Today we’d like to introduce you to Pili Ojos Magnificos.
Hi Pili, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My name is Pili Ojos Magnificos (they/them). I was born in Bogota, Colombia in 1996. When I was 2 years old my family immigrated to Miami, Florida. I started tattooing myself while I was a high schooler at New World School of the Arts in Miami around 2012.
In 2015, I moved to New York City and continued tattooing more professionally during my undergraduate time at The New School/Parsons School of Design. During my time living in NY, I met genius Black Indigenous ancestral tattoo artists AnAkA @4N4K4 and Iwan @brown.tatu. Collectively we were focused on inspiring each other, praising our ancestors, and honoring the Black + brown indigenous roots of tattoo traditions.
While living in NY, I would sometimes travel to Baltimore to visit a close childhood friend of mine, and through them, I met their partner Luna Maria Oak @luna_0ak. Luna’s presence and tattoo practice further affirmed me to follow my spirit as I focused on honoring my indigenous Andean ancestry with my spiritual tattoo practice.
After graduating, I moved to Baltimore and I am now a resident tattoo artist at Fruit Camp. Fruit Camp @fruit.camp is a Queer-owned and operated tattoo collective and multidisciplinary studio in Baltimore, Maryland (Piscataway land), founded by tattoo artists Emi Lynn Holler @emi.lynn.holler and Georgia McCandlish @ghostnests in 2019.
Fruit Camp is located at 2658 Miles Avenue in the Remington neighborhood of Baltimore. For more info: https://www.fruitcamptattoo.com/. Now, I am focused on perfecting my ancestral tattoo ceremony craft & technique since I am self-taught and just getting started. I am educating myself and others about the Black + brown indigenous roots of tattoos and body art cultures. I see tattooing as a sacred cultural practice where the medicine of knowledge sharing, body sovereignty, and healing alchemy is present.
I am honored to meet clients from all over the world – to learn what they know of their ancestral lineages and to create a decolonial portal of healing intention + direction for the path that lies ahead in the future.
At your service. Blessings!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Being MILALMAS, Trans, Queer, Andean, Brown, and an Immigrant are all my blessings, as well as my obstacles while navigating through life.
It has been a blessing to begin to decolonize my mind + spirit and to educate myself on the rich history of Black Trans liberation movements and to hear the stories of freedom-fighting ancestors. This knowledge gives me the strength to overcome anything that life brings my way.
It has been a journey and I have so much more to learn, but I am in my purpose. I accept myself as I am. It’s nothing my angels and ancestors can’t handle. We give thanks! Blessings!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My tattoo practice honors & continues the Black, Brown, and Indigenous history of tattooing and understands tattoos to be sacred portals.
Historically, Tattooing has been criminalized by violent global hegemonic societies based on anti-black anti-indigenous cisheteronormativity patriarchal European social & cultural values which demand eurocentric white minimal aesthetics. Reclaiming ancestral tattoos is a foundational aspect of decolonization, indigenization, and MILALMAS gender-full ancestral healing.
I am proud of my ancestral roots and Andean culture from Colombia. I am proud of my vessel and experience as a Brown, MILALMAS, Genderfull, Androgynous. North Andean Colombian-born, Miami-raised, Baltimore-based Trans-disciplinary Portal Creator.
I refer to the tattoos I co-create on people as Ink + Blood Portals, because of the ability to channel Ancestral feeling/embodiment in order to hybridize/transmute/transform one’s life. In a 1-on-1 Ancestral Ink + Blood Portal Tatu Ceremony, my client and I transmute, alchemize, and heal ancestral timelines/DNA via Decolonial discussions, Ancestral intention setting, and an Ink + Blood tatu offering ceremony.
The Ink + Blood Portals I create allow people to anchor themselves in the present moment of their tattoo ceremony as an initiation in honor of active generational steps toward forgiveness + growth forward for all, allowing them to re-align to the infinite possibilities of their self/body (3D/4D) + spirit/soul (5D) for the collective universal highest dimension.
I am interested in tattooing as an alternative economic healing practice that exists in conjunction with my creative and theoretical practice. I also tattoo QTBIPOC relatives at lowered rates and at capacity via gift/exchange economic trades. I experience interpersonal healing/connections at the same time as economic stability through these Ancestral Tattoo Ritual Ceremonies.
Through tattooing myself/others I have confirmed my understanding of my role in the present moment to aid a culture shift through my creations + partake in the continuation of de-colonial ancestral healing & divestment from the dominant hegemonic forces and all their facets.
My tattoos are highly individualized areas of heightened consciousness co-created through consensual pain + blood offerings and prayer. They are Ancestral spirit markings; they are energy chambers that we allow to exist on our bodies for the rest of our lives.
I use spirit, faith, and breath to guide me through the skin. Each Ink + Blood Portal is unique in design, prayer, and ceremony. As of 2023, in collaboration with the Legendary Private Chef Zion, it is an honor to offer: Food & Tatu Ancestral Celebration Ceremonies!
This experience is exactly what its name entails: A Food & Tatu Ancestral Celebration Ceremony inspired by your ancestral lineages. Services include Ancestral Ink + Blood Portal Tatu Ceremony w/Pili Ojos Magnificos & A Personalized Ancestral Food Menu thanks to Chef Zion’s Private Culinary Services.
Blessings!
What matters most to you? Why?
Family & community matter the most to me, as well as our culture and sovereignty. Water is life. My roots and spirituality are core centers for me.
All these things are the origin from which all else can be created.
Pricing:
- Ink + blood portal prices are based on a rate of $115 per hour / $300 minimum. However, for BIQTPOC relatives, I will charge $88 per hour/ $200 Minimum + based on your budget. Bendicíon!
- However, for BIQTPOC relatives, I will charge $88 per hour/ $200 Minimum + based on your budget. Bendicíon!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ojosmagnificos.myportfolio.com/about
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ojosmagnificos/?hl=en
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTZuXPXcy6mlDE7QKgkyPAA/about
- Other: https://linktr.ee/ojosmagnificos
Image Credits
Frio Pecho Frio
