When it comes to tattooing black skin, the stereotypes abound. From the idea that heavy tattooing is not a ‘black’ thing, to the belief that ink won’t show up on brown skin.
In a bid to debunk these stereotypes that exist both within and outside of the black community, Afropunk made a call for black folks to share their tattoo pics under the tag #blackinkrocks.
“Tattoos are a powerful means of communal and self-expression. Since ancient times we have used tattoos to tell our stories and the stories of our ancestors. From rockers to everyday people we use tattoos to celebrate and empower ourselves.”
And the images are absolutely gorgeous.
Beautiful! We are really excited to see more black women share their photos under the hashtag! Check out more from the hashtag here.
These are great. Wish there were dark skin tone examples though.
I agree! That was what I hoping to see, although, the first photo is a dark skin tone.
When I got my (one and still only) tattoo 17 years ago I was told that because I was dark-skinned, the only ink color that would show up was black. I was and still am fine with that because there’s SO much great black (as in ink) work out here BUT if anyone ever invents a glow in the dark (glow on the dark-skinned person) ink, let me know. 🙂
a white tattoo glows in uv light
There are white tattoos.
I literally just found out about those TODAY. 🙂 It seems they’re tricky to do, though.
When did it become a myth that Blk ppl’s tats don’t show up?? Blks have always gotten tats and from what I’ve seen, tat more frequently than other other ethnic groups.
Ive seen dark skin people with black ink and colored ink tattoos and they didn’t show up that well or were barely noticible. I think the difference skin tone or color being tattooed is going to show color differently. I don’t know know whether that is because of the ink use or the skill of the tattoo artist, but I do notice difference in visibility between tattooed dark and light skin.
Exactly. Common sense alone tells us that.
Quite like tattoos but they just don’t work on dark black skin. I’d like to be proven wrong.
You are wrong
That statement was a waste of time in the absence of proof.
It’s not about tattoos not showing on dark skin it’s about the artist knowing which shades work with which skin tones as well as which designs enhance the colour. I have seen amazing work done on dark skin and equally awful work on light to pale skin.