Modern tattooing has been and still is heavily dominated by men in our western culture.

Despite this- unbeknownst to many- hand poking has always had women at it's centre.

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Hand poked tattoos have deep indigenous roots, usually consisting of lines dots and dashes. this ancient tradition was and still is predominantly practiced by females on females for rights of passage and symbolic expression.

it is with great importance that with my modern practice- I move respectfully and with admiration for the indigenous women that started and still practice handpoking in their traditional methods.

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​Handpoke tattoos are the most ancient of tattoo practices, with evidence of tattoos on mummified skin circa 3300bc! western culture saw electric machines evolve the tattooing scene in around the 1800s.

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some of these incredible women and traditions are: 

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• TRADITIONAL YIDIILTOO CHIN TATTOO- a HANDPOKE right of passage for women -handpoked by a woman. A native practice dating back more than 10,000 years.

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• MAORI MOKO FACIAL TATTOOS- “Moko kauae is a rite of passage, a symbolic expression and manifestation of a dynamic upward movement of time and space within sacred feminine energies,” - Piiata Lauren Turi-Heenan, New Zealand. “As contemporary Maori women, we sat in an oppressive colonised state of being for well over a century. Our rites and rituals obscured, even lost to us. But Māori women refused to be imprisoned by

western constraints and fought multiple states of oppression to be free from racism, sexism, prejudice.”

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• THE LAST KALINGA TATTOOIST - Whang-Od is 105 years old is the last among her people to still be practicing using thorns and tapping techniques. The MEN of the community wore tattoos for strength in battle and females for the journey to womanhood. Both sex's also wore them for beauty.

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• Jessie Knight- born in Croydon in 1904- according to recorded history she was the UK's first female freehand tattoo artist. Stopped by her insecure husband from practicing for a short time - she reconvened her practice after shooting him.​

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Referencing; Things&Ink.co.uk, Larskrutak.com, authoritytattoo.com