This month has been a challenging one. I forget every year that as soon as Labor Day weekend is over, the city springs into action with Armory Week, fashion week, all the September art openings, the start of the semester, and every person you’ve ever met visiting New York all at the same time. I also ended up getting Covid, which is very much surging right now. I encourage everyone to mask up and to order some free tests to have on hand. I’m moving apartments, which is never an easy process, though I’m so looking forward to settling into a new space and nesting as the weather gets colder.
I’ve been getting the chance to adapt some of my sculptural work into tattoos, and have been making new flash along those lines. I have some openings still left in October for flash or custom designs, particularly weekday morning openings. Email to inquire!
❇️ Save the date: On Sunday, November 12th I’ll be doing a presentation at a trauma-informed tattoo conference in Albany, New York, organized by tattoo artist Jane Romm. It’s going to be a great event, so mark your calendars if you’re in the area! More info and registration link to come.
❇️ I’m showing new ceramic work in a two-person show with Karla Ekatherine Canseco at Tierra y Que? a new gallery by Atomic Culture in Marfa, Texas through the fall.
❇️ I’m also part of a big and lovely lineup for RAIZ II curated by Tlaloc Studios in Palm Springs, on view through October 27th.
❇️ The new season of The Teardown podcast is out, and I’m the guest for episode 1. Tune in to hear a candid conversation with Vegas Ink about…being tired.
❇️ My current read is Derek Jarman’s Modern Nature, recently reissued by Minnesota Press.
Epiphanies infuse Modern Nature, Derek Jarman’s diaries from 1989 to 1990, with their ebullient evocations of gardening. For Jarman, planting flowers at his wind- and sea-blasted cottage and then reciting their names (endlessly, passionately) becomes sex, becomes the fullness he’s on his way to leaving as he grows sicker from AIDS.
— Village Voice Literary Supplement
From Derek Jarman’s Modern Nature.
❇️ I recently watched Jorge Jácome’s beautiful violet-hued film Flores, recommended to me by artist Diana Sofia Lozano. From Criterion: Drenched in lysergic lavender, this sci-fi pseudo-documentary is both a dreamy vision of ecological apocalypse and a tender queer love story set on an island in the Azores overrun by endlessly proliferating purple hydrangeas.
Still from Flores, available to watch through Criterion Collection.
❇️ The Rikers Public Memory Project is holding a new round of volunteer trainings to collect a people’s history of Rikers Island. The training is great and being able to contribute to their archive is an important way to work towards both closing and memorializing Rikers Island.
A film photo by Nassim Dayoub of some of my favorite tattoo family at This Time Tomorrow in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Some of you might remember Paddy (far right) as the kind, welcoming shop assistant at Saved. Paddy is now a full-fledged tattooer and is taking appointments! @paddyhannontattoos
❇️ There are so many good shows up this month. On my list to see are:
Carlos Motta and Mosie Romney at PPOW
Abigail Lucien, Nickola Pottinger, and Tami Soji-Akinyemi in Subject to Change at Swivel Gallery
Jonathan Lyndon Chase his beard is soft, my hands are empty at Artists Space
Nina Hartmann Soft Power at Silke Lindner
Barbara Sanchez-Kane new lexicons for embodiment at Kurimanzutto
❇️ September’s playlist is a bratty, snotty punk playlist on the theme of “Leave Me Alone,” for when you need to lean deep into a bad attitude in order to move through it. Please believe I listened to all of these songs 100% sincerely at some point in my younger days, though like most things from the 80s, they don’t always age well.
Lastly, I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who is a paid subscriber! It is so supportive and encouraging for me to continue researching and writing about tattooing and popular culture. If you’d like to buy me a coffee to get me through my move this weekend, you can Venmo @tamara-santibanez or Paypal santibaneztattoo@gmail.com.
💗 Mutual Aid: Artist and community organizer Kearah-Armonie is facing eviction unless they can pay $3720 by October 10th. Anything helps, and you can contribute via Venmo to @kearmonie or CashApp to $Kearmonie.