The sugar skull came straight out of my sketchbook, to the calf. Grateful to have a canvas for it. Done in August 2011.
My sister Julietta’s altar. I run with witch doctors, high priestesses, shamans, and alchemists.
“May you never know the lonely bed of wasted time. May you never see the universe’s end. May you never know killed bodies in the street. May you never again lay awaiting discovery. May you never know what it means to be found. May you be protected from false prophets offering to raise you from your deathbed. We have seen false magic at work, and the white man’s magic at work, and the magic of jealous young girls. May you never know false magic—magic that pretends. magic that does not groom or heal. magic that feels good on the tongue, but is void. Magic that has no knowledge of impossible or between lives. Magic that is not firm or ripe or whole. May you be protected. May you be the firmament. May you never be mistaken for the burning bush. May those who love you never worship you. May distant daughters bring you fruit and afternoon stories. May you always know the rain forest as wet. May other earths welcome you. May you be protected when my hands & heart & tongue are not enough. May you only know a full belly & may you only know many lovers.”
- “A Mothers Prayer” by Kima Jones
“Deeply I go down into myself. My god is dark and like a webbing made of a hundred roots that drink in silence.” — Rainer Maria Rilke
Cincinnati Love is like the river that never stops flowing. This is right next to my apartment building.
I love the way script looks on the wrist. “Radish” was a code word my client and her mother had for “I love you.”
A painting I did last summer. I want it more than I fear it.
My dying grandmother in Korea sent me her old diaries. These were all bound by hand. I come from a long lineage of writers.
Sneak peak at a series of prints I’m working on…
Looking through old drawings and found something I never finished: Matryoshka dolls I drew last year, before I started tattooing.
I’m trying to put my current portfolio to shame by the end of this year…
theglowblog Asked: "When are you gonna come to NY???..you'd freaking run this city, hands down."
Answer: I’d rather walk the earth than run the city.
Roses
Done in August 2011
My first time doing freehand work, drawn directly on the skin. The piece extends from the back of the shoulder to the front collarbone. Took close to four hours, start to finish.
Birth Chart Hamsa: Done in July 2011
This photo was taken right after it was finished, hence the redness and swelling.
A birth chart is a map of how the planets were aligned when a person was born, indicating the astrological blueprint for a person’s life.
I casted a chart for one of my clients, and incorporated my findings in very specific positions to design this tattoo.
Cancer Rising, Sagittarius Sun, Scorpio Moon, with corresponding placements of Earth.
Her last name, “ZIV” is also in the design. This took about two hours to complete.
