Tattoo Artists in Oaxaca, Mexico - Lawyer, Fine Arts Graduate Make Strange Bedfellows With Tatuadore

Law Of Diminishing Returns Definition - Tattoo Artists in Oaxaca, Mexico - Lawyer, Fine Arts Graduate Make Strange Bedfellows With Tatuadore

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Background to Tattoos & Body Piercing in Oaxaca, Mexico, through the Eyes of a Lawyer

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Law Of Diminishing Returns Definition

Lawyer Kaireddyn (Kai) Orta began fabricating his own, rudimentary tools for manufacture tattoos in 1996, while still in high school here in Oaxaca, Mexico. One day a neighbor saw him carrying a shoe box, and asked him what was in it. Kai showed him the adapted motor, needles, ink and other paraphernalia. The neighbor was the recipient of Kai's first tattoo. Kai then began doing tattoos for his schoolmates.

Kai had been interested in tattoos (tatuajes) and body piercing (perforación) since boyhood. It was natural for him, since his father was a history teacher, enduringly recounting stories of rituals of Mexico's indigenous populations. There was no shortage of books colse to the house with images of pre-Hispanic peoples who were accustomed to self-adornment. Kai ate it up.

But throughout Kai's youth, finding tattoos in the flesh was a rarity. Aside from in books and occasionally arrival over a tattooed someone on Tv, he would only have an opening to unquestionably see real live population with tattoos and body piercings when he would catch a espy of in general North American and European tourists walking the streets of uptown Oaxaca, a Mecca for international tourism.

The contemporary tradition of tattoos and body piercings had been established in countries such as Canada, the Us, Spain and Britain, long before it arrived in Mexico. Like so many representations of emerging subcultures, it takes upwards of a decade for them to catch on in Mexico, especially in the more isolated and conservative regions of the country, like Oaxaca.

The state of Oaxaca was by and large physically isolated from the northern half of the country, and unquestionably the broader world, until the arrival of the pan American highway in the late 1940s. While the odd adventurer would make his way down to Oaxaca between then and the early 1960s, it was the hippie movement later that decade and into the early 1970s which opened up southern Mexico to the concept of North American and European counter-cultures, including tattoos, and then body piercing. However the prevailing sentiment of the Mexican middle classes was that their children should be insulated from foreign youth, and all that its subculture stood for.

Leap send to the 1990s. Change would begin to emerge in Oaxaca. Tattoos, body piercings and other non-traditional forms of self-expression had begun to be perceived as mainstream throughout the Western World. The silver screen and magazines promoting its pierced and tattooed stars had come to be commonplace. Oaxaca had to take notice. And that included its older generation, which was then forced to recognize if not accept that the ritualized behavior of their grandchildren (and to a much lesser extent their children) could no longer be equated with something devious, dirty and wrong, naturally as a consequence of changing their bodily appearance through piercing and painting their bodies, permanently. Many in the Oaxacan youth culture were becoming needful thinkers through higher education, therefore great able to make informed decisions, stand up for them, and celebrate them.

Kai is thirty years old. Practicing law wasn't for him. By the time he had graduated and had a taste of the working world of attorneys (less than a year), he had already come to be an established tattoo and body piercing artist, with his own studio, albeit quite smaller than his current digs. And besides, most lawyers in Oaxaca do not earn the level of revenue that provides for a middle class lifestyle, at least by Western standards.

Kai's current studio, Dermographics, in the heart of uptown Oaxaca, consists of:

• The reception area with long desk and computer, tropical fish filled aquariums, display cases with in general jewelry relating to body piercings, wooden African floor sculptures and masks (as well as a few Mexican masks), a bookcase filled with albums containing drawings and photographs of in general tattoos, and two comfortable sofas where customers can browse through the "catalogues" at their leisure
• A similarly adorned middle room with contribute cases by now of procedure filled with modern, market equipment and supplies, and a small adjoining workroom
• The back room, with chairs and "operating" table, for attending to tattoos and body piercings

"Here in Oaxaca we don't refer to ourselves as 'artistas,' Kai explains. "In the United States there's much greater acceptance of the art form and those who are dedicated to the skill, so in the Us and other countries such as Canada it's standard to use the term 'tattoo artist.' But in Oaxaca we just refer to ourselves as tatuadores."

Kai & Colleagues partake in Twelfth yearly Tattoo Fest in Oaxaca, Summer, 2010

During the procedure of a 3 ½ hour interview at Kai's studio, his friends and fellow tatuadores from Mexico City, Daniel (Tuna) Larios and his girlfriend Angélica (Angy) de la Mora, were in the shop working and otherwise serving customers, while for part of the time Kai was out running errands.

