I began documenting Black bodies with ink in 2008. That same year I wandered into The Inkwell in Durham. My interest lay in the connection between African scarification and its modern illustrations throughout the diaspora of the Americas. The deep-rooted practice of permanently embedding symbols that have cultural significance represents rites of passage, remembrances of kinship, as well as friendships, and spiritual rituals. They may also signify purity, messaged to others who silently observe, but acknowledge in understanding and agreement.

For millennia Africans have used tattoos to protect against spirits, cure diseases, provide tactile signifiers of courage, and to denote social status. For me, tattoos were a path to an unexplored linkage to a past denied by centuries of involuntary servitude and the destruction of memories of ancestral practices. I am drawn to the sensuality of dark ink on even darker skin. For my eye, the beauty of Blackness is not only layered, but multiplied. Wearing a tattoo marks a change, a willingness, no, a drive, or desire to mark a transformation in life.

In our lives, no matter the condition, there are symbols we place in our hearts, and sometimes on our skin. They remind us of our obligations, and bind us in community that reminds us that we are not alone in this world. They help us to hold on to ourselves, reclaim lost spirits, most of all, they return us to love.

Titus Brooks Heagins, MFA

Ben & Montrece

Monogamous