Juneau tattoo artist David Lang has recently seen an uptick of people wanting Alaska Native formline tattoos, something he specializes in.<\/p>\n
\u201cI say formline rather than say, \u2018I do Tlingit tattoos,\u2019 or, \u2018I do Tsimshian tattoos,\u2019 or, \u2018I do Haida tattoos,\u2019 because I\u2019m doing them for such a variety of people. I\u2019m tattooing a Tlingit one day and a Tsimshian another day.\u201d<\/p>\n
And a non-Native the next.<\/p>\n
Lang, who\u2019s half Tsimshian (\u201cwith a little bit of Tlingit dashed in there\u201d) and half white, inks formline tattoos on non-Native people \u2014 something not every tattoo artist feels comfortable with.<\/p>\n
He realizes that non-Native people getting Native tattoos could be construed as cultural appropriation. He said it comes down to \u201cmaking sure on my end that I\u2019m doing it right and making sure that people are coming at it from cultural appreciation and not cultural appropriation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the biggest questions I get is \u2014 is it OK for white people to get Native tattoos?\u201d Lang said.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a valid question. If you Google \u201ccultural appropriation,\u201d you\u2019ll likely see a news item about a celebrity being accused of it, and articles titled \u201cThe Dos and Don\u2019ts of Cultural Appropriation\u201d or, \u201cTo the new culture cops, everything is appropriation.\u201d Calling someone or something out for cultural appropriation can be viewed as either responsible or oversensitive.<\/p>\n
In Juneau, cultural appropriation can be a black and white issue, like when two downtown business owners were charged earlier this year for misrepresenting non-Native made carvings as Alaska Native-made, which is a violation of the federal Indian Arts and Crafts Act. Both pled guilty and were forced to pay nominal fines and mandatory donations, serve probation time and other conditions.<\/p>\n
But there are more instances when cultural appropriation falls into a gray area \u2014 non-Native owned businesses that display Native imagery logos, a white artist who makes and sells Native art, a writer who uses the voice of another race, a non-Native student who gets an award for Northwest Coast art, a non-Native business owner who profits off of products with Native imagery or a half-Native tattoo artist who puts formline on white people.<\/p>\n
Are these examples of cultural appropriation? What is cultural appropriation? Are there times when it can be acceptable? Whose place is it to determine if something is cultural appropriation?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Appreciation or appropriation<\/strong><\/p>\n But, first, back to Lang\u2019s question: Is it OK for white people to get Native tattoos?<\/p>\n Lang said he once posed that same exact question to Tsimshian carver Abel Ryan, who Lang studied formline with when he moved back to his hometown of Juneau seven years ago to help open High Tide Tattoo. Lang credits Ryan with giving him \u201ca solid foundation in that visual language.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I asked Abel about that, he said, \u2018If you give somebody a design as a Native artist, that is your gift to them,\u2019\u201d Lang recalled. He said that put his mind at ease.<\/p>\n Lang also points out what he\u2019s doing is a commercial enterprise, just like Native artists who sell their products. While tattoos tend to be viewed as a more emotionally weighted commitment than buying an engraved bracelet or a carved mask, Lang said he\u2019s just like any other Native artist \u2014 \u201cTattooing is very much art for sale on demand.\u201d<\/p>\n He said non-Native people shy away from designs that are associated with clans or clan crests.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not doing Eagles and Ravens; we\u2019re doing a loon or a crane or bears, or salmon, lots of that,\u201d Lang said. \u201cThere\u2019s plenty of subject matter out there that we can do that gives them that design aesthetic and appreciation without taking from anything that I would put in the sacred category.\u201d<\/p>\n Lang said he\u2019s also done a lot of clan crests and family designs for Alaska Natives.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is something that has been passed down to them and that is their visual representation of their cultural identity, their whole story.\u201d<\/p>\n Lang said he\u2019s honored to do those tattoos, which he\u2019s often not allowed to photograph because the clients don\u2019t want them publicized.<\/p>\n \u201cThose designs are different than a salmon I\u2019m going to do for someone because they love Alaska,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Other reasons non-Native people might want formline tattoos, Lang said, often stem from a connection to Southeast or Juneau, like they grew up here or have lived here for a long time. Some people are tattoo \u201ccollectors\u201d who heavily research a place and its history, and want to have a tattoo representative of the location. In the cases Lang has run into, the desire stems from an appreciation and not a notion of taking.