Tuna has been a tatuador for 12 years while Angy began doing tattoos only a year ago, when she began living with Tuna. Together they opened up a shop, called Toltecan, in the nation's capital. Before then Tuna had been doing tattoos for customers at other studios. He was introduced to the trade from having had his body tattooed. Angy learned the skill from Tuna.

But for Angy learning to be a tatuadora was a natural extension. She already held a degree in fine arts from a university in Chihuahua, and had participated in any group primary art exhibits. "But it's easier to make a living doing tattoos than as an artist," Angy concedes. As clear from Angy and Kai, most tatuadores in Mexico do not have developed training for other occupation paths options.

Tuna and Angy had come to Oaxaca to partake in the twelfth yearly Tattoo Fest, held on August 21 & 22, 2010, a couple of days earlier. Kai is one of three festival organizers, and was on the ground floor of the concept when the first fest was held back in 1998. "Until this year the event was called Expo Tatuaje," Kai clarifies. "We decided to Change the name with a view to attracting more foreigners. But back in the early years we held the exposition so that we could meet to exchange ideas, enhance access to contemporary equipment and supplies, and raise the level of consciousness of the Oaxacan community, so that hopefully there would be a greater acceptance of what we were doing. Now the purposes and functions of the event are much broader, since we are well on our way to achieving our earlier goals."

The success of Oaxaca's Tattoo Fest 2010 was obvious from the crowds (hundreds by all estimates) and sales. Tuna and Angy between them did 11 tattoos over the two-day period. "I've been arrival to the fair for the past four or five years," Tuna explains, "but this is the first year I can unquestionably say that it was worth my while, profit-wise, to come to Oaxaca. You know I had to close my shop in Mexico City to come here. I think this show has finally turned a corner."

This year there were practically thirty booths, about a dozen of which were dedicated to doing tattoos. In the procedure of a one-hour visit on the Sunday, while that entire time each and every tatuador was kept busy working - and in many cases there were onlookers in queue awaiting their turn.

Many vendors had come from other parts of Mexico to participate. They converged on Oaxaca to not only do tattoos and piercings, but to also sell a broad diversity of related materials including:

• Tattooing and body piercing equipment, supplies and other paraphernalia
• Cds, Dvds and posters all with alternative themes (both Bob Marley and Alice Cooper live on in Oaxaca)
• Body piercing and other personal adornments, wrestling masks, and clothing, custom-painted while-u-wait.

The event was much more than a sales opening for retailers, however. It provided a opening for those in the enterprise to promote their industry, source state-of-the-art and otherwise imported equipment and supplies (since many tatuadores don't get to Mexico City very often, and most imported machinery, needles and paints arrive initially in Mexico City), and entertain tattoo and piercing collectors, aficionados, and the curious, all under one roof, the Salón Señorial located over from Oaxaca's preponderant Abastos Market.

As Kai contends, there appears to be three classes of population in Oaxaca, and presumably in other countries, who get tattoos:

• The colecionista who regularly ends up filling most parts of his or her body, attempting to adorn with as broad a diversity of designs as possible, or with a singular class of build or artistry (i.e. Demons, pre-Hispanic figures, animals, preponderant faces), often seeking to get the work done by any dissimilar top tatuadores from varied states and countries if possible
• The aficionado who wants a few tattoos strategically located on opt body parts
• The casual personel who desires one or two tattoos for self-expression or to make some kind of statement, having seen a tattoo he or she likes, either on a celebrity, friend or stranger on the street, or electing to do a definite design; a tattoo of the logo of one's favorite sports team exemplifies this type work

It's not unlike other hobbies and interests. Human nature remains the same. The first type represents an obsession with collecting, just as in a class of antique, salt and pepper shakers, folk art, weigh scales, and so on. The second is an enthusiast who imposes boundaries, either by build or subconsciously based on personality trait. The third does only selective thinking about it, whatever the product, retention some interest, often fleeting but long sufficient to supervene in a buy or two.

In the procedure of the two day celebration of all that is still somewhat determined counter-culture in Oaxaca, there was:

• Live entertainment including seven predominantly rock and reggae bands, as well as belly dancers and other forms of choreographed performances
• An outdoor makeshift cafeteria serving beer, soft drinks, and real barbecued hamburgers
• Panel discussions and forums with themes including methods for advancing the credit of this alternative art form in Oaxaca, and dealing with allaying condition and safety concerns through the adoption of Us-style norms

Health & safety Issues a Concern of the Body Piercing & Tattoo Trade in Oaxaca, Mexico

Throughout the Us there are condition and safety regulations relating to tattooing and body piercing; not so in Oaxaca, though it's a hot topic throughout the Mexican tattoo and body piercing community. The word "normas" is enduringly being bandied about. The tatuadores at Tattoo Fest, and more particularly Kai, Tuna and Angy, made a point of indicating that most in the commerce supervene Us norms for health, safety and hygiene. Agreeing to Tuna, the United Kingdom has the strictest, all-encompassing laws relating to tattooing and body piercing, which he views as a good thing.

