By Rae Wiltshire
Life is uncertain. One day you’re here and the next you could be gone. Faced with the reality that we are all going to die, some think the best way to live life is not to take it so seriously. Just be. Let it flow. Do what you love; do not think about its deeper meaning. Have fun. Enjoy your time here while trying not to think too much about the negatives that surround us in the world.
Talking to Keion Singh, 33, I got the feeling that he is one of those people who are trying to enjoy the ride.
“I mean, I just chill out and then see how everything play out. I is just chill out. I is a laid back bro, dude. I is a dude. I laid back. Problem, me ain’t really think I had no kinda problem. I is a decent Christian guy,” Keion said.
The last claim felt like a joke.
“You Christian?” I asked?
“No,” he laughs. “I don’t really get tie up in them thing. I ain’t deh pun dem religion thing, cah dem religion thing is nuff itation, them is waan keep yuh inna box and want control yuh, I can’t do that.”
A tattoo artist working at Vintage Cut Barbershop on 177 Charlotte and Alexander Street, Keion was never going to be kept in a box. His sense of style is based on what makes him comfortable and not what gives society comfort.
His arms are tattooed and his earlobes have been pierced and stretched to make holes so ornaments can be fitted inside them. I have seen such piercings in African culture, but he is the first person in Guyana I have seen with them.
I asked about people’s reaction to his physical appearance. “I don’t geh f***ing time with them. Duh is them itation. How I look, it ain’t bothering me, but it bothering them, so Duh is Dey problem,” Keion said.
Being an artist and following your own path was something his father encouraged. He wanted Keion to do what he loved. His father, who was an artist and craftsman of bags and shoes, would often have other artist friends around Keion in his childhood. He ended up being taught to draw by his father’s friend, who was a sculptor from Vietnam. From then, he would practice by drawing some of his favourite characters, like the Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, X-Men and the Mortal Kombat cast. “As long as you could draw it and colour it, you could tattoo it,” said Keion, who has tattooed persons with emperors, Roman architecture, angels, animals, and popular characters like Deadpool and Buttercup from the Powerpuff Girls.
His tattoos look hyper realistic and skillfully crafted but honing his skills was a painful and bloody developmental process. Keion was 14 when he became inquisitive about a tattoo artist’s set-up in his friend’s house. He was fascinated by the process and the equipment, which he described as “some weird looking f***ing $#!+.” The artist observed Keion’s interest and asked if he wanted his own equipment. Yes was the answer, but Keion thought it was a bluff. It wasn’t; Keion got his first tattoo equipment but did not have the correct ink. He substituted with stationary ink and an eager friend asked for his first tattoo. The friend was his canvas. “I would be tattooing and he would be hollering,” Keion said.
Oftentimes, there was a lot of bleeding. He cringes looking at these tattoos but this process, painful as it was, was his education and has made him into one of the most sought after tattoo artists working today. Keion improved by reading books and later watching YouTube videos to better serve his clients. He has definitely reaped the benefits of studying his craft. Customers are always streaming in due to word of mouth and his portfolio.
He did not always have support to be a tattoo artist, but he didn’t need any. His self-belief compelled him to pursue it. “A lot of people used to tell me tattooing ain’t going nowhere and look now. What the f***? Don’t listen to nobody in this life; if you want something, you gah go and do it because people is throw doubts at yuh and mek yuh stop. I mean [words] is come through one ears and is go through the other. Fuh me, as long as is something that not gonna benefit me, me ain’t want hear yuh negative $#!+. I is a rebel. I don’t like people tell me wha’ fuh do,” Keion said. “I just follow me gut.”
The spirit of rebellion can be a driving force to achieving your goals. It is freeing because it allows a person to walk their own path, despite opposition. You become yourself and do not seek permission to be who you are. Keion’s answers to my last questions made me realise the freedom of just living and doing what you like. I asked him what his tattoos meant. He said, “Is just $#!+ that I like, me f***ing tattoos ain’t get no, no, meaning.” It is a simple answer that deserved no big introspection or justification of why he does tattooing. It is an answer that can frustrate a person looking for some greater meaning but the meaning is in the simplicity. Do what you like in life. When I asked how he wanted to be remembered when he died, I should have expected this answer. “Meen really kay, I gon done dead.” A nonchalant answer to a question that really doesn’t matter when you’re dead.
You can contact Keion on 684-7685 if you’re thinking about getting a tattoo. Just don’t show up drunk because drunk people “is nuff itation” according to him. You can view some of his work on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/dead_i89/