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s perfectly OK,\u201d Lang said. \u201cI have Japanese-inspired tattoos on me. I have tattoos that are inspired by artwork from all sorts of different cultures because of an appreciation for those cultures. My Japanese tattoo doesn\u2019t make me Japanese and it doesn\u2019t make me think I\u2019m Japanese or claim to be Japanese. I just really enjoy the aesthetic of their large scale tattoos and always have.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAlmost 95 percent of the time, if not more, non-Native people are very conscious of making sure what they\u2019re doing is not culturally insensitive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The dynamics of cultural appropriation<\/strong><\/p>\n Cultural appropriation means different things to different people. It\u2019s been defined as members of one culture adopting, using or borrowing elements of another culture. Other definitions involve a dominant group exploiting the culture of a less privileged group. It may also be defined as theft, the taking without permission.<\/p>\n Sealaska Heritage Institute\u2019s Rosita Worl said cultural appropriation is \u201cthe movement of tangible and intangible cultural elements from indigenous societies into western societies, or predominantly western societies.\u201d<\/p>\n Tangible objects include art objects, medicines and human remains. Intangible items include music, oral traditions and even spirituality.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not a positive thing, Worl said. The way cultural appropriation has historically been done involves taking \u201cwithout regard to Native values or what Native people think about it.\u201d<\/p>\n Tlingit writer and University of Alaska Southeast professor Ernestine Hayes agrees that cultural appropriation is about taking.<\/p>\n \u201cI think all of it can be traced back to taking \u2014 \u2018I\u2019m taking your story, your history, your culture, your name, your land, your riches, your wealth. I\u2019m taking everything,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n But you can\u2019t talk about cultural appropriation without talking about history and relationship, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me, it\u2019s a unique relationship when members of the dominant settler group take from the indigenous people.\u201d<\/p>\n For indigenous people in Southeast Alaska, the colonial settlers are the dominant group who forced their culture onto Alaska Natives \u2014 \u201c\u2018Speak our language, worship our god, follow our beauty standards,\u2019\u201d Hayes said. \u201cWe\u2019re not talking about a two-way street. Some people say, \u2018Well indigenous people appropriate white culture all the time.\u2019 No, that\u2019s not the case; white culture is forced on non-dominant groups.\u201d<\/p>\n She said cultural appropriation can lead to non-Native people becoming \u201cexperts\u201d on Native things.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a national practice to speak for Native people, to study Native people, to tell Native people\u2019s history and explain Native people\u2019s issues, to defend Native people, to continue to be paternal,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n As a writer, Hayes takes particular issue with non-Native people writing Native stories. She said intense studying or knowledge of Native people, or even being adopted into clans \u201cdoesn\u2019t transfer history, ancestors, roots.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTo be transplanted is one thing, but that doesn\u2019t mean that your roots go back 2,000 years from this place,\u201d Hayes explained.<\/p>\n She said getting a Native design copied on to your body is \u201csort of like telling a story that\u2019s not yours and not understanding the meaning of it.\u201d<\/p>\n But Hayes also understands that non-Native people can have valid connections to Native people and culture.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think we ever go wrong telling our own stories, and our own stories, which in Southeast Alaska, has to involve Native people. That\u2019s your story and no one can say, \u2018No, you can\u2019t tell your story,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe problem comes from, \u2018That\u2019s not my story, but I\u2019m going to tell it anyway.\u2019 That\u2019s where the appropriation comes from. We all need to tell our own stories, but we have to be very careful when we think we can tell someone else\u2019s story.