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Big Eagle also hopes her studio will be a place for Indigenous people to gather for events and have their voices heard. Thunderbird Rising, located at 1339 Prospect St., exclusively features Indigenous art, photography, jewelry, and other products. "When you fast forward to today, it's like where are we?" It was the mecca for my people back in the day," Big Eagle explained. "Indianapolis, Indiana is named for how many Native people used to be here. It is the first Native-owned handpoke tattoo studio and retail space in Indianapolis. It's a method that Indigenous people have practiced for thousands of years.īig Eagle is the traditional handpoke tattoo artist and founder of Thunderbird Rising Studios in Fountain Square. Traditionally, when you receive an ancestral marking, it's applied by handpoking. WRTV Photo: Shakkira Harris Author and handpoke tattoo artist Stephanie Big Eagle stands in front of a mural that depicts one of her ancestors, Chief Big Eagle (left), and prophet White Buffalo Woman (right) inside Thunderbird Rising Studios. MORE: 'We are people of the present': AICI leader on Native American Heritage Month Because the way people see things today is not steeped in anything that's really going to be everlasting or sustainable for the future." "For me, it was about going and thinking about the way saw things rather than the way people today see things. "When we lived in harmony and balance, our tattoos were an integral part of that process," Big Eagle said.
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At which point, the ancient tradition was lost among Indigenous people.īig Eagle is helping renew and destigmatize the ancient tradition for Indigenous people in the West. "It's following that journey of our heart."Īlthough facial tattoos are a rite of passage among many Indigenous tribes, Big Eagle says the practice was persecuted in North America during colonization. The studio, everything that I have, the tattooing - everything came to me after that," Big Eagle said. WRTV Photo: Shakkira Harris Stephanie Big Eagle is the owner and tattoo artist at Thunderbird Rising Studios in Indianapolis.Īfter Big Eagle received her first markings, she says it changed her life forever.
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"It's telling our stories, telling our status, our identity, and strengthening our commitment - our responsibility - to our people, in our commitment to this earth and a certain way of living that is balanced in harmony and with all integrity and respect for our relationship with Earth," Big Eagle explained. However, the sacred practice of identity and heritage has lost its significance among Native American nations, including the Lakota and Dakota Sioux, Big Eagle's ancestry. "I steeped myself in the tradition of their facial tattoo practice in order to learn and to bring some of that knowledge back to my people," Big Eagle said.įace tattoos are an ancient tradition for many Indigenous peoples. Māori believe the head is the most sacred part of the body, and facial tattoos are a rite of passage, according to.
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She received her ceremonial markings while in New Zealand, learning from Māori spiritual experts, the Indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand. INDIANAPOLIS - The tattoos on Stephanie Big Eagle's face were channeled down by her ancestors.