Archival Work
Since October of 2025, Maijay has had the joyous opportunity to join the Black Tattoo Anthology team contributing as an archival writer, ensuring that modern black tattoo history and happenings do not face the unfortunate fate of erasure. Tattoo history in the west is mostly told from the perspective of white men, specifically those who have positioned themselves to b the rule makers and gate keepers of the western tattoo industry. This work by Maijay and many others will serve to counteract the intentional exclusion of black voices within tattoo culture & tattoo history.
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To explore more works from other contributors, join the team, or to support the work being done visit Black Tattoo Anthology at https://blacktattooanthology.com/ .
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The Commodification of Tattoo & the Modern Black Tattooer.
Body art was determined between the artist, the wearer, and even the tattoo environment itself (by way of flash art on the walls or flash books flipped through while waiting for your artists to become available), creating a symphony of chance and opportunity. Instead of this opportunity for chance, you can open nearly any social media app, and watch your screen become flooded with artists posting pictures, videos, reels clamoring to keep your attention long enough before you scroll to the next, and so on. Everything is an ad, meant to convince one to buy buy buy. It's not just a tattoo, it's an experience! Everything is for sale; not just the art, but also the artist themselves.
The Grit is Gone
Though well intentioned there is such a concept of too much of a good thing. Artists unknowingly prevent clients from accessing the soul deep change they desire, by standing between the client and their own breakthrough by positioning themselves as the practitioner of healing instead of the facilitator. While we (tattooers of 10 years and under) pride ourselves on taking “softer” approaches compared to tattooers before us, this "softness" exists at the expense of the grit necessary for these internal changes to occur, and for the tattoo medicine to take effect. This essay explores how the tone of the role of the tattoo artist has shifted over recent years, in contrast to this mediums earliest practitioners.
The Disruption of Tattoo Lineage by way of the Commodification of Tattoo
With the rising cost of booth rent, supplies, and general affordability to do this work, many new (and established artists alike) have begun the route of private studios, some in salon suites, others in extra rooms of their home. This seclusion and separation of artists directly results in the disruption of this age-old tradition, leaving many artists without a tattoo lineage to refer back to as the foundation of their practice. This essay explores how we got...or should I say returned... here.
