WEBVTT

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[TATTOO NEEDLE BUZZING]

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My experience being tattooed,

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it's almost like a rite of passage.

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A lot of times I'll feel like

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I'm going through a change
or a transformation in my life

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where I need there to be
something that symbolizes that.

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Being a fine artist,
I always wanted to do tattoos.

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Getting an image
etched into your skin,

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and what it looks like when
the needle penetrates through it.

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It's a lot of submission and dominance
that you have to be really mindful of;

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especially because I'm working
on people of color.

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It's a really violent act,

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but you have to perform that
with a lot of care.

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[Doreen Garner's Invisible Man Tattoo]

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[Brooklyn Navy Yard]

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[February 2018]

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--So if you could read
and initial in the boxes.

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--On the third sheet,
there's an after care sheet.

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--I don't know if you need it.
If you want it, it's fine.

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--And then the last sheet is the design,
but printed in different sizes,

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--so let me know which one you want.

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--You can have a seat and chill out.

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[Doreen is running a pop-up tattoo shop at
the Recess art space]

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For all of the images of American
traditional tattoos all over the country,

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there's always a void.

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There's no Black presence.

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There's no imagery even acknowledging
Blackness as a contribution to American life.

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I wanted to provide a place
for people to feel comfortable,

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not only as far as the environment--

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Who's working here?

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Who's operating in this space?--

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but also finding themselves in the
imagery on the walls

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to make them feel like
this is a place for them.

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[TATTOO NEEDLE BUZZING]

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[DAVID JOSEPH] This really hurts.

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[GARNER] It does?

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[JOSEPH] Um, no I think the talking helps.

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[GARNER] Oh, yeah.

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[JOSEPH] But I am dying on the inside, though...

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[GARNER] Okay.

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[JOSEPH] ...like, a slow death.

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[JOSEPH] I remember being
in a hotel room in South Carolina,

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watching this Black Panther documentary,

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and I was instantly inspired by it.

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So I started reading up more on
the Black Panthers and what they were about.

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I just hate the timing of me
getting this now,

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because of the movie.

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[BOTH LAUGH]

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[GARNER] It reeks of cornball.

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[JOSEPH] Yeah!

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It's like, really?

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You might as well just tattoo
"Wakanda" on my forehead.

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I had someone tell me,
"Color won't look that good on you."

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[BOTH LAUGH]

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[GARNER] It's a crime to tell Black people
they can't have color.

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[JOSEPH] It is a crime!

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You should never say that.

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And I didn't hear it just one time,
I heard it a couple times.

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So it discouraged me from even
getting something like that;

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I'm like, alright, maybe I won't.

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[GARNER] I do feel like tattooing
provides a nice break for me--

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where I am still being creative,
it's just on a different canvas.

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And that canvas has everything to do
with the rest of my work conceptually.

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I end up learning a lot about the body,
just through the process of tattooing.

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I think it's higher stakes,

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because people are
way more forgiving of fine art.

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You can have really horrible paintings--

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like really, really, really bad craftsmanship--

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and that is still regarded as a work of art.

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Where, if you have a tattoo
where the lines are all shaky,

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and it's colored outside the lines,

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it's like, "That dude fucked that up."

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"You should get your money back."

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Wait, you said that's from "The Color Purple"?

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[SONYA SPANN] It's the closing
scene of the movie where,

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Ms. Celie,
who is played by Whoopi Goldberg,

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she goes into this dialogue
where she's like,

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"I might be poor. I might be Black."

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"I might even be ugly."

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"But dear God, I'm here."

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"I'm here."

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I work in technology

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and I tend to be someone who
most people don't anticipate

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belongs in the room,
or should be in the room.

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For me, having these words is like
a reminder that I am here

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because I am supposed to be here,

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because I'm meant to be here.

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It also represents
a rebelliousness that I think I have.

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Not "I think I have" but "I have."

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[MAN, OFF-SCREEN] You're a rebel?

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[GARNER] She's getting a tattoo.

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[BOTH LAUGH]

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[SPANN] Two!

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[GARNER] We're going to do a
Black Panther party

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for the release of the
"Black Panther" film.

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Basically, since I saw the trailer,

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I had it in my mind that I wanted to
go into the film "squad-deep,"

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which meant I need a slew of other
Black people to come with me.

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[FRIEND #1] Do you think you ever see
White kids dressing up as Black Panther?

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[FRIEND #2] No.

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It's weird, because it becomes
a Black people thing.

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But, there's this expectation for us

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to just absorb and digest
superhero movies like nothing--

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like Spiderman, you know?

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[GARNER] I feel like Black people have
always known that Black people are amazing.

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But we need to stop bullshitting around.

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We need to really let
people know who we are.

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Just like they did in the film.

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As far as myself, there were some things
where I would hold back--

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thinking about fear and not being accepted.

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I ended up sculpting this place thinking about
what would make me feel comfortable.

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All of my work talks about pain
that was inflicted.

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But then in this instance, I'm using pain,
but as a method of healing.

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I feel like that's what goes on
when you get a tattoo,

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you're initiating your own healing.

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And because these images are so
celebratory of Black excellence

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and Black history,

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it's kind of initiating
a healing for Black people.

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[SPANN] I just imagine myself
being an old woman

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[LAUGHS]

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and looking down at this, like,

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"Yes, I am here."

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"I am present."

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"I am still here."