\u201d<\/p>\n When determining if an act is cultural appropriation, Hayes said the responsibility is on the individual to consider the political and historical relationships between groups of people. Cultural appropriation, she said, doesn\u2019t exist between groups that haven\u2019t had a dominant-oppressed relationship.<\/p>\n It\u2019s about knowing one\u2019s place, Hayes said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe either know our place in our relationship to others in the world on an authentic level with integrity, or we know our place as it\u2019s been designed for us. And the place that\u2019s been designed for people of the dominant culture is to speak for, defend, take issue with and appropriate indigenous aspects,\u201d Hayes said.<\/p>\n She said that historical relationship will always exist as long as the social structure that the dominant group put in place remains. The idea of cultural appropriation \u2014 the notion of taking \u2014 between white people and Native may change, Hayes said, if \u201cNative people ever get to the point where, \u2018OK, we\u2019ve got our power,\u2019 but that\u2019s not where we are as Native people. We need our voices. Every shred of power we can get, we need to keep.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Steeped in tradition<\/strong><\/p>\n Walk around downtown Juneau on South Franklin Street, and you\u2019ll see gift shops that cater to cruise ship passengers.<\/p>\n Inside some, you\u2019ll find Native rattles and masks made in Indonesia that sell for much cheaper than ones made by Native artists \u2014 \u201cnone of that goes to the Native community,\u201d Tlingit artist Ricky Tagaban said.<\/p>\n \u201cI see cultural appropriation as someone coming in from outside the community and using our visual arts to make money,\u201d Tagaban said.<\/p>\n One downtown gift shop with shelves of Native carvings had signs that indicated which ones are reproductions and which ones originate from Ward Cove in Southeast Alaska. A small carving made in Southeast cost $131.00; a comparable reproduction made in Indonesia cost $22.95. In another shop, a mug with formline design made in China cost $9.99.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s up to us what we do with our artwork. It\u2019s not up to people who are not from our community,\u201d Tagaban said. \u201cSo much has been taken from us already.\u201d<\/p>\n To push back against cultural appropriation, Tagaban said he spends time talking to visitors and Alaskans about history to give them context.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople just don\u2019t know, and that is by design because our ways of life were outlawed; we were under attack by these bigger institutions,\u201d Tagaban said. \u201cLike where have you heard about what it takes to weave a Chilkat blanket? That\u2019s not talked about in school very much, because we\u2019re not in control of our education. I end up talking to people about what\u2019s authentic and where they should look.\u201d<\/p>\n For instance, if something costs $5, it likely didn\u2019t take 200 hours to make.<\/p>\n Tagaban\u2019s training is steeped in tradition. He learned from Tlingit weaver Clarissa Rizal who learned from Tlingit master weaver Jennie Thlunaut.<\/p>\n He recently finished his first Chilkat robe \u2014 a commission based on clan relationship ties.<\/p>\n On the robe is a forward facing wolf, a house crest. Tagaban said a robe \u201cshows lineage and records your history. There\u2019s a story and a reason for every crest we have.\u201d<\/p>\n The robe, which is for a child, was three years in the making.<\/p>\n \u201cBefore you even sit down at the frame, you have hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars before you can even think about weaving,\u201d Tagaban described.<\/p>\n He was initially able to start the robe through funds from the Rasmuson Foundation. He spun wool for three months.<\/p>\n \u201cI cooked all the bark in a crockpot for a week to make it soft. You cook the sap out so you can actually spin it without it getting stuck in your hand. The goal when you spin is to get the wool to wrap around the bark, so it\u2019ll last longer and it\u2019s a nice substitute for mountain goat wool. If you gather all that bark, it\u2019s easier than gathering mountain goat wool,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n While he was doing that, he made hundreds of other weavings, including cellphone bags, purses, woven earrings \u2014 items for a larger audience, both Native and non-Native. An iPhone bag starts at $400, woven earrings at $100.<\/p>\n Tagaban cares about who wears his art. His target audience are Tlingit people, those he can create regalia for.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s who I weave for. In a perfect world, that\u2019s my customer, but I have to eat, so I market stuff that\u2019s a little more accessible, like earrings. Anyone can wear that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Despite his clear definition of cultural appropriation, Tagaban said he isn\u2019t quick to judge.