Interview with tattoo artist maya aka antagxnxst (Part 1)

What is your name & pronouns? Maya (They/Them)

How did you become interested in tattoo artistry? Can you share your journey and what drew you to this profession?

If you said I would be a tattoo artist even five years ago, I wouldn't have believed you. I've been practicing art for ten years, I've tried many different mediums, and tattooing was always something I was very vocal about not wanting to do. Mostly out of the usual fears a lot of people have when considering it, the concept of perfectionism, permanence, and the idea of being a part of the traditional tattooing scene, which as a queer nonbinary person, I had no interest in subjecting myself to.

My main interest at the time was sequential art (and, in my case, storyboarding), which I majored in at the School of Visual Arts from 2017-2019. That was until I found myself disenchanted with art school, and I found myself dropped out and broke. I was completely dependent on freelance modeling at the time. Something that was financially sporadic at best and traumatic at its worst.

I still wanted to do something with my art; I wanted freedom; I wanted to go to work and not have to dread doing it every day. And after a year of trying to convince my ex at the time to tattoo and seeing them begin, I decided to embark on my own as well. I figured, what's the harm in learning another skill? And how hard could tattooing be? After all the years and projects I have undertaken, I've come to understand almost all the mediums and techniques I've tried, at least on a base level. Well, it turns out tattooing is the most difficult art form there is. And I didn't know it at the time, but I was about to be humbled.

From the beginning, I knew I didn't have the patience or mental health to put myself in the position of a traditional apprenticeship. I'll admit that a part of it was arrogance on my end, but I just didn't feel the need to put myself in a potentially abusive situation. I was determined to learn on my own, maybe half out of spite.

I got my license with my partner at the time and began tattooing people out of our apartment room. It wasn't the ideal situation, but we made it as professional and hygienic as we possibly could under the conditions. We had the system down to a T- The futon would be rolled up and shoved in the closet along with all the pillows, and the tattoo table, light, and tray would come out, and we would get to work.

After half a year of working out of the apartment and becoming increasingly disheartened by how difficult it was to conceptualize certain parts of tattooing, even with the internet, I admitted that I did, in fact, need a mentor. At this point, I realized I truly enjoyed the craft, and if I wanted to continue, I would need hands-on, in-person observation.

It would come to me as an unbelievable coincidence. One day on a photo shoot in NJ with a photographer I had shot with many times before, I mentioned that I was teaching myself how to tattoo; he then told me that his family member had opened his own shop in Manhattan and would be willing to take me in. I went ahead and reached out and got in touch with Nick from Manhattan Ink LLC. For the next five months, I spent my time observing him tattooing, asking questions, and writing down pages and pages of notes. It was basically a crash course in all things tattooing, and It was a lovely experience. Something I'm incredibly grateful for.

But I still knew I needed more experience, more than what I was getting with my appointment-only schedule at the time. I needed to work at a walk-in shop. I found myself working at (redacted) in Time Square. For the next few months, I toned my skill. And for the first time, I really saw a career doing something I loved. Unfortunately, a walk-in shop comes with a walk-in shop environment. I could only take so much toxicity from my employers.

For the next year, I drifted in and out of tattooing from my apartment, still determined but generally lost on where to go next. I even considered finding a new career path. And what made me sad is that throughout all this, tattooing, as difficult as it was in the beginning, was something I had actually enjoyed doing. I loved to interact with clients, the challenge of different styles, and the satisfaction of just doing art in general. No other medium had been so rewarding. I always knew it was something I would come back to; I just didn't know when.

That was until I came to Cherry Bomb (and, by extension) Ro for freckles. It was just supposed to be a little birthday gift for myself. I hadn't thought about it for months, but a part of me kept nagging to ask if they were hiring a tattoo artist. And it's pretty much history from there :)