Ep. 1.1A | Exploring Tattoo Apprenticeships, The Ìṣẹ̀ṣẹ (Traditional) Way

In this episode of Tattoo Rants, Raves & Rituals, Series A: Traditional Apprenticeship Culture, we sit down at the table to talk about self-accountability, reflection, and the small rituals that keep us grounded in the shop and in life. From revisiting life lessons like The Four Agreements to noticing the subtle shifts in ourselves over time, this conversation explores how personal growth is intertwined with apprenticeship.

Apprenticeship here isn’t just about mastering tattooing—it’s about learning how to hold yourself, check your ego, and stay accountable in every aspect of your craft and life.

✨ Highlights:

How revisiting key texts can serve as a personal prescription for growth.

The power of reflection and seeing yourself change over time.

Learning not to take things personally in the shop and in life.

Why self-accountability is a cornerstone of apprenticeship, mentorship, and cultural care.

This episode reminds us that apprenticeship isn’t just about skill—it’s about becoming the person capable of holding responsibility, perspective, and presence in both your art and your relationships.

Tattoo Rants Raves & Rituals, Season 1: A Seat at the Table

Season One invites listeners into an intimate series of culture conversations where Black tattooists and cultural workers gather to critique and reclaim voice and visibility at the intersections of art, history, and tattoo. Each conversation is a seat at the table—where community comes to reckon with the truths of tattooing as inheritance and liberation.

* Series A: Traditional Apprenticeship Culture explores apprenticeship as lineage, not labor—naming the discipline, humility, and spiritual presence required to carry this ancestral craft forward.

about: Black Tattoo Anthology®

An artist fellowship, living archive and digital campus dedicated to reclaiming, preserving, and reimagining Black tattoo culture across the diaspora. Founded and stewarded by Master Tattoo Artist and author Imani K. Brown®, the BTA documents our stories through scholarship, artistry, and community.

At the heart of our work is a commitment to cultural stewardship: honoring ancestral tattoo traditions, amplifying Black tattoo artists, and creating spaces where our creativity is remembered as inheritance, not erased as trend. From the Collective of participating artists, to our Podcast where culture bearers speak their truths, the Anthology is both a record and a ritual—an invitation to witness how ink carries memory, identity, and liberation.

We invite you to become a paid subscriber to sustain this work. Your support powers our digital campus, uplifts the artists who make up the Collective, and ensures that Black tattoo culture is preserved for future generations. | Website

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