ON CULTURAL APPRECIATION VS APPROPRIATION

Just because someone said you could doesn’t mean you should.

In terms of appropriation in america i'd like to preface with this- white people often depend on cultural appropriation because their identity exists only in opposition to people of color- they don't have their own culture to draw from that's free of a backdrop of bloodshed and violence in its path to forming/consolidating power. euro north american settlers have historically had to abandon their european roots in order to assimilate and gain an economic upper hand at the expense of colonized people world wide under a system of white colonial domination.

Orientalism is a term describing European imaginations and depictions of Asian people or Asian art, broadly speaking. Especially in wartime the US loves to amp up it's propaganda against whatever nation or ethnic group they're targeting next. [Insert American media perpetually depicting Black and brown people as violent or subservient.]

Violence against civilians of the targeted culture spike. The consequences of war are aggressive and cultural appropriation can be a painful reminder of how little power and agency we have over our own lives. Cultural appropriation is a symptom of colonialism, not a cause.

All in all it's a matter of respect and staying in your lane out of respect because the problem comes about when people of color/colonized people who should have just as much opportunity to tattoo, as it is our cultural birthright, and thrive are disproportionately burdened by state enforced poverty and incarceration and until reparations are paid and made and the land theft and displacement of indigenous people are addressed, i will always think it's F*CKING WEIRD when anyone chooses to actively dismiss the opinions of those who side with the oppressed.

It's a perpetuation of imperialist values when white people have the audacity to choose to profit from a culture outside of their own.

Personally, I am only willing to do a culturally specific tattoo that is outside of my own culture if the client themselves is part of the culture. If neither me or the client are part of a culture they're requesting a tattoo from, I like to redirect them to who I'd consider the proper artist- someone of the culture who can decide whether or not they want to grant access to their culture to an outsider.

Cultural appreciation and exchange happens when everyone has equal power, something we haven't seen in a minute. Capitalism was born from exploitation and continues to depend on exploitation. If your country bombed or oppressed the country you're taking the designs from, I would check your motives and always remember who made it possible for you to tattoo at all and always remember to give credit but more importantly just put it back.

Now I understand everyone's gotta eat- but why are our bills so fucking high in the first place? Definitely not the fault of any women of color. Even neocolonial puppets serve the interests of the ruling class at the end of the day so quit taking out your discomfort when being faced with a take that rejects your ideology of “This is America, I can do what I want” on people of color who are trying to keep future generations safe and alive.

If you can be better, why not just do better?

THE AMAZON RAINFOREST WAS THE WORLDS LARGEST NATURAL PANTRY AND SERVED AS THE LUNGS FOR OUR PLANET- DON’T YOU EVER DARE START THINKING COLONIALISM WAS BENEFICIAL FOR ANY OF US, IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN DETRIMENTAL FOR ALL LIFE ON EARTH INCLUDING FOR YOU AND YOUR DOG.

We have been living in harmony with the planet for hundreds of thousands of years, how could “the best economic system in the world” manage to crush our ability to survive on this planet in 600 years flat?