Episode Show Notes:
In this episode of Tattoo Rants, Raves & Rituals, Series A: Traditional Apprenticeship Culture, we sit down at the table to unpack the real lessons that come from mistakes, correction, and mentorship in the shop. From botched tattoos to navigating disappointment—both yours and others’—this dialogue explores how Black tattoo shops are not just places of work, but classrooms for life.
Apprenticeship here isn’t just about mastering the machine—it’s about learning humility, accountability, and how to hold space for yourself and your clients when things don’t go as planned.
✨ Highlights:
Handling the pressure and disappointment of a tattoo gone wrong.
The importance of learning from mistakes without financial gain or external validation.
Mentorship as a guide through tough lessons and emotional growth.
How apprenticeship teaches patience, precision, and care beyond the craft.
This episode reminds us that growth in tattooing comes not only from success—but from the moments that challenge you, shape you, and teach you how to hold your own story with grace.
Tattoo Rants Raves & Rituals, Season 1: A Seat at the Table
Season One invites listeners into an intimate series of culture conversations where Black tattooists and cultural workers gather to critique and reclaim voice and visibility at the intersections of art, history, and tattoo. Each conversation is a seat at the table—where community comes to reckon with the truths of tattooing as inheritance and liberation.
Series A: Traditional Apprenticeship Culture explores apprenticeship as lineage, not labor—naming the discipline, humility, and spiritual presence required to carry this ancestral craft forward.
Series B: Racism in Tattoo Culture confronts erasure, anti-Blackness, and the commodification of tattoo traditions in a global industry that too often forgets its African roots.
Series C: Mental Health x Tattoo holds space for grief, ego, and healing, asking how tattooing can function as ritual care, not just aesthetic service.
Series D: Art, Business & Culture unpacks the impact of colonization and capitalism on Black tattoo culture—shedding light on how dispossession triggers “ink hunger” and the longing for ancestral reconnection.
✨ Early Access Bonus: Pais subscribers get the full episodes of Season 1 and journey deeper into these conversations—before The Cultural Stewardship Playbook officially goes live in 2026. Secure your seat at the table today and become part of the anthology in real time.
about: Black Tattoo Anthology®
An artist fellowship, living archive and digital campus dedicated to reclaiming, preserving, and reimagining Black tattoo culture across the diaspora. Founded and stewarded by Master Tattoo Artist and author Imani K. Brown®, the BTA documents our stories through scholarship, artistry, and community.
At the heart of our work is a commitment to cultural stewardship: honoring ancestral tattoo traditions, amplifying Black tattoo artists, and creating spaces where our creativity is remembered as inheritance, not erased as trend. From the Collective of participating artists, to our Podcast where culture bearers speak their truths, the Anthology is both a record and a ritual—an invitation to witness how ink carries memory, identity, and liberation.
We invite you to become a paid subscriber to sustain this work. Your support powers our digital campus, uplifts the artists who make up the Collective, and ensures that Black tattoo culture is preserved for future generations. | Website
