May 21, 2026 | 7–9 p.m.
This conversation brings together Native tattoo artists to explore tattoo as a contemporary artistic practice and a site of cultural revitalization. Artists will share their personal journeys, the cultural significance of their work, and the responsibilities of carrying forward ancestral traditions today. This event is being held in conjunction with VOID Tattoo Fest in Portland, https://www.voidtattoofest.com/
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Featured Artists
Jesus Adan Torralba (@heysus94)
My names is Jesus Adan Torralba, most know me by my artist name ‘HEYSUS’. I am a first generation Mexican American living in the Pacific Northwest. I am born and raised in Portland, Oregon and presently working at Local Boy Tatau in Vancouver, Washington for the last six years. Before tattooing, I did community work as a mentor to inner-city and incarcerated youth consisting of offerings of ceremony and tradition such as sweat lodge, teaching art, and supporting the tradition of danza. My elders and mentors have guided me along the way and I believe it is important to be a figure of guidance for our youth. I am a multi-disciplinary artist using mediums stretching from digital to analog and everything in between. My focus is illustrative work, murals, sculptures, and tattooing. Cultural and traditional art is what drives my tattoo work and it bleeds into all my other art forms.
I am committed to finding different ways of expressing myself and cultivating joy in what I do. I draw my purpose to create from those that have poured into me. My parents come from los ranchos de Culiacán, Sinaloa and the lush mountainous pueblo de Santiago del Río, Oaxaca. Their sacrifices and willingness to thrive and express themselves in a world that actively seeks to diminish their light is a leading factor in what fuels my need to create and amplify our stories as Indigenous people. The work I do is for all oppressed people. This is what I hold up as a beacon.
Ryan Anthony Baden (@vblock.dice)
Ryan Anthony Baden is a Shoshone & Paiute artist born and raised in Reno, NV. He has been doing art of all kinds since high school. He initially started out doing graffiti and calligraphy but began tattooing people from the neighborhood and the punk rock music scene at around 14 years old. He has over 15 years in the tattoo industry and was initially brought into it by family friends and a few other Natives in the area he grew up in. He has owned Prophet Tattoo for six years now in Downtown Vancouver, WA and specializes in Lettering, High Contrast Black & Grey and Classic Fineline tattooing. His studio is an inclusive space welcoming those of all backgrounds. When not tattooing, Ryan focuses on family, music and home art projects. Ryan Anthony Baden and Prophet Tattoo are always accepting new projects, custom or flash and they are always open to guest spots.
Ricky Gaspar (@localboytatau)
I’m a husband, father, foodie and french bulldog owner. I am multiethnic mix of Black, Native, White, and Asian/Pacific Island roots.
I was drawn to tattoos as a kid. This sent me down a lifelong journey to discover more about my family and how the tattoo reads like a road map of ancestry that wasn’t completely lost due to multiple colonizers and colonization throughout the entire pacific.
I am a 19 year plus cultural practitioner, Austronesian tattoo artist, graphic designer and owner of Local Boy Tatau in downtown Vancouver, WA. The shop was built with a full size art gallery inside to give opportunities to other artists, and a space to share unique and creative events and art shows. We also host the GRAF (Great River Arts Festival) where we connect with artists of all walks and push the art on a large scale by creating murals in combination with music and festivities. With the help and support of many within the community, we have grown in the past three years with the goal to share and strengthen unity through diversity.
John Henry Gloyne (@gloyne83)
John Henry Gloyne (EBCI/Osage/Pawnee) is an enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Gloyne was born on the Cherokee Indian Reservation in the mountains of western North Carolina, and proudly represents the Yellowhill community within the Qualla Boundary. Gloyne works in a variety of mediums having a foot in two different worlds: his Indigenous culture and the modern world around it. Walking the delicate line of the crescendo of culture and capitalism inspires him to create work that transmits his view of the universe. Tattooing, painting, drawing, and traditional Cherokee mask carving are outlets of his expression. Gloyne has been a practicing tattoo artist since 2004 and currently co-owns and operates Serpent and the Rainbow Tattoo, located in Asheville, North Carolina