It appears that virtually all tatuadores are sensitive to the clout carried by the authorities, even without definite laws relating to tattooing and body piercing. In Oaxaca it's the Secretaria de Salud (ministry of health) which does in fact show the way spot checks of studios, much the same as it does of restaurants in Oaxaca. It has the potential to shut down a restaurant, eatery or comedor, on the spot. And the same holds true for a tattoo studio.

The threat or perceived threat of incarceration perhaps serves a clear function in the tattoo and body piercing milieu. While Oaxaca's inquisitorial, Napoleonic legal code is slowly changing (oral trials arrived in the state of Oaxaca in 2007, albeit for only the most heinous criminal offences), the attorney general's office still has the right to jail alleged offenders of virtually any rule, law or regulation, where a personal injury has resulted. Without definite laws relating to tattooing and body piercing, perhaps Oaxaca's current legal system, as high-handed as it might appear, serves an foremost function for the tattoo-buying public. unquestionably it appears to keep those in the commerce in check.

"We won't work on a minor, plain and simple, without parental authorization," Tuna stresses. "And in fact, rather than relying on written permission from a parent, for me, I personally want the father right there in my studio when I'm working on his son or daughter."

Having been trained as a lawyer, Kai has a special appreciation for the implications of not ensuring a clean, safe work environment in his studio, and following health, safety and hygiene procedures established in other jurisdictions, "to the tee:" packaged needles; equipment kept under wrap; gloves and masks; first aid, fire and related health, hygiene and safety equipment close at hand; a "surgical" workspace segregated from the retail portion of the shop; etc. The back of his enterprise card lists steps that should be taken by recipients of tattoos from the occasion they leave the studio, to reduce and hopefully eliminate the risk of infection or other complication. Other tatuadores hand out leaflets listing the same or similar precautions that should be observed.

According to Tuna, in Mexico City one can take courses in tattooing and body piercing at a couple of dissimilar institutions. But they are for learning the trade, and are not government regulated. Tuna views an inconsistency between government medicine of dental offices and tattoo and piercing studios, and unfairness: "There are a lot of dental offices colse to which are much less clean than our studios, and whose staff do not supervene the most antiseptic of practices; and yet the dentists are not subjected to the suspicion and innuendo that we are." [At least dentists are required to have a minimum level of training about matters of health, safety and hygiene.]

Kai, for one, is clearly an scholar at his trade. From the outset, dating to his high school days, he would invariably read and otherwise learn before beginning to work on someone. He would all the time work in consultation with a doctor, a relative of the family. The doctor was a most needful reserved supply for Kai in terms of guiding him through all the standard condition and hygiene procedures, for every step. Kai has never worked on whatever without approaching the task with a high level of confidence. But, he acknowledges, "you never stop learning."

The Economics of Tattoos and Body Piercing in Oaxaca

Angy is working at the counter, doing a pencil drawing of a 1950s pin-up - with a twist. A young woman had come into the studio the day before, wanting a tattoo on her leg of a vintage pin-up girl, but part of the body to be non-traditional, as in one leg and half the head perhaps with skeletal bone exposed, the rest shapely and feminine; as in a Mexican catrina, as Angy puts it, "but with a bit of flesh on her body." The customer is due back today at 4 p.m.

Two men in their twenties come in to look at tattoo samples. They sit down and browse through two albums for about 40 minutes, then dispose for one of them to come back the next day for a fairly large black tattoo of the Pumas Mexican soccer team logo. Then two younger girls come in finding for eyebrow rings or other similar adornments, in the 250 - 300 peso range.

Kai's studio does a brisk business. He charges a minimum fee of 400 pesos for a straightforward tattoo, a tribal, unquestionably "tribal," as they're known, or perhaps a letter. It was the same minimum fee at the Tattoo Fest: "Sure, some tatuadores will do a tattoo for 150 - 200 pesos, but most of us prefer to start with prices where we can take our time to do potential work that the customer will definitively appreciate, and therefore want to come back, show off to friends, and so on. I've been doing tattoos long enough, and my potential is such that I should command that kind of price, and the customer is more than satisfied."

Kai and Tuna fee within the same range. They both are happy to work by the job, or per daily session. Kai charges 1,000 - 1,500 pesos per session, which can supervene in a fairly substantial, detailed, color image. Tuna will do a full back for 10,000 - 15,000 pesos. Each has done large, complex multi-color tattoos for as much as 20,000 pesos. That seems to be the top price in Oaxaca.

