Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to PK Meshell. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
PK, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
I’ve always had the creative urge ever since I was a teenager. I was definitely the kid not paying attention in class and instead I was doodling in my notebook or skipping school. Discovering punk music was my gateway into several mediums throughout my youth and adult life. My creative endeavours revolved around playing music, booking shows, making flyers, or screen printing for bands or causes related to the communities I was in. In doing all this stuff I was always working some other job I would never be very invested in. As the other artistic practices kind of took a backseat painting, drawing, and tattooing just sort of naturally became the next mediums I wanted to focus on. My first year of tattoo I was living in a different country and crossing an international border on the regular in order to go work at a coffee shop. The pandemic, along with other life obstacles, in some way shape or form pushed me to pursue tattooing as my full time practice.
PK, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I got into the industry because there’s a lot of joy and beauty amongst all the pain or technicalities that can come along with doing or getting tattooed. For myself and for many others, it can be a really empowering or even a therapeutic experience. Not every tattoo is like this, but my favorites are always with the clients who pick pieces of my flash or the ones who come with a general idea while allowing me to take that idea and tap into my own creative freedom. I don’t like to rush myself or them, and if I’m not feeling good or up to something I’ll be honest about it. The art or tattoo aside, I think something I’m most proud of is making folks feel safe and comfortable. I’m always happy to stay quiet or share stories and experiences with my clients.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
I can’t say I’m the biggest fan of social media or how much we rely on it for communication, exposure, or some sort value related to the legitimacy of our work. It causes me a great deal of anxiety sometimes. Although, if you’re putting in the time and energy into your craft while consistently challenging yourself, it will naturally start to show in real life and on the screen. A lot of my clients at this point are based around people I’ve already tattooed, their friends or families recommendations. But traveling and going to new places while meeting other like minded individuals in my field of work has been a very important step throughout my journey. Making those new connections and learning from those relationships is probably one of the most rewarding and fulfilling parts to this whole thing for me and in return I hope my audience is getting bigger, ha.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
Tip them, especially your tattooers. Many people have a misinterpretation of how much many of us actually make. Tattoos are expensive, as it is a luxury, but they forget a lot of us are paying 30 to 6o percent of our income to a shop we don’t own nor have any say in where that extra money goes. Meanwhile, most if not all of the supplies we use are coming out of the individual artists pocket.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: pkpokes
- Other: email: pkmeshell@gmail.com
Image Credits
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