INTERVIEW: JAMIE LUNA
Today, I’ll share an extended discussion with Ukrainian tattooer Jamie Luna on spirituality and commerce in tattooing. All views expressed belong to Jamie.
Morgan: You mentioned that spirituality is lost in contemporary tattooing today, compared to when the trade was more tied to regional iconography and community-specific rites of passage. Why do you feel this spiritual element is lost or gone now?
Jamie: The answer, as always, is Money. No, there is nothing wrong with money itself; it is an excellent means of exchanging energy, goods, and knowledge. But, money attracts larger clusters - Corporations. And here we are, where corporations sell us Plain Black paint, as "super triple deep black metal ink" for example, or a tattoo machine with a rotary motor turns into a unit for $1000. Attach a nice label with a cool name and sell.
We also see how tattoo studios are opened not by artists or tattoo fans, but by people with money. They hire tattooers who, in the Procreate editor, will redraw a picture from Pinterest in 10 minutes. Do you think such people often think about "spirituality" in a tattoo? We have spawned tattoo supermarkets all over the world. Well ... there was a demand for it, so there was an opportunity.
M: Does your tattoo practice include spiritual ritual? (If yes, do you feel comfortable to describe it?)
J: Ahaha - Of course, I don’t put on a shaman costume and don’t beat a goat skin tambourine before the session, but I still prepare “internally”. First of all, I clean the space with Palo Santo, or, at the very least, with incense. Lighting incense, we produce fire, which turns into smoke, then the smoke dissolves into ether. From that, we can conclude that we "burned" what was in the room. Then I ask for blessings from my teachers. I belong to the Kriya Yoga tradition and have a small altar at my workplace. This is the outside work.
"Inside," I always think about the client who will come to me today. Since I mostly have regular clients, I clearly know who I need to work with. I see them clearly. If someone has problems with self-esteem, overeating, drugs - I ask the Universe to help him, along with the pain coming out, to realize some things. By the way, this works very well. When a person is in pain - he is in the moment now, the pain does not allow his brain to particularly wander in time, his aura is open and he can write down a new program, say the right words, make a compliment, direct him to introspection. It works. I probably don't need to say here what transformations happen to a person after the sessions, you probably noticed it yourself.
M: Do some or many of your customers want tattoos for spiritual / healing reasons? (If yes, do you consider yourself a healer or sacred practitioner?)
J: To some extent, every tattoo artist can be a shaman-healer. Only the one who is aware. If he realized what he was doing. Causing pain to a person, we open things up. You probably could notice how, during the session, people begin to pour out their souls. This is the healing process. And here the tattoo artist also needs to be a good psychologist. Now you understand how important it is to get into the right hands. Imagine how much difference it makes when you get to a session with a bright, good person or a dude who crawled in from a three-day cocaine party an hour ago! (I do not blame the dude from the cocaine party, I was one myself.)
Do people want tattoos for spiritual reasons? It is unlikely that a person comes and says: "I want to be spiritually enlightened or have a spiritual tattoo". But the souls of clients always know what they are doing, what kind of experience they want to get. If a person chose to suffer for 2 years and 8 sessions of back hammering, then he had to go through this experience and become stronger. You see, on the one hand, a person simply applies a drawing. On the other hand, he always goes through a process of transformation. A tattoo is a transformation of the body. Behind each transformation of the body is a transformation of the soul. And you can not separate one from the other.
M: Can tattooing also be inherently spiritual?
J: Yes and no. Here we smoothly approach the issues of quantum physics and faith. It all depends on the subject who "observes" the process. If you make a tattoo on your body with the inscription “strong” (or an image that you personally associate with this concept) and Believe in it, then you can become Strong. And if you are at a party in a tattoo studio after the fourth liter of beer, you make a snake, just because it fits perfectly into the free space between your previous tattoos, then ... what you believe in is what you become.
M: What do you believe is the purpose (or many purposes) of a tattoo?
J: Of course, there are many of them and they have not changed since the beginning of time.
