“I’ve been drawing since I can remember. Everyone would watch my drawings and say, ‘You should do tattoos’.”
So he did.
Terrence Dominic Lokai is a soft-spoken easy-going type, who looks younger than his twenty-nine years.
His business, Graveyard Tattoo Studio in Barataria, north Trinidad, has been running since 1999.
From drawing to tattooing
“I would do portraits for people and get paid for it… Valentine’s Day drawings, Christmas, Easter drawings. Nobody wanted to hire Rastas at the time so I had to use my drawing skills to get by,” he says.
“My ideas… they come from books, magazines, people’s ideas, from everywhere… from the clouds, sometimes from watching the ground. I see designs in the concrete or a shadow forming in a particular manner… anything that may inspire me to create art.”
Using books, practicing on his own body, and watching other tattoo artists, Terrence began to teach himself how to turn his drawings into inked tattoos.
But tattooing was not his original plan.
From boxing to tattooing
“I turned to tattoos because sports don’t pay in Trinidad,” says the former boxer. He was the Caribbean Boxing Champion for two consecutive years in 2003 and 2004, and national champion three times.
“I was supposed to go to the Olympics, this one in 2008 and the one before as well… but the government funding was very, very poor. The money was half what I was getting at my job. I ‘blanked’ them.
“Eventually I stopped boxing. There’s too much corruption in it. And as champion you get publicity and personal enjoyment… that’s about it. I have 12 medals, three trophies and a belt, but not much money. Just last night I was thinking about going back into boxing, but there’s nothing to gain from it in Trinidad.”
Retribalisation through tattooing
The tattoo artform, on the other hand, is rapidly gaining popularity in Trinidad, and he is cashing in on it.
“I charge anywhere from $250 to $8000, depending on the size, detail and colour,” he says. “I do have competition, though – my cousin Jerel Wilson, Sinful Skin in St. James, Monster Ink Tattoos in Barataria. Everyone’s getting in on it because the artform is getting bigger and bigger here.
“People are following trends, imitating U.S. hiphop culture, and tribal cultures – global tribes: Samoan, Aztec, Mayan, and so on. Sometimes it’s a religious symbol, some people do it for love.
“Sometimes it’s just a fashion statement… others, they want to wear the mark of where they belong. They want to belong somewhere.”
Looking to the future
And the reason behind his own tattoos?
“For advertisement,” he replies with a grin. “I have 15 at the moment… and counting. My favourite is on my stomach, it is a face mask minus the eyes. I plan to do one on my face soon.”
With his career as a tattoo artist taking off, the former boxing champ looks back on his sports career with semi-detached affection.
“I’ve not given up sports altogether, just yet. I want to combine the two elements of myself. Ideally I want to open a half-sports bar, half-tattoo studio – hopefully sometime within the next year… finances allowing.”
