi Familia from other shops, to you?
Ceeze: Well, I think what separates us and the whole reason I wanted to keep the name: Mi
familias tattoo is because I like to treat all of our clients as all our family. I want people
to feel comfortable in this shop. I mean, a good example is like when I got married, I
invited 150 people, and 250 people showed up. And that extra 100 were all my clients.
So that's, you know, they’d become part of my family, rather than just clients. So that's
what I strive for. I strive to build a relationship with my clients. And that's one of the
reasons, and i'm probably one of the only shops that don’t allow their artists to wear
earphones, because in all my years of tattooing I can’t tell you how many bad marriages I
heard of, bad kids…
Danie: all the chisme (laughing)
Ceeze: Yeah all the chisme. And a lot of times, we can be like therapists to them, you know,
they ain't got someone to talk to, and they come get tattooed, and so… maybe they just
want to vent, maybe they just want to let loose, and talk about what they're going through
24
because they don't have no else to talk to. So then, you know... It's a personal connection.
Then the artist just gets their earphones and throws them on. So now the client doesn't
feel like they can talk anymore. So I never want the client to feel that way.
Danie: do you think that has to do with your environment of getting tattooed when you were
younger? You know, being with close friends and homies, like, it always being a closer
connection?
Ceeze: No I just think that's me personally, cause I think there’s a lot of artists that don't really
care about what I’m saying. It's just me. That’s the way I like to run things, or do things.
Danie: What do you think about the way black and grey has changed in the past 20 years?
Ceeze: It’s freakin’ crazy. I mean, back in the day, you had to make your own needles, you
had to try out all kinds of different inks to figure out which one is the better ink, it was
basically like just testing out stuff back in the day, now you got it to where artists are
coming into this industry with the best machines, best ink, all the best… they don't even
have to sterilize needles anymore, ya know? Clean tubes..like the way we used to have to
do it. They just throw things away. It was a lot harder back in the day. Now it's so easy,
every Tom, Dick and Harry and their mom wants to be a tattoo artist, and they're just
flooding our industry, even if they don't know how to draw.
Danie: Do you think that's where artists now have a sense of entitlement, they don’t have to
work for that shit anymore?
Ceeze: Oh yeah. And then, you got shows like Inkmaster, that are glorifying how easy it is to
tattoo, and it's so cool, and now everyone is like “I wanna be a tattoo artist, I can do that”
all the exposure that tattooing has gotten.. Now everyone wants to be a tattoo artist, and
it's ok, but it ain’t as easy as they think it is. Unless you're really sick at tattooing.
25
Danie: Do you think you being on Inkmaster changed Inkmaster’s perception of black and
grey, and the genre that you tattoo?
Ceeze: No, I don't think so, I don’t think Inkmaster even cared about the tattooing, I think they
were just more into the drama. There were a lot of sick black and grey artists that had
been on the show, but I don't think they were really interested in the art itself.
Danie: Do you think this genre of tattooing gets dismissed in that realm?
Ceeze: Well, I think it's a lot harder to... Well I'll just say that I think color catches people’s eye
a lot easier than black and grey, ya know, cause of the bright colors and what not, um vs.
black and grey. I just think that you have to really be good at black and grey for you to
stand out, like the way color can stand out. Like if you have a realistic color tattoo, and a
realist black and grey tattoo, that b/g has to be phenomenal to beat the color tattoo in a
competition.
Danie: Just because its color?
Ceeze: Mmhmm.
Danie: That’s funny, because for someone like me, who primarily paints, and is more of an oil
painter, I feel like black and grey is so much more delicate. Every mark that I make has
to be more delicately placed and done than with color where I can just pack it, and just
saturate. There's like room for error, and black and grey there's no room for error.
Ceeze: Yeah exactly.
Danie: So like, I feel like black and grey is a lot harder than doing color.
Ceeze: I mean, it takes talent to do both of them.
Danie: But I mean, it’s a completely different technique, because this is very close to ballpoint
pen, and I'm sure you used a lot of ballpoint pen in your early drawing.
26
Ceeze: When I teach this style, that’s what I always tell my apprentices or whatever… to
draw with a ballpoint pen, because it helps with the black and grey, at least from my
perspective”
Danie: I think of ballpoint pen like in letters, the kind of imagery you get in like prison letters…
it's always done in like blue ink, or pencil, graphite… the most available thing.
Ceeze: Right.
Danie: I read something that Chuco moreno had said about… you know how Chuco does like,
black and grey, but he holds to the like 70’s aesthetic of characters, and he said some like,
doing something realistic isn't the goal for him, which is fine, everyone has their artistic
goals… but the other half of Chicano artists that do this style, they constantly look to
improve their black and grey, and perfect it, and still somewhat hold to a certain aesthetic
So is your goal to have the most realistic piece as possible?
Ceeze: Yeah of course, no matter what i'm doing, lets just say for instance a rose, I mean, i've
tattooed so many roses in my career that I can even do roses without looking a reference,
but I still try to do the best rose that I can possibly do because I want my work to be the
best. So… there is always room for growth, in everything, and i've tried so many
different things to make my tattoos more realistic, I mean, I’m no David Vega, but I try to
do the best I could.
Danie: I mean, I see that your aesthetic is, I mean, your style is what makes them “Big Ceeze”
tattoos, and you definitely have a unique style that no one else has. Is that something you
try to hold on to?
Ceeze: What’s crazy is that I don't necessarily try to do a certain style, that's just the way my
27
artwork comes out. Just like Johnny Quintana, you look at Quintana’s art, and he has his
own style, but you can just tell when he’s done a piece. Like, Me and Eric Campbell can
do this same tattoo, these prayer hands in black and grey and it'll be completely different,
it’ll just be the way he tattoos. That’s what's crazy.
Danie: You can tell it's your hand.
Ceeze: Yeah.
Danie: What’s the most painful tattoo you’ve gotten done?
Ceeze: I tattooed my own stomach. That hurt like hell, especially cause I did it.

