From its roots in indigenous communities to being a part of current DIY trends, hand poke tattoos have developed into a low-cost, accessible art form.
Hand poking had several uses among indigenous tribes, such as medicinal use, status and protection against spiritual possession. The spiritual and traditional meaning of the hand poke tattoo was, and still is, unique for indigenous communities, helping others recognize the significance of the markings without having to ask.
Flor Buri, a professional hand poke artist at No Good Tattoo who uses she/they pronouns, said that, though we now often ask why someone has a tattoo, it does not take away from its meaning.
“We get to develop our own discourse with ourselves of what it is that is important to us,” Buri said.
Buri’s first tattoo was hand poked by a famous travelling tattooist named Ber Clausi. They said that this first experience was so psychedelic, they imagined the pain and different sensations leaving their body with each exhale. This type of spiritual connection with tattooing is still present in Buri’s tattooing today, instead now, it is Buri who takes on the role of giving this sensation to others.
“It’s not a given that we give ourselves the time to understand our intuition (and) our desires on a deep level,” Buri said. “I feel like as the tattooer, it falls into my realm to facilitate that space for the other person.”
For Buri, hand poking is a healing practice, and one that allows the person to enter a deep state of consciousness. Their approach to hand poke is one that involves itself intrinsically with the client and the artist. They use a pre-care guide for every client as a way to invite each person to recognize their intentions with what they are looking for in a tattoo.
The connection built between the client and artist is important to Buri, and is a value that resonates with other hand poke artists as well, including those who are just getting started
“I feel like it’s not just the (tattoo), it’s the memory,” Sexa Bixby, West Campus hand poke artist and urban studies junior said. “It’s not just the material – what you have on your skin – but what it represents.”
Bixby has only been tattooing for a little over a year with about 90% of her client base being friends or acquaintances. Regardless, she said that she enjoys the intimacy and often doesn’t realize how significant hand poking is.
“You really get to work on something and then this piece of art will be so personal because it’s on them forever,” Bixby said. “Like damn, I’ve punched every hole in your skin to make that happen.”
While Bixby works for the end result to be something she is proud of, she keeps that same mentality when preparing her home studio to receive clients. She works out of her apartment, typically tattooing on her coffee table that she sanitizes before every appointment.
Materials like water, paper towels, Vaseline and Cosco Green Soap – a common sanitary product among tattooers – are part of her tattoo set up. Along with a numbing spray and sterilized needles, Bixby said she remains aware of the importance of creating a safe environment.
“Stay diligent about where the tattoo is happening and where your supplies are being kept,” Bixby said.
In the past year she has been tattooing, Bixby said that she has learned something new with each tattoo she does, like techniques and how to puncture the skin better.
“My first one, I drew on with a micron pen and I tattooed it, I wiped it, and it was completely gone,” Bixby said.
Working towards being able to hand poke requires a learning curve. In Bixby’s case, it was the accidental removal of her first tattoo. For Layton Thacker, a journalism sophomore and amateur hand poke artist, the learning process had a more permanent result.
“I remember I did one on my friend – the first one I did for her – and I’m still so embarrassed,” Thacker said. “It’s a worm, but it’s so tiny that it looks like a blob.”
Though his first time as a tattoo artist didn’t end as expected, Thacker said it became a learning experience for him and helped him understand the craft of hand poking better. He began to practice on himself and learned that he had to understand poking depth, the angle you insert, the kind of needles to buy and the amount of ink to use.
“It’s definitely been part of the process of enjoying it, and I’m still perfecting it,” Thacker said. “Every time I finish one, I’m like, ‘I can do better.’”
Thacker’s inspiration to have tattoos in the first place was his uncle. At 14, his uncle started getting tattoos and gained a reputation for being a troublemaker at his high school, the same school that Thacker attended decades later.
“I thought it was badass, and my mom hated it,” Thacker said. “I (needed) to do the same thing, and so I was like ‘If he can do it, I can do it.’”
Along with a current tattoo identical to his uncle’s in the same spot, Thacker’s own tattoos maintain a variety. This does not stray from the fact that each one has meaning, he said.
“(Hand poke tattoos) are parts of me that I think represent me well (and) that I would like to keep reminding myself (of),” Thacker said.
Thacker said it took him a significant amount of time to do his first tattoo on himself. It took weeks of research to prepare himself. This meant learning how to create a sterile environment, prepping his skin and knowing how to apply the correct aftercare.
“I was reading articles from tattoo artists,” Thacker said. “I was watching these tattoo artists’ Instagram pages on how to do it correctly and I bought all the materials beforehand.”
He looks forward to having the opportunity to put more detail into his designs and improve his technique, he said. If it came to pursuing the craft, Thacker said he could see himself going into the art professionally if he found the time to be consistent.
But there is no threshold that a hand poke artist has to reach to move on professionally at all, said Rie Oh, a hand poke artist in Austin who uses they/them pronouns.
“The decision to move into a shop environment is more about community than it is about necessarily hitting a threshold of, ‘Now I have to work in the shop,’” Oh said.
Oh used to own a private studio in Marfa, Texas, but chose to move to a studio in Austin for a bigger community, and to work safer during the pandemic. The opportunity allowed Oh to be around other tattooers and created a supportive and inspirational environment.
“I don’t think I would have ever branched out in some of the ways that I did in the past couple years without the encouragement of other people that were around me all the time,” Oh said.
Oh began like many other artists– at home. After watching a man tattoo someone at a house party as a teenager, Oh said they were convinced they could do better. This led to the purchase of needles on Amazon and a quick shopping trip to Walgreens to collect medical supplies.
“I do look back on those really sketchy early tattoo set ups with a lot of nostalgia and appreciation for them,” Oh said. “It just feels so perfectly suited to that DIY tattoo experience of taking the wheel behind something that you’re not really supposed to do.”
Oh sees this part of hand poking as a valuable part of the community and one they said will make this tattoo style a desired craft well into the future.
“This wave of hand poke DIY ethic has allowed those people to feel like there is a future for tattooing for them,” Oh said. “You can build that future with your own hands and with the community that welcomes you.”
