These Vancouver artists are turning tattoos into tradition

It’s a contradiction she hears often: “Mehndi is celebrated when it’s temporary. But when it’s permanent, it becomes taboo.”

Still, she sees change. With each piece she creates, she’s carving space for South Asian identity in the tattoo world.

“When it means something to the person… when they’re getting it for grounding or healing… that’s when tattooing feels the most rewarding,” she said. “That’s why I do this.”

Justine Crawford: Delicate lines, deep legacy

Tattoo artist Justine Crawford didn’t set out to reconnect with her culture, but her ink found its way there anyway.

Half-Chinese and raised in Vancouver, Crawford’s style blends bold composition with intricate detail.

Her work is deeply influenced by her grandfather, a carpenter and visual artist who lived with her growing up.

“He was always carving, crafting, sketching,”  she said. “That made a huge impression on me.”

Before becoming a tattoo artist, she worked in graphic design.

But at art markets, people began gravitating toward her illustrations, some of which referenced family heirlooms, Chinese scrolls, and silk embroidery that once hung in her childhood home.

Today, those influences live on in her tattoos.

“Many of my clients are Chinese or East Asian,” she said. “They’ll come to me with stories or objects from their homes. One woman asked me to design a tattoo inspired by a fan her grandmother used to carry.”

Even when clients don’t know the full history behind a motif, Crawford encourages curiosity.

“I’m still learning, too,” she said. “Sometimes I’ll draw something from memory, then look it up and realize it’s a symbol for clarity or protection. That’s part of the journey.”

In an industry that hasn’t always welcomed artists of colour, Crawford said she’s grateful for finding a community of peers also exploring identity through ink.

“There’s space now for different kinds of tattooing… not just bold black-and-grey traditional, but fine lines, ornamental styles, culturally inspired work,” she said. “I’m proud to be part of that.”

Crawford also tattoos out of Sleep Talk Tattoo Studio in Downtown Vancouver.

Mario “Mayo” Landicho: Reclaiming pintados

Mario Landicho (known in Vancouver’s tattoo scene as Mayo) remembers tattooing before he ever called it art.

Growing up in the Philippines, tattoos were linked with gangs and rebellion.

Mayo gave himself his first tattoos using pens, needles, and rotary ink, often in secret, with makeshift tools.

“Back then, we didn’t call it tattooing,” he said. “We just marked ourselves. But there was stigma. People thought you were a criminal if you had tattoos.”

Before immigrating to Canada in 1999, Mayo was a music teacher with degrees in economics and the arts.

Once in Vancouver, he saw an opportunity to do something different and opened one of the city’s first Filipino-owned tattoo shops: Birthmark Tattoos.

“I started tattooing my basketball buddies,” he said. “The demand just grew and grew. I worked at a few shops, but eventually, I opened my own.”

As his practice deepened, Mayo began researching Filipino tattoo traditions.

He learned about batok, a pre-colonial hand-tapping method, and travelled back to the Philippines to study under the world’s oldest living batok artist, Apo Whang-Od.

“I wanted to do it properly,” he said. “Not just learn from books or YouTube, but ask for a blessing and learn face to face. That’s the honourable way.”

Mayo now fuses traditional Filipino motifs with contemporary tattooing, using custom tools he designed himself, modernized for hygiene, but inspired by Indigenous craft.

 

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“For me, getting a tattoo is like being born again… with a mark,” he said. “That’s why I called my shop Birthmark — it’s about identity.”

He sees his work as both preservation and revival.

“As immigrants, we try so hard to become Canadian, but in the process, we sometimes forget our roots,” he said.

“Tattooing lets me hold on to my identity…  and share it,” Mayo said. “That’s what it’s always been about.”

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