The idea of wearing tattoos can be somewhat sacred; a personal story that you literally wear on your sleeve. Joaquin aka basura tatu turns this concept on its head by drawing doodles onto the skin of his clients like a playful child.
In this CLAVEL feature, we sit down with the guy behind basura tatu to dive deep into his early journey as a tattoo artist, and how he has managed to carve out an identity out of his unique style.
NY to LU
Having experienced college years in New York, the humble beginnings of basura tatu were filled with concrete dreams with the vivid art scene of the states – most especially with tattooing. Growing up, film and music was his thing as he initially wanted to be a director. His perception widened on the possible art styles that could be, and found that tattooing is his bread and butter.
Moving back to the motherland, he resided in the beaches of La Union where he further developed this love for the art – taking up voluntary apprenticeship at 55 Tinta. Realizing that his dream of tattooing was closer than ever before, the young artist researched the hell out of the artform, which eventually led him to try out his drawings on the skin of his friends for free.
Different Strokes for Different Folks
basura tatu has a playful take on tattoos, favoring squiggly lines and weird designs rather than the traditional biker tribal patterns or dainty designs off of Pinterest boards. Even finding his own tattoo shop is a pretty gnarly experience, located upstairs in his mom’s laundromat in Cubao. Once inside, visitors are greeted by an intimate space decorated with his previous works – each a one of one design that captures the essence of a child drawing on their bedroom walls. Pulling inspiration from cartoon characters like Hello Kitty with compound eyes and Doodlebob to cultural imagery such as Jesus Christ and Sto Niño, there’s no limit to the possibilities like a kid’s imagination.
[on tattoos having meaning] “I learned to let go. The main meaning is gusto ko ng tattoo and it makes me 1% cooler. I keep adding them and eventually mag iincrease coolness ko.”
With how unconventional the style of basura tatu is, it’s sure to gain divisive reactions from the online community. Joaquin turns trash into gold by putting all these reactions in good light, with most audiences finding an innocent charm with the young artist’s designs.
It’s Not That Serious
“I have this delusion that tattoos will blow up here; Gen Zs will make more money and magpapa tattoo silang lahat. Tapos lahat ng tattoo na gusto nila weird.”
So what makes basura tatu so appealing? Well, it’s a love letter from one creative navigating the scene to others experiencing the same. Whether you’re a college student starting to find your place in the world to a 40 year old frustrated creative, you’re bound to find some sort of attachment by embracing the unusual and having it spark some creative juices lingering inside of you.
Right now aside from managing his own tattoo shop, he also collaborates with artist-led collectives in Filipiniana Tattoo and Tusok Studios that also features other artists with their own unique styles. And that’s his masterplan right there: replicating the vibrant and diverse tattoo scene of not just New York, but from Spain and Japan as well to name a few. The goal is to not just make tattoos here socially acceptable, but to make the weird and outlandish the norm.
It may not be for everyone but if you understand his vision, then it’ll speak to your skin and soul. You can check out basura tatu’s work over on Instagram and TikTok to see the beauty behind the basura.
