Artist, activist, and owner/founder of Thunderbird Rising Studios in Indianapolis, Stephanie Big Eagle will talk about the traditional Indigenous practice of hand poked tattooing and how both the practice of tattooing and the tattoo itself shape and reflect cultural identity.

Tattoos are inherently tied to identity as one is choosing to permanently adorn their body with visual aspects of their self. Like many Native art forms, oppression and assimilation practices led traditional tattooing practices to be set aside for a time. Fortunately, these tattooing traditions are experiencing a reawakening and revival in recent years, helping Native Peoples connect deeply to cultural practices that were nearly lost.

Those gathered for the event will have a chance to hear Lakota/Dakota tattoo artist Stephanie Big Eagle and others talk about the practice of hand poked tattooing and how Indigenous tattoos both shape and reflect individual and cultural identities.

A partnership between Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, Purdue University Native American Educational and Cultural Center, and Indiana Native American Indian Affairs Commission.

Contact the event organizers at (317) 275-1377 or museumprograms@eiteljorg.com.

Walk-ins welcome, but registration is strongly encouraged by Nov. 9.

This event will also be livestreamed via Vimeo. 

Register below.

The second group includes people with innate disabilities. We try to rectify what nature Carly Rae Jepsen has deprived us of. And the third group includes patients who should be discouraged. They hope that after plastic surgery problems in the family or at work will disappear, or they will have good luck in the love life. These people don’t realize that the reasons are within themselves and not in their appearance. Sometimes just talking is enough to make the patient realize that there is no need for surgery, because they just need to solve their psychological problems.