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Thursday, October 31, 2013

Rihanna's Henna Style Hand Tattoo

Rihann's Henna Inspired Hand Tattoo
Rihanna's New Henna-Inspired Hand Tattoo Photo by BangBangNYC

Rihanna updates her traditional Maori Style tattoo with a henna inspired tattoo.

Recently Rihanna put traditional New Zeland Maori tattoos in the spotlight by getting a Maori tattoo using the traditional mallet and chisel method.

It's always great when conversations are started about traditional art that is not in the mainstream vernacular. Rihanna's You Tube video of her getting that Maori tattoo exposed people to this art that would have never known about it otherwise.

Apparently Rihanna didn't quite love her new body art and decided to modify it by adding a henna style tattoo design over the Maori tattoo. It's a lovely design that uses some of the basic henna elements to create a feminine look. The tattoo uses traditional black tattoo ink instead of a red brown color that is the color of actual henna.

Her new henna-inspired piece of body art uses traditional Indian style fillers and outline techniques. The wrist cuff is a common practice in henna designs for both Indian, Arabic and Moroccan henna styles.

The original Maori tattoo was done in New Zealand. The henna inspired addition was done in the Dominican Republic.

Rihanna is getting some flak over covering part of the original design, saying it's disrespectful to cover the Maori piece. What do you think?

Is it disrespectful of the original tattoo?  Is it disrespectful of henna? Is this cultural appropriation or cultural appreciation? Is it a good thing that she's brought  these concerns into the minds of people that wouldn't have thought about it before? These are good conversations to have!

Rihanna has a new henna inspired hand tattoo.
Rihanna gets a henna inspired tattoo to add to her Maori hand tattoo.
A special note, again, this is not actual henna. This is a real permanent tattoo. Real henna is a red/brown color, never black. When using henna be sure you are only using SAFE natural henna products.

You can learn more about real henna at The Henna Learning Center.

Henna On!
Jody

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