Poko a Poko Tattoos

Poko a Poko Tattoos Handpoke & ornamental tattoos • Cosmetic freckles • Chicago ~ DC/DMV ~ Guatemala ~ Tennessee

✦ KARMA ✦A reflection on balance.The quiet exchange between what we offer and what returns.The invisible threads connect...
06/14/2026

✦ KARMA ✦

A reflection on balance.

The quiet exchange between what we offer and what returns.

The invisible threads connecting action and consequence.

The understanding that every movement creates a ripple.

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Created during my final Chicago guest spot before returning as a resident artist this summer.

The leaves were drawn directly onto Emylea’s body rather than transferred from a stencil. Freehanding allowed the design to follow her natural form, wrapping gently around the ankles and lower legs in a way that could only belong to her.

The entire piece was created by hand poke.

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There is something deeply intentional about working this way. Every mark placed by hand. Every curve developed in conversation with the body. Every element unfolding slowly through presence and trust.

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A slow process.
A collaborative process.
A reminder that what we create in the world is always in conversation with what creates us.

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Thank you, Emylea, for carrying this piece and for embracing the process so fully.

✦ Transforming the complex and deeply personal into something delicate enough to wear forever. This is the part of the w...
06/12/2026

✦ Transforming the complex and deeply personal into something delicate enough to wear forever.

This is the part of the work I love most.

Thank you Alice for your trust + presence ✦

06/10/2026

✦ One of the most trust-based ways I tattoo is through freehand design.

Instead of creating a finished stencil beforehand, I build the composition directly on the body. This allows me to respond to anatomy, movement, flow, and scale in real time.

The process is slower, but often results in work that feels deeply integrated with the body rather than simply placed onto it.

Every line is intentional. Every composition is unique.

This soft black floral piece was created during my time in Guatemala. ✦

Healed ✦A mark once fresh now softened into skin, carried through seasons, cities, endings, beginnings, grief, love, lif...
06/04/2026

Healed ✦

A mark once fresh
now softened into skin,
carried through seasons,

cities,

endings,

beginnings,

grief,

love,

life.

Some of these pieces were made years apart.

Some were created in different countries,
different versions of myself.

There is something deeply meaningful about being welcomed back into someone’s life after time has passed.
To witness the way a tattoo settles into a person — not as decoration, but as memory, protection, reminder, transformation.

A healed tattoo always tells a different story than a fresh one. ✦

06/01/2026

Ornamentation as memory.

Tattooing as transformation.

The body as archive.

Fresh marks beside healed ones —
evidence of time continuing forward.

༶ 𝑩𝑬𝑪𝑶𝑴𝑰𝑵𝑮 ༶𝑺𝒚𝒎𝒃𝒐𝒍𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏This concept was created in a moment of personal transition —a reflectio...
05/31/2026

༶ 𝑩𝑬𝑪𝑶𝑴𝑰𝑵𝑮 ༶

𝑺𝒚𝒎𝒃𝒐𝒍𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝑪𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏

This concept was created in a moment of personal transition
—
a reflection on emergence,

softness,

grief,

beauty,

and the slow act of becoming someone new.

An ornamental study on transformation, unfolding, and the person we become after everything changes.

I’ve always believed some tattoos carry their person toward them slowly.

Not to be rushed
—
only recognized.

Still available to be claimed when the moment is right.

༶ DC/DMV ༶My books are now openI’ll begin with returning clients first - those l’ve already worked with, and pieces that...
05/18/2026

༶ DC/DMV ༶

My books are now open

I’ll begin with returning clients first - those l’ve already worked with, and pieces that are continuing

After that, I’ll move into a small number of new requests

The work l’m holding space for right now is slower, more considered -
built in conversation with the body over time

If you’ve been feeling into something, or waiting for the moment to begin you can send it through the form
I’ll be moving through requests with care

a soft rebellion, traced into the skinthis isn’t just placement — it’s a choice to follow your own linesto honor the qui...
04/27/2026

a soft rebellion, traced into the skin

this isn’t just placement — it’s a choice to follow your own lines
to honor the quiet shifts, the becoming no one else can see yet

handpoked, slowly, intentionally
like every version of you that had to be shed to arrive here

for those who are changing… and ready to recognize it in their own body

༶ 𝑩𝑬𝑪𝑶𝑴𝑰𝑵𝑮 ༶𝑺𝒚𝒎𝒃𝒐𝒍𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 I pt. IIIBecoming is not a phase.
It does not begin or end.It is a continuous enco...
04/22/2026

༶ 𝑩𝑬𝑪𝑶𝑴𝑰𝑵𝑮 ༶

𝑺𝒚𝒎𝒃𝒐𝒍𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 I pt. III

Becoming is not a phase.
It does not begin or end.

It is a continuous encounter—
between what lives within
and what is met in the world.

Something shifts in that meeting.
Not fixed, not predictable,
but quietly forming.

Becoming holds this process.
A state of movement where the self is shaped
through experience, through presence, through change.

It is not about arriving.
It is about remaining open—
allowing who you are
to be in constant relation with what unfolds.

A form that is never final,
yet always true in the moment it exists.

༶ Chicago ༶My books are now open I’ll begin with returning clients first —those I’ve already worked with,and pieces that...
04/21/2026

༶ Chicago ༶

My books are now open

I’ll begin with returning clients first —
those I’ve already worked with,
and pieces that are continuing

After that, I’ll move into a small number of new requests

The work I’m holding space for right now
is slower, more considered —
built in conversation with the body over time

If you’ve been feeling into something,
or waiting for the moment to begin
you can send it through the form

I’ll be moving through requests with care

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Chicago, IL

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