We were lucky to catch up with Amina Harper recently and have shared our conversation below.

Amina, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

It started back in February of 2023. I was working in fine art as a painter, and there wasn’t a single area of my life where I wasn’t struggling. I had just helped a local gallery put on a group show and I was standing outside of the venue wondering what I was doing here and why I was continuing to try so hard for something that amounted to boredom and mediocrity at best. I went home and decided that I was done with my fine art career; fifteen years of chasing completely down the drain.

I don’t exactly remember how I felt in the days after, my rent was due soon and though I had my community helping me out with that, I knew I couldn’t rely on that forever. I think I felt a combination of freedom and numbness, it was like I had to fully surrender to the whims of the universe and decided to just follow whatever path revealed itself to me. I decided to actively have faith in whatever came next.

A few days after this, in early March, my now mentor, Jun Osaki, came to me and asked if I wanted to be a tattoo artist. I just sort of shrugged and said “sure”, not really thinking much would come of my answer. But as the days passed it was like bells started going off all around me, and the more I paid attention, looked at my past experiences, and examined my own artistic inspirations, I realized that tattooing what what I should’ve been doing all along. I don’t know how I got diverted from that original calling to end up as an unfulfilled painter, but that fifteen years of setbacks prepared me for this new tattooing journey, and the next time I saw Jun my response was more enthusiastic.

As soon as I embraced these realizations, the world opened up to me. My mother had passed in early 2022 and as soon as I changed my career path all of the problems I had in settling her estate finally cleared up after a year of jumping through hoops, giving me extra financial cushion as I transitioned from one career to the next; the timing was so fortunate. However, things were not perfect and very quickly my mentor and a few of their colleagues was displaced from their previous shop, and had to very quickly open another one with no certainty as to when or where that would happen.

I was okay at that time, so I never want to imply that it was hard on me in the same way it was on everyone else who was more closely impacted. I had that financial cushion for a bit, so I could wait out the process in a way the others couldn’t. It was a little nerve racking as no one knew when things would resolve and when we’d have a comfortable place to work out of, and my apprenticeship started later than expected. In the meantime, I worked on healing, healing the grief over my mother’s death, healing my insecurities, healing my fears around failure and success. I got more sleep, I didn’t worry about food or bills, I gave myself space to mourn and celebrate even the smallest victories. I learned to trust that the universe has my back and that if I give towards my goals I will be given back to in equal measure; I practiced gratitude and compassion.

For the duration of May all the way to October, when we finally opened the new shop, I let myself breathe for the first time in my entire life. I spent that summer existing for no one other than myself, I just took care of myself and allowed myself to grow with an abundance of support; I worried for nothing and wanted for nothing. The hardest part was learning to trust the process, because there was a part of me that was anxious about whether or not the shop would ever open. But I reminded myself that I’d made it this far, that things continued falling into place even with all of the disruption, and that everything would be alright.

I just stuck to my personal work so that I could be my best self once it was time to show up for others. Because sometimes that’s our only job; to work on ourselves so that we are ready for the next phase of our new life.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’ve been working in creative fields all of my adult life, and I firmly believe that the best thing about creative work is that if there is a problem that solution A can’t fix, then you can always craft solutions B, C, D and so on. There is never a pitch you can’t hit or a ball you can’t catch as long as you’re imaginative enough to envision the endless paths the ball might take.

And the paths are truly endless.

That’s what I try to hold onto, that’s what brings me the most joy.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Envy and comparison.

They truly are the thieves of joy, but I digress.

This isn’t to say that I don’t feel envy or that I still don’t compare myself to others from time to time. It’s to say that I didn’t realize just how ingrained those impulses were in my behavior patterns and how negatively they had impacted my sense of self.

And as silly as it may sound, the way I found to navigate those feelings was love, compassion and forgiveness, specifically for myself.

See, the thing about envy and comparison is that they are rooted in shame, shame over what we do not have and can never be. That shame prevents us from nurturing the current version of ourselves; the version that doesn’t have the things we covet. It’s how we betray and abandon ourselves to the cannibalistic impulses to force ourselves into boxes we were never meant to fit inside of, and to cut away at ourselves until we are just a little bit smaller, a little bit more consumable, even to the detriment of our happiness and well-being.

Sometimes, envy and comparison inspires us to strive for more, and I certainly don’t see that as a bad thing. But often, we struggle to sit within uncomfortable emotions because we don’t like what they say about us, and sitting inside of envy feels really really bad.

But I didn’t want to enter into this new profession with that baggage. I wanted to be able to celebrate great art, even if it wasn’t coming from me. I wanted to allow myself space to be imperfect because you can’t learn and grow without making mistakes. I also wanted to be able to sit with all of the wonderful things I have, instead of focusing on the things I don’t; I don’t want to be greedy or entitled when it comes to wanting things. Others are also allowed to have and want, even if it seems like they have more than me on the surface.

Emotions are designed to give us information, especially the emotions that make us feel bad. In this case, the envy I was feeling was signaling to me that I need to give myself the things I felt I was lacking, and that honestly changed my world.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

If I’m being completely honest, the best part is making fuck brained shit that blows people’s minds.

It’s also fun to show fuck brained shit to people, because it can potentially expand their worldview.

Also, art is just beautiful and amazing. It’s incredible what people can imagine and make tangible.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @amina.harper