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INKEDblog takes you beneath the skin of today's tattoo culture. Our mission is to celebrate tattooing as a modern art form which incorporates art, fashion, style, and pop culture. While paying homage and respect to the past, we look to present a contemporary take on the present and future of skin art.
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Thursday Mar 02, 2006
Every BODY Has a Story: Family Totem
I’m from Canada, though I’ve lived in the US for many years now. When I was a kid, the West Coast Native American culture heavily influenced the area where I grew up. We admired the way the Native Americans treated the land, the fish and the rivers. Though I am not Native American myself, I identify my values about family with the ideas of balance and respect that I learned from this culture as a child.
Traditionally, the tribes who lived in that area made totems, which I always thought were interesting and beautiful.
I have a book with a spiritual wheel that tells you what your Native American spirit animal might be, and I found the symbols for my three children and me.
The top of the totem stands for me. Though the Thunderbird is not my spirit sign, I used it to represent myself here because a Thunderbird is a traditional top image on totems. Another reason I wanted the Thunderbird is that the wings of the bird hang low and protect the rest of the totem.
This tattoo is for my family. I am at the top, and my children below in order of age. Their names are above the totem: Grant, Parker and Sheridan. Their symbols are the salmon, the frog and the bear. There is no wife or girlfriend in this totem because you can’t count on a relationship staying together forever. Your kids though? Yes. They are here for good.
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