Meet Elisheba Israel Mrozik: Fine Art on Skin and Canvas

We had the good fortune of connecting with Elisheba Israel Mrozik and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Elisheba Israel, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
Risk has been a giant factor in my entire artistic and tattoo career.  I, for a myriad number of reasons, have always been one of the only black women, one of the only black people most of the time, in my industry of choice either in my area or overall. In tattooing, I became the first licensed black artist in Middle Tennessee and opened One Drop Ink Tattoo- the first black owned tattoo shop in Middle Tennessee. In order to do that, I unwittingly jumped into a fight that I wasn’t necessarily prepared for. I went in naive thinking I was just going to learn how to tattoo in an industry that accepts unique people because the tattoo community had been persecuted by society for so long. I immediately saw the hostility towards me from the tattoo community and the lengths that people would go to to stop me from tattooing astounded me. It is a risk to step into an industry where people actively go out of their way to try to stop you from being a part of an industry and achieving your goals. I had to take the risk of opening up my own shop, without loans, without a business plan, using my last dime in order for me to be able to get my license to be able to tattoo. Risk should be paired with true confidence, trust in your own personal convictions, drive and ambition to propel you forward. That risk factor gave more me adrenaline and fuel to help me grow my business, brand and skills. Risk is also just a normal part of doing business as we all should have learned from 2020. Taking on risk is never an easy decision but the reward for taking smart risks can be great indeed.  

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My work focuses on the mental and spiritual uplifting of black people, black women specifically, showcasing their positive existence, strength, resilience and beauty as well contributions to life itself and the culture of America and the world. I mostly tattoo my concepts in skin, paint in traditional mediums with a lot of mixed media on canvas and have recently forayed into installations and large scale public art. What sets me apart from others is how my life experiences, in-depth research on our lost culture, and immersion in various cultures are a part of my designs and my focus on unique and individually crafted pieces based on the client, the medium or the canvas are always outside of the conventional. I am super excited about my future upcoming series and projects that are taking years in the making. I am from Memphis originally and I have been involved with the arts since childhood. My mother had me in art classes and being cast in plays at the Orpheum Theatre, Playhouse on the Square and Circuit Playhouse. I left murals at my High School and in a couple of churches and homes. After graduating from the Memphis College of Art in 2006, I moved to Nashville just working freelance and retail jobs. In 2011, I found the tattoo industry.  Over the next decade my art grew into something bigger than myself and my community art activism began. In Nashville, New York and other cities I have been lucky enough to have many shows at galleries, universities as well as group and solo shows at The Frist Art Museum. I have used my tattoo shop to host art and cultural community connection events and classes for those in our underserved community. I have painted murals and large scale works throughout the city and am one of the founders of the Jefferson Street Art Crawl and North Nashville Arts Coalition. I am an artist that loves to see creatives being creative and wanting to do what I can to help uplift and fight for fair compensation for  artists, especially young artists and artists of color.

My biggest career challenges came when I decided I wanted to tattoo. At the time I started, I did not have any tattoos nor had I ever even been in a tattoo shop. I honestly never gave a thought about tattooing until late 2010 when I saw an amazing portrait of an African tribeswoman tattooed in hyper realism on the internet by an artist in the Ukraine. I had never seen anything like it. Everyone I knew had really unappealing tattoos, many of which were so scratchy, jumbled and scarred.  The technique and artistic skill of the tattoo I saw online blew me away and immediately got me interested in the industry as an artist. I started researching and saw that there was so much amazing stuff out there but I also conspicuously noticed that there were no pictures of great art like that on black people and that finding black artists was very difficult and mostly relegated to major metros like ATL, NYC, CHI and LA. I researched TN law on how to become one and started searching for an apprenticeship here in Nashville. I had a BFA from my college and a portfolio so it seemed like a no-brainer that someone would apprentice me and I would pay their fee. I went to every shop in Nashville, most of the people wouldn’t even speak to me or denied me access to the owner.  Gatekeeping the tattoo industry to keep out those they do not want to be a part I found was normal protocol for most of the industry’s existence. I was finally able to get in the door through a shop where the owners wife (who was not a tattooer) spoke to me and liked my work. The owner agreed to let me apprentice and that I would show up 3-4 days a week. However, the actual tattooers at that shop did not want me there so bad that they got the owner to change the attendance policy to 6 days a week from open to close in order to apprentice and revoke his contract with me (but not with the other white male apprentices who still came only 3-4 days a week) The apprentice attendance policy-which is impossible for anyone who has financial and parental responsibilities- was used to justify their targeted discrimination. I was only there for 2 months and had only done cleaning, answering phones, scrubbing tools and 5 tattoos. Their unprofessionalism extended to the owner not even telling me they were changing the policy. One of the artists who did not like me called to tell me and the owner has refused to this day to even talk to me. When I left that shop I went back to the shops in town and no one would still talk to me. So I had to take that risk and open One Drop Ink Tattoo. Now, this year, we celebrate our 10 year anniversary! Over the past decade, we have risen to great heights and have been consistently the top rated shop in Nashville! I have been able to travel the world and tattoo, won awards at several conventions in the US and one in Rome and I’ve been able to bring in more artists of color.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Well, Nashville has gone through many changes since 2019. This list would have been quite extensive before 2020 but since the tornado hit our neighborhood and city in March 2020 and then the pandemic and then the Christmas Day explosion, some of my favorites are permanently gone. However, I see many great new things popping up and some old favs are still surviving! Slim and Huskys for the best pizza has a new location opening up downtown on Fifth and Broadway right next to the brand new National Museum of African American Music and S&H is the first black owned businesses on Broadway! I encourage anyone to do a walking tour of Black Nashville with Chatika of United Street Tours. I love The Frist Art Museum who has done so much to support local and artists of color with entryways into the art world to get their art to a larger audience. Prince’s hot chicken is a must, Woodcuts Gallery is a great place to buy art from artists of color. Akubelan bookstore, The Cupcake Collection, Monell’s, Fisk University Art Galleries and Aaron Douglas Murals, Minerva Bar and lounge, NKA Gallery on Buchanan, Local Distro for food, events by Creative Girls Rock and check out Urbaanite for events. Also the Jefferson Street Sound Museum is another hidden gem. I would also join the Black people Making Moves FB groups and Black Business Boom black business directory for Nashville. Of course you should visit my shop One Drop Ink Tattoo on Jefferson Street and check out our gallery! So many more awesome people are out here making moves as well I just can’t keep up!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I must shoutout first my daughter Kasumi. She was only 8 years old when I started this journey into tattooing and it changed our entire lifestyle and took us all around the world. She accepted my late nights and travels and stayed the most loving, supportive daughter ever. I also must shoutout to Denise who, when no one else would, helped me get my license and break down the barriers to entry in Tennessee. My husband Aaron helped me grow my shop from self employment to a business and has supported me in all 50 million ideas I’ve had since we met in 2012. Finally, the North Nashville community deserves a shoutout as they have kept our books full since the day we opened and have used the power of their word of mouth to share with the world how much they love our shop and our artists. Their loyalty and support has given us a true home.

Website: www.queenbeeink.com www.onedropink.com

Instagram: @queenbeeink @onedropink

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/queenbeeink https://www.facebook.com/onedropink

Image Credits
John A Russell, Lexander Bryant