Alicia Cardenas, a Native Mexican American painter, tattoo artist, educator, and Cultural Anthropologist from Denver, was inspired by her tribal culture, the earth and its mathematics, and her child, Xochitl Mayahuel. She identified as Chicana/Native and as a Mexica Danzante. Alicia owned a tattoo and piercing studio in Denver for 25 years called Sol Tribe, where she tattooed fulltime.
She had recently begun to take on larger scale projects under the name Tribal Murals to feed her appetite to color the world with ancient designs. For Alicia, painting was a spiritual practice and an extension of her activism for women and for Indigenous and Two Spirit people. Alicia only painted with used paint and repurposed it. She mixed all her colors from old paints.
Her mantra was “Ometoetl Tlazocomatli Mitakye Oasin,” a phrase from the Lakota language. It reflects the world view of interconnectedness. It translates in English as “All my relatives, we are all related.” It is a prayer of oneness and harmony with life, between people, animals, birds, insects, trees, plants, and the landscape of the earth.
You can find her tattoo work on Instagram (@soltribemama), as well as her paintings (@tribalmurals).