06/01/2026
honoring my heritage with this one 🥹🇬🇹🖤⛓️
I wanted this piece to carry my mother’s culture in a way that felt meaningful, intentional, and honorable.
Growing up Guatemalan, you know how much our parents talk about El Quetzal — Guatemala’s native bird and a symbol of freedom. That meaning has always stayed with me.
To me, freedom means being fully, unapologetically yourself. And as an autistic person, that has not always been easy. But I’m finally in a season where I’m unmasking, unlearning who society taught me to be, and becoming more free in who God created me to be.
The flowers in this piece are La Monja Blanca (The White Nun Orchid), Guatemala’s national flower. I chose them because I wanted every part of this tattoo to hold significance.
La Monja Blanca is often associated with resilience, dignity, and strength through adversity. And in many ways, it reminds me of the Guatemalan people. We are often overlooked, underestimated, or mistaken for being passive because of our humility and kindness. But there is a quiet strength in our culture—a resilience that has carried generations through hardship while still remaining grounded in faith, family, and community.
This piece is my reminder of freedom, identity, resilience, and where I come from.
Proud to be Guatemalan. 🇬🇹🖤
tattoo artist
and shoutout to my mama for raising me to be a bad ass guatemalan chapina con cojones