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a case-by-case thing,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not going to label every non-Native I see (doing our artwork) as someone who\u2019s doing appropriation.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u2018Not trying to own it\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Artist Don Morgan is a non-Native person making and selling Native art in Juneau. And he\u2019s totally upfront about it.<\/p>\n \u201cCustomers will ask whose is it, what is it, and we tell them. Most people don\u2019t care as long as it\u2019s good art, if it\u2019s well done,\u201d Morgan said. \u201cI\u2019ve had local Natives ask, \u2018Are you Native?\u2019 I say no and they buy it anyway as long as the art is well done and well represented and not butchered and hideous looking.\u201d<\/p>\n Morgan is the owner of Haa Shagoon, located on Ferry Way in downtown Juneau. A big sign in the window advertises, \u201cLocally Made Native Art.\u201d<\/p>\n About 90 percent of the art in the store is made by local Alaska Native artists, he said. The shop features work by artists like Abel Ryan (the Tsimshian carver who trained Lang), Tlingit and Tsimshian artist John Evans and Tlingit weaver Clarissa Rizal (who trained Tagaban). Morgan said the artists set their own price and get 70 percent. There\u2019s also space in the store for artists to work.<\/p>\n Alongside the items made by Alaska Natives is art made by Morgan \u2014 rattles, plaques, clocks, drums, lamps, paddles, beadwork. Most of the items feature Northwest Coast formline. Everything in the store is labeled with the artist\u2019s name.<\/p>\n Is this an example of cultural appropriation?<\/p>\n Lily Hope, a Tlingit weaver who has an ensemble of weaving for sale at Haa Shagoon, isn\u2019t sure. She said there are examples of people making Northwest Coast art who weren\u2019t born into it, people like artist Steve Brown and weaver Kay Parker.<\/p>\n Hope said Morgan is another example. What she is sure about, she said, is he isn\u2019t falsely advertising that he\u2019s indigenous.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s not trying to step on anyone\u2019s toes,\u201d she said. \u201cHe\u2019s being true to the art form in that he\u2019s not trying to say this is made by a Native person and I would say his work is pretty decent as far as formline goes, but I\u2019m not an expert.\u201d<\/p>\n She said Morgan, like Brown and Parker, respect and honor the art.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a gentleness of spirit and an acknowledgment of where the art comes from. The awe that they\u2019re experiencing of the art itself is evident in the work where they\u2019re not trying to own it; they\u2019re more letting it come through them,\u201d Hope said.<\/p>\n Morgan has been learning about the art since 2013 when he moved to Juneau and made friends with local artists. He hesitated when Native friends encouraged him to learn their artwork.<\/p>\n \u201cI was doing portraits and stuff like that and they were like, \u2018You should learn how to carve as good as you draw. You could be really good at it.\u2019 I said, \u2018I don\u2019t know. I really don\u2019t want to use somebody else\u2019s culture.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n But as he spent time with friends like Ryan and Evans, he did learn from them.<\/p>\n \u201cI just liked it. And then I just wanted to start a store where the artist got the credit and the money,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Teaching and protecting Native art<\/strong><\/p>\n During Celebration in June, Sealaska Heritage Institute held a Juried Youth Art Exhibit and awarded an honorable mention to a non-Native participant.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd that\u2019s fine,\u201d said executive director Rosita Worl. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a clan crest.\u201d<\/p>\n In trying to make Juneau the Northwest Coast Arts capital \u2014 an effort that\u2019s been ongoing for a couple of years \u2014 Sealaska Heritage Institute is trying to cultivate an appreciation for the art form. That means conducting trainings in the school system, in the prison, within Juneau and in surrounding villages.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve taught non-Native teachers to teach Northwest Coast art. We\u2019re teaching non-Native children about Northwest Coast art. If they\u2019re going to have an appreciation of art, we want them to have an appreciation of good art,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n It also involves teaching about the cultural rules and values around the art. Worl said SHI is trying to promote cross-cultural diversity and understanding. She said it can be a struggle and a conflict.