roots

Hi,

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I'm Keh and I am a resident artist at La Palma Studio (formerly named Alpha Omega Studio) located on the island of O'ahu, Kingdom of Hawai'i. I currently explore the styles of microrealism, realism, surrealism, contemporary Filipino tattoo, fine line, botanical, and ornamental work.

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Growing up in three islands surrounding the Pacific-- Mindanao, Philippines; O'ahu, Hawaii; Unalaska, Alaska-- I witnessed vast differences and likenesses between cultures and relationships. The rich red earth of Philippines, clear blue waters of Hawai'i, and lucid pristine skies of Alaska, though thousands of oceanic miles from one another, were dwelling places for  like-folks: voyagers, tattooers, community builders who sung with the earth not too many generations ago. They (we) were people who knew their mountains by climbing them, and waters by  voyaging. The names of our Creators were all but the same with stories and characters wholly different, yet alluded to the same great Mystery. ​The Life that moves through my hands are the stuff of my roots as I contemplate these Mysteries.

 

I find tattooing as a way of both rooting and rising. Being a descendant of Visayan lineage, my ancestral past involved tattooing as a way to foster community in both the physical and spiritual plane. To reconnect, renew, and mature my understanding of this craft is synonymous to reconnecting, renewing, and maturing my understanding of what it means to be well and to be healthy.

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It is a humbling gift and honor to do the work that I do and to learn, love, and witness every person who chooses to share a space with me.

 

Keh