Over the last years, we, the organising collective of Tattoo Circus Helsinki, began having conversations about cultural appropriation in Euro-American/Western tattoo cultures. The discussions came up over time as we asked ourselves concrete questions related to our event planning. What kind of scene or industry are we participating in by organising a tattooing event? What kind of visual culture do we want to showcase?

We are still asking these questions and learning from those who have raised this question before us. This written account is an invitation to engage with and learn about this topic together. While our writing is focused on tattooing as a craft and skin marking practice, the points discussed here can easily be applied, and the discussion extended to other forms of body modification, visual arts, and cultural practices where appropriation of colonized cultures is often widespread.

With this in mind, we are writing and publishing this zine to help both ourselves and others better understand cultural appropriation as a continuing legacy of colonisation. We acknowledge that our awareness on and contribution to this topic is incomplete, with much room for growing. Thus, we encourage the reader to regard this zine as the first printed edition of a conversation that has by no means ended. Hopefully this transparency around our unfinished process will inspire others to engage with the topic and to think alongside this text in whatever contexts feel most personal or significant. Since we wish this conversation to continue and evolve, you are most welcome to copy, share, and spread this zine, and use it as a discussion opener amongst your fellow tattooers, tattoo lovers, and anti-authoritarian organisers.

In the second chapter, we introduce the work and mission of our collective. We then discuss the history of colonialism and how, from the beginning, cultural oppression has been a central part of its genocidal and extractivist operation. In chapter 4, we define cultural appropriation and describe its ties to continued colonialism, and then, in chapter 5, dive into the colonial histories and present practices of indigenous and white/western tattoo cultures. Chapter 6 consists of some open-ended questions about how to go on putting ink in our skin with more understanding and consideration for the diverse histories. The last chapter concludes the zine with some suggestions for how to go forward.

The conversation on cultural appropriation involves a multitude of cultural “others”: racialised, exoticised and invisibilised groups. Becoming familiar with their perspectives and lived experiences will add nuance and context to this writing, so we strongly encourage learning from other texts/sources alongside this one. Ideas for reading and other resources are included at the end of this zine.

With solidarity,
Tattoo Circus Helsinki collective,
in May 2025.

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