I bring this up as somewhat of a response to the heat from another post about an apprenticeship program that has new artist tattooing on homeless people inside of a month.
SO I want to ask you fellow “want to be” artist and already established artist (all others too) their opinion on doing such aFOR n act?
My personal opinion is if someone wants that tattoo that is their choice! I dont see anything wrong with giveing a tattoo to a person of low social status.
Now if a program is allowing new artist to practice on these homeless people it does walk a fine line.
TO MAKE SURE I HAD MY FACTS STRAIGHT I called the shop and dropped by to ask some questions. They are located pretty close to me in texas.
Turns out when i got there they had a guy from a local shelter there getting some work done. His name was tony and was getting a great back piece done.
I asked him what he thought of having a new artist working on him?
He said “for the first time in a long time i feel like a million bucks”
Turns out this guy was the happiest peron in the world about getting the work done. He had nothing to his name he was living in a shelter and the one highlight in his life at the time was getting a FREE TATTOO. He told me how he heard about the free tattoos to people living in the shelter. That these were not given away to just anybody. Only the people who obeyed all the shelter rules: showered, off drugs , and looking for work. This was not a pick a drunk bum off the street and drag them down to the shop to ink them up process. This was an activity supported by the shelter and community to give back to the less fortunate.
On the other side i asked the apprentice about it. He said he felt like he was giving back to the community too. He was able to uplift someone from “rock bottom” of life with something that last for ever. * to clarify the new apprentices dont do the whole peice they done only the filling in parts at first with master artist right next to them the whole way. Lines and shading are done by the master early in the program.*
After having seen both sides of this my opinion did change i was initially upset at the fact that they would exploit people at their weakest of times. But its not that at all. It was a community approved program to give back and uplift the weak. I will never forget tony’s face and how happy he was to get a tattoo. It made me take a step back and think about my life and how i was never that happy to have any of my tattoos.
Please people sound off. I want to amke sure i have not just been jaded by soemthing. I am about to make a huge commitment i want to make sure i am doing soemthing still ethical, and not ruining my name as an artist before it has even started.
Dont be shy dont hold back lets hear it!
Hi Gibby
I am not just jaded I am perhaps one of the most cynical people that has ever crawled across G-d’s creation.
I will tell you why. I work in welfare benefit fraud and I have seen every scam there is in thieveing, lying and confidence tricking.
Many of the people I deal with daily are the most vulnerable or lowest economic status in my city.
Here is a few facts about how humanity works;
People will exploit those weaker than themselves – it is called capitalism. This can be done from morally questionable methods right through to outright slavery.
Those who are in a vulnerable position and don’t have jackshit to their name will be tempted by 2 things
Anything that is ‘FREE’ or a few bucks slipped to them to tell people absolutely anything. I know this because I see it at least once a week.
Another thing that bugs me is that they are being used as test subjects because deep down they want to feel like people and this again is an attention whore scam. The artist could be saying ‘hey I care about you and that is why I am offering free ink’ – when it could really read as ‘I got a sucker here who we can work on and if it fucks up I still got my 10k in my back pocket.’
Whilst inking somebody may uplift somebody’s confidence and on an indvidual basis might be a good thing you are missing the point of the question
You are paying TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS – so why would they need such vulnerable volunteers?
If they were that great they would have average citizens piling off the street into their studio to be inked.
The fact is they are letting noobs loose and if it fucks up no matter cos these ppl won’t complain or will be dead soon anyway and that ‘Free ink’ is the equiv of testing on animals.
Yes I see your argument nobody is forcing the people to be inked and there is nothing wrong with complying.
All I am saying is keep your eyes open because they are selling you a service and product and will like any business gloss over any parts that might disagree with your conscience.
If you do it do it in full honesty that you are paying good money and using these ppl as practice canvasses with no regrets or doubts.
No matter what bad shit I do I never lie to myself about it – so if not sure look for another option.
Take Care
Matthew
Ever see “Bum Fights” man? Or just heard of them?
Well, in case you haven’t, a couple years ago this evil son of a bitch found out that for fifty bucks, two homeless people will beat the ever loving crap out of each other. They used a video camera to record the fights, and sold the tapes on the internet for profit.
Several of the “bums” from “Bum Fights” died of the beatings they took. You try getting a six inch cut on your face with no way of keeping it clean, and an immune system shot from starvation, exposure, and just plain exhaustion, and not have it go septic.
The homeless are the most vulnerable people to exploitation. They have nothing, and most people with homes treat them like pests similar to cockroaches or rats than like actual human beings. They have no where to turn for real, substantial help. Even shelters are limited in what they can do.
ANd the bum fight mother fuckers made a fucking mint. Sure, there was a controversy, but nothing bad happened to them over it, and they, to this day, defend themselves with the argument “we were helping the bums out, giving them a chance to make a quick buck. It was a service to the community!”
My point is, someone who’s in such dire straights that a few bucks can literally mean the difference between dying of starvation and not will most likely do anything, say anything, for a few bucks.
Or, in the winter, just a place to get in out of the cold. It’s not uncommon for homeless people to purposely get sent to jail just to have a warm place to sleep.
Plus, to be perfectly blunt, in a street person’s case, infection is god damn near a given. As I previously stated, their immune systems are shot. They’re weak from not eating, exhausted from not being able to sleep comfortably, and the general trials of not having a home.
Not to mention, how can they keep it clean? Ain’t alot of showers on the streets man.
Everything they’ve presented is a self-serving rationalization. These transients, whether they realize it or not, are being exploited by these assholes because, let’s be honest here, who’s going to say anything about some dipshit giving a bum arm herpes? Or hep C? Hell, good luck even proving they got it from said dipshit in the first place, given the lifestyle the homeless person has.
In short, I have to ask, how can you NOT see how they’re using these people?
Love. Peace. Metallica.
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