Ot­to Car­ring­ton

Se­nior Re­porter

ot­to.car­ring­ton@guardian.co.tt

As Car­ni­val sea­son ap­proach­es, tat­too cul­ture is gain­ing mo­men­tum across Trinidad and To­ba­go and the wider Caribbean—not just as a fash­ion state­ment, but as an art form, a ca­reer path and a pow­er­ful way to ex­press cul­ture and iden­ti­ty.

Do­minic Jaglal, CEO of Ink and Proud, says tat­toos are now be­ing recog­nised for their deep­er mean­ing and cre­ative val­ue, rather than be­ing viewed as taboo.

“We are spread­ing tat­too cul­ture through­out the Caribbean and show­cas­ing what Trinidad re­al­ly has,” Jaglal said.

He added that the move­ment has grown from Trinidad to To­ba­go, Guyana, St Lu­cia and Bar­ba­dos, and con­tin­ues to ex­pand.

Jaglal said Ink and Proud’s tat­too pop-up ini­tia­tive is in­spired by Car­ni­val—a cel­e­bra­tion of art, vibes and cul­ture— as tat­toos pro­vide an­oth­er way for peo­ple to rep­re­sent their ex­pe­ri­ences and iden­ti­ty.

“You know, we talk about cos­tumes and mas­quer­ades and stuff like that, and I be­lieve hav­ing a piece of cre­ativ­i­ty on your skin, rep­re­sent­ing what you re­al­ly, in your mind, heart, soul and your ex­pe­ri­ences, could be shown on skin as a pub­lic art,” he said. “Show who you re­al­ly are. Dec­o­rate your body with art and cre­ativ­i­ty.”

Jaglal said most tat­too artists now main­tain in­di­vid­ual so­cial me­dia pro­files so clients can choose based on style and port­fo­lio.

He said the tat­too move­ment is more than just body art—it is al­so a pos­i­tive force for youth de­vel­op­ment.

Jaglal said tat­too­ing of­fers a cre­ative al­ter­na­tive for young peo­ple and can steer them away from neg­a­tive in­flu­ences.

“What could put down the gun and pick up the ma­chine is cre­ativ­i­ty,” he said, not­ing that many young peo­ple have found pur­pose and sta­bil­i­ty through art.

He added that tat­toos of­ten car­ry sig­nif­i­cant per­son­al mean­ing, from semi­colon tat­toos sym­bol­is­ing sur­vival af­ter sui­cide at­tempts to mark­ings cel­e­brat­ing re­cov­ery from ad­dic­tion, or an­gel num­bers that rep­re­sent life mile­stones.

“These are not just things you put on your skin,” Jaglal said. “They have mean­ing, and the artists put time, en­er­gy and emo­tion in­to cre­at­ing those sto­ries.”