28
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Atkinson, Michael. Tattooed: the Sociogenesis of Body Art. Toronto: University of Toronto
Press, 2003.

“History Of Chicano Tattoo.” History Of Chicano Tattoo - MiVidaLoca Tattoo. Accessed May
5, 2020. http://www.mividaloca-tattoo.com/en/chicano-tattoo.
Leung, Ambrose. “The Supreme Court of Japan Has Just Ruled Tattooing Legal.”
HYPEBEAST. HYPEBEAST, September 18, 2020.
https://hypebeast.com/2020/9/supreme-court-of-japan-tattooing-now-legal-news.
Morrow, JMBy Justine. “Traditional Tattoos: The History, Designs, and Artists.” Accessed
March 26, 2021. https://www.tattoodo.com/guides/styles/traditional.
“‘Real California Episode 2: Corazon y Alma, Chuco Moreno’- GA Thanksgiving Film Festival
2015.” YouTube. YouTube, November 28, 2015.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G6eOWyhXu4.
“Eamon Ore Giron.” USC Roski Talk. Lecture, 2020.
Santos, Xuan. “The Chicana Canvas: Doing Class, Gender, Race, and Sexuality through
Tattooing in East Los Angeles.” NWSA journal 21, no. 3 (October 1, 2009): 91–120.
Schmid, Selma. 2013. Tattoos - an historical essay. Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease 11,
(6) (Nov): 444-7

Abstract (if available)

Abstract This thesis gives insight to the ways in which colonization has affected the practice of tattooing, in particular, tattooing in the United States. It starts with the origins of the practice of tattooing, where the word “tattoo” comes from, and the various methods in how permanent marks were made on the body. From there, it goes through a historic chronology of tattooing, in various parts of the world, and eventually settles on the focus of the practice in the United States. Having a rich and long history of being practiced in human cultures, this paper focuses on the superiority of its practice by white men, in the style commonly known as American Traditional. Within the tattoo community, other genres of tattooing become secondary to American Traditional, as it is often the foundational genre in tattoo apprenticeships. ❧ My argument is that in some communities, such as Chicanx areas of Los Angeles, artists have styles and aesthetic principles all their own, that do not fall in line with the category of American Traditional, and sometimes get dismissed due to their lack of visibility and representation in the broader sense of the tattoo industry. There is also the factor of access to material, and the origins of the practice in these cultures, which may have an influence on their status within the tattoo community. This is also relevant in the acceptance of various art forms in Latinx/Chicanx culture. Addressing various mediums in my own practice, I am interested in collapsing the divide between low and high art, and what is considered worthy of representation in the fine art realm.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Cansino, Danielle E. (author)

Core Title Tattoo: a colonization story

School Roski School of Art and Design

Degree Master of Fine Arts

Degree Program Fine Arts

Publication Date 04/06/2021

Defense Date 04/05/2021

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag California,California Natives,Chicana,Chicano,Chicanx,diaspora,East L.A.,East Los Angeles,gang culture,Latina,OAI-PMH Harvest,prison tattoos,tattoo,tattoo culture,tattoo discrimination,tattoo industry,tattoo sexism,Tattooing,women tattooers

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Jones, Amelia (committee chair), Bustamante, Nao (committee member), West, Jennifer (committee member)

Creator Email Cansino@usc.edu,Daniecansino@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c89-440072

Unique identifier UC11666682

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Document Type Thesis

Rights Cansino, Danielle E.

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Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

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