Arsaniq Deer receives award for her Inuit traditional tattooing

Having applied ink to the skin of hundreds of Inuit all around Canada, Nunavik traditional tattoo artist Arsaniq Deer is set to receive an Indspire award on April 10 for her dedication to the craft.

Deer, originally from Quaqtaq, is one of four Indigenous youths in Canada to receive the honour.

“I never thought I would receive an award like this,” she said in an interview while tattooing a client.

Arsaniq Deer receives clients at a friend’s home in Puvirnituq, during the Puvirnituq Snow Festival. (Photo by Cedric Gallant)

She stopped by Puvirnituq during the snow festival in late March, receiving clients at her friend’s place where she brought her transportable tattooing setup.

Deer’s introduction to tattooing came in November 2019, when tattoo artist Hovak Johnston came to Montreal. She was tattooing Nunavik Sivunitsavut students, and Arsaniq Deer, alongside her mother Beatrice Deer, made an appointment.

“When Hovak was doing my mom’s tattoos, she asked if I wanted to try,” said Deer.

“The first marking I ever did was on my mom, and it is one line on her thigh.”

Deer remembers the exact date it happened.

“November 29,” she said. “It’s kind of a birthdate that I will never forget.”

“I did not ask, I was not expecting it, [Johnston] just felt I would be able to do it,” she added.

When Johnston left, she gave Deer leftovers from her equipment, and that was what kick-started her career.

Deer began with her closest friend, doing finger tattoos.

“She trusted me enough, kind of like a guinea pig,” Deer said, laughing.

Eventually, she did her first forehead tattoo, which she said was quite nerve-racking. But, Deer said, she and her client thought it turned out beautifully.

“It’s on the face, so it has to be perfect,” she said.

Since then, Deer has been travelling all around Inuit Nunangat meeting people and making friends through the art of tattoo. She said learning how to give traditional tattoos has given her many experiences she never thought she’d have the opportunity to do otherwise.

“I feel so honoured and grateful to have this in my life, to have experienced the revitalization of traditional tattoos,” she said. “Little old me doing all these big things.”

Traditional tattoos were taboo for a long time among Inuit due to the church deeming it as “demonic.” To this day, Deer still believes some in the older generation are not accepting of it.

Arsaniq Deer uses a stick-and-poke style of tattooing. Before the ink is embedded into the skin, she draws red lines and discusses every detail with her client, making sure the design is to their liking. (Photo by Cedric Gallant)

“Only now people are starting to find it beautiful after learning the meanings, after learning that they are not demonic,” she said.

She believes that getting a traditional tattoo, for many, is an emotional and healing experience. In every poke leaving a mark on the skin, the jolt of pain is often where Deer’s clients feel a release of their internal hurt.

“Some people think this is just for looks, but it is so healing, it is powerful,” she said.

Deer pointed to one of her clients who was dealing with addiction prior to receiving her tattoo. Deer was told later that this client has been sober ever since that session.

Throughout the session with her client in Puvirnituq, Deer regularly checked in with her, making sure to take regular breaks for both physical and emotional pain.

The meaning of tattoos is unique to every client, and often deeply personal.

“That is why I don’t ask people what their tattoos mean, because it can be a trigger for them to even talk about it,” she said.

Deer plans to be in Vancouver April 10 to receive her Indspire award, which represents the highest honour the Indigenous community bestows upon its own people, according to the organization’s website.