Hannah Pixie Snow and Guy Le Tatooer launch their new grass roots charity project, Love Shakthi Om
Hannah Pixie Snow and Guy Le Tatooer
With a rapidly increasing following of over 900,000, tattoo artist Hannah Pixie Snow has always tried to use her social media presence to advance causes of social justice and encourage cultural consciousness.
“I've done a lot of fundraising before with my old tattoo business Black Stabbath. I quickly realised I had the ability to use my large online following for something slightly less self(ie) serving and potentially more love bringing, life giving, and worthwhile!”
Hannah Pixie Snow
Love Shakthi Om, to be launched in the first week of May with partner, Guy Le Tatooer, began as Guy’s studio in Toulouse, France, and has since grown from the inspiration absorbed during their travels throughout South East Asia.
“Shakthi Om is the name of our home and tattoo studio in Toulouse, France. It means 'our cosmos,' like a small bubble in this Universe. Now we have created Love Shakthi Om, a charity project grown from the same roots of love. Although we were only friends at the time, Hannah had been working alongside this charity in Nepal around the same time I visited there myself. After experiencing the earthquake during the tattoo convention and seeing the harrowing reality of the aftermath, making a charity movement made a lot of sense for me personally. As for Hannah, the people she had already been fundraising for now needed even more help, having had their women and children’s facility turned to rubble.”
“Love Shakthi Om was born after a day at the beach in South Goa, India, January 2017. One of Hannah's closest friends passed away while we were there together. A couple of days after the phone call we went to the beach and painted a memorial [pictured above] for Jade and Joshua's family. I think after that Hannah and I were more certain than ever of how we wanted to spend our time.”
Their time is spent creating ethically produced artifacts and artworks imbued with and motivated by love, with the profits going to social causes close to their hearts.
“We strongly believe this life is about karma, sharing love, traditions, and cultures. For us, this is largely based in art, and through it we want to begin a conversation about the dire need to start living in ways that truly reflect what we all know as humanity and feel to be right deep down, lives based on more human connections, sharing love and wisdom, and caring for those around us, not the pursuit of an excess of money driven by ruthless competition.”
The not-for-profit project will raise funds and pay homage to the extraordinary people they’ve met, and continue to meet, throughout their travels. Hannah’s social media account will be transformed into a grass roots porthole allowing followers and potential donors a window into the lives of people their money will be positively affecting.
“We’re meeting real people, making real connections, and now finding ways in which we could use a seemingly virtual, somewhat weightless number of followers on a social media app to generate some real physical, positive change!”
By producing these artworks, Hannah and Guy aim to offer their followers, clients, and friends an insight into the beauty and spirituality of the Eastern cultures that have inspired their art and philosophies, although Hannah is quick to explain their appreciation, not appropriation, of the culture.
“To appropriate something, I believe, is to take unconsciously and without care or respect to further your personal agenda and selfish gain. Appreciation, however, I’d like to think, is acknowledging from where you have drawn your inspiration, and instead of relying on facts alone, using your wisdom to consider it more deeply while trying to understand the things you are marking people with or making objects of. If you actually appreciate something, you ensure it’s always an energy exchange and not an energy leech on your part.”
Cultural appropriation is something they’re both exposed to on a regular basis throughout their tattoo work, as Guy Le Tatooer explains.
Guy Le Tatooer
“Half of the people being disrespectful aren’t even intending to. They just do what they do every other day – continue unconsciously through their day by not asking any questions, not caring enough to want to learn or understand it on a deeper level, but still wanting to be cool. Not even to be cool, but to look cool! Too many people wanting to look cool now! Instead of just doing it! People are attracted to authenticity and truth, it doesn’t matter what background we come from, what race you are or religion you grew up in, we are attracted to these powerful symbols and traditions because they are sacred – they all speak to us. But people always want a quick fix, want to appear to understand truth but we can’t be bothered to look into it for ourselves. If you can’t give respect or value to anything, even something you are going to wear for the rest of your life, then you are never going to be able to receive that level of respect back.”
“We're a lot more selective about who we let through our door now,” Hannah mentions, “it’s amazing to be able to have our closest friends and beautiful clients come over for evenings full of tattooing and home cooked vegan Mexican food, but it's more clear to us now than ever, how careful we have to be with the things we hold sacred. Our space included! It's something really special that requires a lot of balance.”
Hannah and Guy will be traveling to Nepal in May to lend their assistance, and hopefully funds they gain from Love Shakthi Om, to Raksha Nepal, a humanitarian organisation that works with sexually exploited girls, women and their children.
Love Shakthi Om launches on the 1st May, at www.shakthiom.com.
Gallery of images from the article Love Shakthi Om: https://www.the4thwall.net/blog/2017/4/19/loveshakthiom