There appears to be a desire to reinvest profit into securing a great work environment, and higher end equipment. about the latter, in most cases it's naturally a matter of imported machinery and supplies commanding a higher price, and the fact that the options for Mexican-made equipment and supplies are much more limited. Hence the desire to hunt abroad for more diverse product lines. "Don't get me wrong," Tuna cautions, "there is high potential equipment manufactured here in Mexico, but we lack the range in products, and of procedure all imported is perceived as great and therefore fetches a higher price."

Continuing schooling also seems to be a priority for tatuadores. A few years ago Kai traveled to Guadalajara to take an oppressive course. Agreeing to Angy, sometimes tatuadores will take a brief, area-specific art or drawing procedure to enable them to keep up with market demand. Most tatuadores do not have training in fine arts, so seizing the opening to learn is something to which many aspire. In some cases rather than turn away a prospective customer for lack of singular expertise, it's great to spend in learning a new aspect of the trade through training.

It's rare for a tatuador to turn away business, but it does happen. It's regularly a supervene of the artist not being able to do potential work based upon the requested design, than finding it repugnant. perhaps it's naturally that tatuadores do not often encounter someone who wants, for example, a swastika on the forearm. "Usually what happens is someone comes in and wants a small tattoo, of whatever, on a finger or arm, and I know that I cannot do a good job given the requested size, or that after a short duration of time the potential will diminish," Kai admits. "So I propose something different, something larger or with a dissimilar color scheme, or for a dissimilar part of the body. Sometimes the customer agrees, sometimes he leaves, and sometimes he insist, in which case I decline the job."

"We can all use more business, but it's a skilled trade which we want to elevate in terms of its reputation, so we must all strive to declare standards, as well as our personal integrity;" Kai asserts.

The main reasons that customers do not return is lack of funds for either additional tattoos or to continue with the same project, or pain. "Different population have dissimilar pain thresholds," Tuna advises. "The sex of the customer sometimes is a determinant of the pain one can expect will be felt, depending on the singular part of the body. Working on the same part of the body can work on men differently than women." Only 50% of Tuna's work is repeat business.

Kai has a preference in favor of working on men rather than women. Why men? Men tend to want larger tattoos, which translates to more artistic license and a greater potential to furnish a true masterpiece. "But don't get me wrong," Kai adds defensively, "I love working on women, and do just as high potential work, always."

Customers in their twenties make up the largest age group. Otherwise, occasionally a teen comes in with a parent, perhaps 20% of tattoo-seekers are in their thirties, and a much small percentage comprises an older clientele.

Advice for Americans, Canadians, Europeans and Those from additional Abroad Wanting a Tattoo in Oaxaca

Tuna admits that in Mexico there are perhaps two high potential tattoo artists per 300 tatuadores, stating that in the Us the numbers are very different, two per hundred. It's difficult to accept his figures, having seen any potential tattoos on the bodies of Oaxacans, and having had an opening to speak with many Oaxacan tatuadores and rate their dedication to the skill, and their desire to elevate its credit through self-improvement. Tuna contends: "If someone wants a tattoo that I know someone else tatuador can do better, I refer him to a colleague. That builds group confidence. For me, I know that in black, I'm at the top of my game."

The triumvirate of tatuadores is ad idem when it comes to passing along guidance for tourists visiting Oaxaca and wanting a tattoo:

• Don't rush; spend as long as required with the "tattoo artist," chatting, finding at his or her designs, and examining the surroundings of the studio
• Ascertain if the tatuador has a singular specialty, or higher level of competency in one area versus someone else (i.e. Color as opposed to black)
• Address any health, hygiene and safety concerns, since while the ministry of condition does have rules and regulations of normal application, and spot checks of tattoo studios are conducted, no definite body exists for policing the tattoo industry
• Notwithstanding the foregoing, as indicated the lion's share of the tatuadores in Oaxaca do supervene the American normas, those in the commerce wanting to elevate their trade to having a more mainstream perception among the Oaxacan populace
• Look for instructions about how to care for a tatttoo, beginning with the occasion after leaving the studio, to reduce and hopefully eliminate the opening of complications - either on a flyer or on the back of a enterprise card
• Ask questions, questions and more questions until satisfied that both the process and the end supervene will meet or exceed expectations

Tattoo extraction in Mexico

Tuna confirms some clear reasons for seeking to have a tattoo removed:

• As required by an boss (i.e. Change in job position)
• For the purpose of attempting to get employment
• The personel was very young when he or she received the tattoo, and later had a dissimilar attitude towards this type of body adornment
• The potential of the tattoo was poor or questionable from the outset
• A Change of mind about the image or towards body alteration, conceivably later perceived as adulteration

With the modest cost of potential plastic surgery in Oaxaca, tattoo extraction in the state proves to be an bright selection for those wishing a return to a tattoo - free existence. In fact in Kai's studio on display there's a plexiglass stand filled with pamplets of a Oaxacan plastic surgeon, Dr. Filberto Fajardo, who specializes in laser tattoo removal.

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