CBC Arts is part of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and it’s home to the most surprising, relevant and provocative stories featuring artists from diverse communities across Canada. In light of this, producer Lise Hosein, recently launched a digital series on their feed called Art Hurts. The series features some of the most innovative tattoo artists in Canada, who are also all female-identifying or gender non-binary.
In many cultures, tattooing was traditionally done by women and worn by women, and Art Hurts wants to show how these tradition has survived in an often male-heavy industry. The eight artists chosen for the video series, include; Hilary Jane, Liz Kim, Ilona Fiddy, Tee Fergus, Marigold Santos, Jessica Coffey, Amy Malbeuf and Nomi Chi.
Producer Lise Hosein explains the inspiration behind the series:
This series came about mainly because I’m fascinated by tattoos and wanted to focus on some who had a compelling and really recognisable aesthetic, to really shine a light on the art and design that goes into tattoos. And along the way, I happily realised that there’s a growing community of female and non binary artists who are changing the landscape. So we decided to focus exlusively on them! And I hope we’ll get to do more.
These tattoo artists had been chosen because they have written meaning and symbology in their tattoos that is created in a way that it resonates with the people who get them, they are also doing new things with the craft, helping to bring it into a new era of tattooing.
Watch the first episode here, featuring Toronto based Ilona Fiddy, then head to the CBC Arts channel for more in the series.