<\/p>\n \u201cThe difference is we are fully engaged in this, whereas before we were just the passive people where things were being done to us,\u201d Worl explained. \u201cWe have two different ideological systems coming into contact and when the cultural appropriation occurred it was the dominant society that was taking things away from an indigenous society. But now we\u2019re trying to figure out \u2014 with two competing ideological systems, two societies with two different world views \u2014 how do we make that work for us?\u201d<\/p>\n Worl said she wants Southeast Alaska Native culture to survive.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know it has to adapt to these modern situations, but we also have to figure out how do we protect the cultural protocols, the cultural rules, the cultural norms?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u2018I think I\u2019d feel different if I wasn\u2019t from here\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Downtown at the new AP Showroom, a formline sun design by Native artist Len Edwards is painted on the wall and silkscreened on shirts and tank tops. Native artwork on wood by James Johnson hangs on the walls.<\/p>\n The store is the latest venture by Aurora Projekt owner Scott Baxter. Aurora Projekt designs, like the AK Hand or the 907, are seen on T-shirts, hoodies, hats. Stickers are plastered on things from trucks to Xtratufs.<\/p>\n Several of the designs incorporate Native formline.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to start something where I included local friends and artists and people I met along the way, and some of them were Native and had Native art,\u201d said Baxter, who\u2019s non-Native and is a fourth-generation Juneauite.<\/p>\n He\u2019s used designs by Native artists Shane Brown and Logan Henkins, oftentimes buying the design outright or paying an artist each time something with their design is purchased.<\/p>\n Baxter said he\u2019s never received comments about being a non-Native business owner profiting off of Native imagery, but he hasn\u2019t given it too much thought. He added he\u2019s also profiting off of imagery that\u2019s not Native.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I\u2019d feel different if I wasn\u2019t from here and I didn\u2019t grow up around it. I\u2019m definitely not Native, but this whole area is in my blood, I grew up around it and I\u2019ve got a lot of respect for the heritage and culture,\u201d Baxter said.<\/p>\n He said it\u2019d also be different if he was doing the designwork, which he does not.<\/p>\n \u201cShane Brown took a raindrop and he made it into a Native design, and he took the AK Hand and gave it its thing,\u201d Baxter said. \u201cI\u2019m just putting it on shirts and stuff, and it\u2019s a different look and it\u2019s cool.\u201d<\/p>\n He hopes his shops can serve as a stepping stone for some of his designers, and showcase design and artwork he has a lot of respect for.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u2018If it\u2019s done in the right way\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Back at High Tide, tattoo artist Dave Lang wants to promote an appreciation of formline through his work.<\/p>\n \u201cKnowing that we had so much of the culture put away for so long, to have a cultural resurgence like we\u2019ve had over the last few decades when you\u2019re seeing potlatches and dance groups and artists and all these people flourishing is so beautiful, and that is a part of why I don\u2019t really see a problem if things are done in a conscious way.\u201d<\/p>\n So Lang\u2019s big question on if it\u2019s OK for non-Native peoples to get Native art on their body \u2014 he says sure.<\/p>\n \u201cIf it\u2019s done in the right way, if nobody\u2019s stealing, then that\u2019s just more Native artists that are getting business, that\u2019s just more Native artists that are making beautiful art work and that\u2019s what I want more than anything.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 Contact reporter Lisa Phu at 523-2246 or lisa.phu@juneauempire.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Juneau tattoo artist David Lang has recently seen an uptick of people wanting Alaska Native formline tattoos, something he specializes in. \u201cI say formline rather than say, \u2018I do Tlingit tattoos,\u2019 or, \u2018I do Tsimshian tattoos,\u2019 or, \u2018I do Haida tattoos,\u2019 because I\u2019m doing them for such a variety of people. I\u2019m tattooing a Tlingit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":30641,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[75],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-30640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30640"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=30640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}