THE SKIN I’M IN’s featured tattoo artist Zulu is one of the central artists included in L.A. Skin & Ink a new exhibition at the Los Angeles Craft & Folk Art Museum running through January 6, 2013. The exhibition traces a core group of artists and their exploration and reinterpretation of global tattooing traditions, along with an important thread of artisanal mentorship. Read the full press release here
In many ways, a sense of community is about finding a sense of home. Here is a link to a video of mine called HOME from 2009. It’s comprised of home movie footage in a mix of amateur formats (super 8 film, Hi-8 video, and mini DV) that I shot as I travelled between Berlin and Los Angeles with my first boyfriend between 1996 and 2005. He was German, and the opportunity to explore my identity in Berlin was something I’ll always be grateful for. Years later in 2008, with all the Prop 8 controversy aflame in California, I felt such a sense of deja vu. I pulled out this old footage and found the Prop 22 footage from 2000 now included in Home. I remember at the time, the passage of Prop 22 felt like such a blow to the possibility of my boyfriend (in America on a student visa) and I ever being able to set up a home in the United States.