1) It is a means of communication without words. When you see a tattooed person on the street, you clearly know who he is, what social group he belongs to, what interests he has, what bands he listens to, etc. If translated into modern language, this is the “about me” section on a dating profile). Have you ever noticed how a special contact arises between tattooed people? Because “everything is written on them”, they are open, naked. They have nothing to hide.
And this, by the way, is one of the reasons why tattoos are popular with introverts. That's how they talk about themselves.
2) Aesthetic beauty. Yes, tattoos can be simply beautiful and that's great. And if this is a work of art on the skin? Then the client himself becomes a work of art! By the way, I just love watching clients who glow with self-confidence after the session. They begin to like their body. And that's great. In this regard, the tattoo artist, not just as a psychologist, but also as a plastic surgeon, makes a person fall in love with himself.
3) Means of spiritual transformation through pain. We have already discussed this.
4) Affirmation, self-hypnosis, prescribing a new program through pain into consciousness. When you have the inscription “loser” tattooed on you, you will begin to play this role. This happens through the repetition of the same thought. Tattoo is a visual mantra. It vibrates on you, you "listen", prescribing new neural patterns.
5) And unfortunately, "status". Yes, this is exactly the scourge of the current tattoo industry.
It is absolutely logical that the more tattoos a person has, the richer he is and can afford it. You do not need to achieve anything in life, to study, etc. You tattoo 2 sleeves from Pinterest, you tattoo your torso like "that football player" and that's it, you're cool. Unfortunately, this is what polluted the art of tattooing.
The only thing that the modern tattoo has lost a little is the initiation rite.
Often in indigenous communities all over the world, a tattoo serves as a transition from one consciousness to another. From a girl to a wife or mother. From a boy to a youth, to a warrior. Can you imagine how different the consciousness is between a boy and a warrior?! The tattoo fixed it for life, both for you and those around you.
M: What do you wish tattoo communities had less of today?
J: I would like to answer something, but probably still say - nothing. I can't change anything on this planet. I can only change myself. And the world itself will begin to change when each of us changes.
M: What do you wish tattoo communities had more of today?
J: Awareness. Awareness to tattoo artists so that they understand what they are doing. Awareness to clients so that they understand what they are tattooing. But I am not able to change all this. This is the spiritual growth of everyone, and it is normal.
M: I noticed you tattoo a lot of eyes, and I've actually been collecting eye imagery for a mailer all about that topic. I'm curious if tattooing eyes onto a body has any specific meaning for you beyond being aesthetically pleasing?
J: Oh yes, it has, how it has! For me, eyes are portals to other dimensions, universes. Like black holes. You look into one eye, you fall through. In others, you emerge, as in an acid trip.
But I don't mean physical eyes. Physical eyes are not hard to see. It is much more difficult to see them everywhere and in everyone. In a cat, in a flower, in a grandmother, in a vacuum cleaner, a stone, Miss Azerbaijan and a telescope. You look at them, they look at you. You are them, they are you. Everything is very simple. This is the whole formula of life.
In fact, this is the whole purpose of my (my?) Art. Talk about "eyes".
M: What do you envision will happen in the next 10-20 years for this practice?
J: Everything will change a lot, even in the next 5 years. 3D printers, virtual reality, virtual tattoos (NFT) will take over. Most people will go digital and decorate their avatars with tattoos. The profession of a tattoo artist will undergo serious changes. Tattooists are more likely to become designers and sell their works in virtual galleries, tattoo shops. Clients who want to print these designs on the physical body will use the services of 3D printers. They will do their job better, faster and painlessly. A lot of realist tattoo artists will disappear, because printers will produce better quality and work will cost several times cheaper. Therefore, I want to warn realists: learn to draw, model in 3D, study design. Otherwise, the printers will take your job.
As for the masters who are still working “in their own style”… They will not disappear anywhere, just like paper books, candles or vinyl. They will be in even more demand. Remember, I talked about the importance of "your" master. Here is what it's about it. You will come to him as a Guru, a psychologist, a shaman and a friend; a Master.
The rest of the mass of people (I think about 70 percent) will be content with the services of machines.
So we put on our virtual reality glasses, stock up on cryptocurrencies and fly at crazy speed into the digital future. Love to all. Yoga. Om
xx