Ink Is Eternal: Student Thesis Film

My name is Kaya Balugo and I am currently a Film Student at the School of Visual Arts in NYC. I am raising money to fund my senior thesis project “Ink is Eternal”, which will be a documentary about Graffiti Artist Legend and Tattoo Artist Pedro Balugo - who also happened to be my dad.

 

The film will document my journey to Kauai, tracing my father’s tattoo legacy. Additionally, the film will depict the completion of my leg tattoo that symbolizes family and legacy in the sacred place where my father spent the last years of his life, practicing the art of tattooing.

 

I recall the many conversations during high school between my father and I where I learned about his new found enlightenment while in Kauai. When I turned 18, he gave me my first rite of passage into manhood - a leg tattoo representing family, which he was given in the beginning of his tattoo career and which he later also gave to my older brother (see pic).

 

Unfortunately, I was never able to get the tattoo completed due to the untimely passing of my dad 6 months after the first ink session. For the past 2 years, I have been living with something incomplete. Both figuratively and literally.

 

My hope is that with your help, I will be able to pay for plane tickets for myself and the crew, covering daily expenses while on the island. On the island, myself and my crew of 2 will interview my Father's friends, partners and teachers while traveling to the places that he lived and worked.

 

In addition to telling the story of my father, the documentary will also show the completion of my second rite of passage - finishing the leg tattoo with one of my father’s teachers. To me this trip is way more than a simple documentary. This trip for me is an opportunity to learn and live how he did, seeing his world in a way that can only happen if you are on the same land. This trip will act as a spiritual send off for my father to gain the closure we would never be able to receive in the physical world.

 

All who donate will not only receive a special credit and thank you in the film. But you will also be added to a mailing list to receive exclusive photos from the documentation of the trip, Thank you for making this dream come to fruition.

 

Kaya K Balugo