The four Lanes
Choose your lane
Different blackwork has different rules. This page helps you pick the right lane before you fill out the form.
Nlaka’pamux Blackwork Truly Tribal Tattoos
Nlaka'pamux Blackwork — Ancestral designs, symbols, and motifs carried into large-scale contemporary tattoos. Guided by consent, privacy, and cultural protocol.
Can I get this tattoo if I'm not Indigenous? Yes. The designs I share are offered as a gift from me and my ancestors to you. I hold the rights, the relationship, and the responsibility to this visual language. What's appropriate to share, I share. What needs to stay within our Nation, I protect. That's my job. The consultation is where we figure out what's right for your piece.
Blackout Tattoos
Blackout — Full saturation black. A reset, a statement, or a foundation for future work.
Non-symbolic Blackwork Tattoos
Abstract Blackwork — Power and clarity without symbols. Shape, rhythm, negative space, and how the body holds black over time.
Blast-Overs and Cover-Up Tattoos
Blastovers — A new layer built to work with what's already there. History stays in the skin.
About dion kaszas
The Guide
My name is Dion Kaszas. I'm a Hungarian, Metis, and Nlaka'pamux ancestral skin marker, tattoo artist, and the editor of Truly Tribal: Contemporary Indigenous Tattooing. I've spent over sixteen years and a career that includes working towards a PhD, curating two museum exhibitions, a published book, and the co-founding of the Earthline Tattoo Collective building a practice rooted in the revival of my ancestors' visual language.
I've catalogued over 2,000 Nlaka'pamux designs, symbols, and motifs. Every piece I tattoo keeps my ancestors' work alive, and is an offering to the person who wears it.
I work out of HFX Tattoo Company in Bedford, Nova Scotia.