ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Albuquerque artist Ray Kim showed off her skills in a live self-tattoo performance.
During the event, she celebrated the culmination of a six-month residency with a local print shop by launching her new book Sublime Hallucinations.
“It was basically taking this, like little idea about, like, this very broad topic, like the decolonized history of tattooing, and then finding the thread that sort of connects it to me, and I am someone who has, like, a history of chronic pain and chronic illness,” said Kim.
As a Korean American, the artist added distilled mugwort, a common Korean herb used in traditional medicine, to the ink.
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“I’m tattooing my wrist, which I actually had an injury to about 10 years ago, and it’s still actually pretty weak. I can’t carry a gallon of water or milk with it,” said Kim.
Kim said the healing method has been around since prehistoric times, “I know a lot of people get tattooed because it is sort of like therapy for them. It really is a great way to take your mind and bring you back into your body.”