Episode Details

062 A lot of people want ancestral tattoos but feel stuck on one brutal question: “Am I enough to wear them?” I sit down with Inuit hand poke tattoo artist Jessica Coffey to talk about the real, complicated middle ground between pride and doubt, revival and responsibility, beauty and protocol. What unfolds is a candid look at Indigenous tattooing as living community work, not a perfect script you memorize before you’re allowed to belong.

Jessica shares how she found hand poke tattooing when there were few professional pathways, why the apprenticeship debate can hide deeper barriers like racism and exclusion, and how a practice built at home can still be clean, skilled, and deeply intentional. We also talk about identity and being white passing, the shame of not knowing what colonization worked so hard to erase, and why cultural markings can become both armor and a doorway back to self.

Then we get into the hard part: cultural appropriation, who gets what, and how to protect closed practices without turning into someone who only says no. I explain my “safekeeper” approach to ancestral visual language, what I choose to share or not share, and why the face carries different responsibilities. We also touch on access in Newfoundland and Labrador, training future Indigenous practitioners, and how the meaning of these marks can evolve for today while staying rooted in relationship and responsibility.

If you care about Indigenous tattoo revival, Inuit tattooing, hand poke tattoo ethics, and cultural reclamation, listen all the way through. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs it, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway or question.

You can find Jessica at: @bespoke_poke

Check out my tattoo work at:
https://www.consumedbyink.com
Instagram @dionkaszas

Buy me a Coffee at:
https://ko-fi.com/transformativemarks

I acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, ArtsNS and Support4Culture

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