Transformative Marks is a podcast that journeys through the world of Indigenous tattooing, amplifying the voices of ancestral skin markers, Indigenous tattoo artists, cultural tattoo practitioners, and those who wear the marks. Through a mix of interviews and solo shows, Dion Kaszas brings you the entertaining, challenging, and transformative stories behind every dot, line, and stitch. Embedded in each mark is a unique story that brings forward the reality of contemporary Indigenous peoples living a contemporary existence. Our Indigenous ancestors' struggle, pain, tears, resistance, and resilience are celebrated, honored, respected, and embedded underneath our skin. This podcast explores the stories, truths, and histories essential to us as Indigenous tattoo artists, cultural tattoo practitioners, and ancestral skin markers. These stories bring forward our ancestral visual languages and cultures' power, brilliance, and beauty. So that those coming after us are reminded of how amazing we are.
Dion Kaszas is an Nlaka’pamux born-again Coyote, ancestral skin marker and a leader in the revival of Indigenous tattooing in Canada. He has been tattooing professionally since 2009 and started the revival of Nlaka’pamux tattooing in 2012. He holds a Master’s degree in Indigenous Studies from the University of British Columbia Okanagan. His work has been featured in Spiritual Skin: Magical Tattoos and Scarification (2012), Tattoo Traditions of Native North America: Ancient and Contemporary Expressions of Identity (2014), and The World Atlas of Tattoo (2015). In 2018, he was featured in Skindigenous, a 13-part documentary series produced in association with APTN exploring Indigenous tattooing traditions around the world.
Check out Dion's tattoo work at:
Dion and the Transformative Marks Podcast acknowledge the support of:
The Canada Council for the Arts ,
Arts Nova Scotia
and
The IOTA Institute