Skin Deep – September 2019

SKIN DEEP MAGAZINE • 73

“M

y first memory of really looking at

a tattoo would be the anchor on my

Grandad's forearm from WWII,” re-

calls Ilona Fiddy. “He was a POW for

a time. It was blown out and my parents used it as a cau-

tionary tale,” which didn’t exactly work. Although she ad-

mits, “When I started tattooing, I had no tattoos,” she was

drawn to the art form and eventually made it her focus.

While in school, Fiddy enrolled in a “very experiential

and experimental” program that focused on “emerging

technologies and science as a medium for art.” Her early

career was “mostly graphic and digital design, illustration

or installation art on the side,” but as she puts it, “I kept

being drawn back to the most tactile mediums. I’ve done

paper and sand sculpture, hand lettering for signage or

chalkboards, and I still take freelance projects for other

types of art and design because I like the variety. I enjoy

being challenged by new mediums,” she explains.

There has been one constant, however, and that’s tat-

tooing. “I can see now how all these sensibilities enrich

my tattoo practice,” she says, opening up about her tattoo

journey. “Initially, I learned machine tattooing through

a friend, Jo Maramba, before apprenticing with an ex-

perienced full-time tattoo artist, Engel Cruz. The hand-

poking I developed on my own.”

As it turns out, mastering the hand-poke technique

plays an integral role in her mission to bring her Fili-

pino ancestry to the forefront. “Tattooing by hand was

Ilona Fiddy is on a mission. A mission to shine a light on her ancestors’ tattooed

past. Although the young talent calls Toronto, Canada home, the maternal side

of her family hails from the Philippines, a country whose rich tattoo history

was nearly eradicated during colonial times. Now, Fiddy’s doing her part to

reclaim the narrative and bring ancient traditions into modern times, choosing

specific imagery, mastering the hand-poke technique, and dishing out an

impressive history lesson to anyone who’ll ask. Which is exactly what we did.

 nocentjokes

Wo

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Ba

rb

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Pa

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reclaiming

tradition