Meet Becki Wilson: Tattoo Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Becki Wilson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Becki, what role has risk played in your life or career?
In 2014 my fiancé and I bought a Cadillac Escalade off of Craigslist and decided to travel the country doing tattoo conventions. We left our jobs and our apartment behind and we haven’t looked back since. Now in 2021, we own our own brick and mortar tattoo shop in Bushwick where we have cultivated a beautiful artistic environment, our tattoo shop Hades Inquisition, creating what we had always envisioned. Risk has played a huge part in our lives. There’s always a chance For failure when you risk everything you have to pursue a dream or a goal. Between the two of us I don’t think we even give failure any space to occupy our minds. It’s always been “all in” for us ever since the beginning. I was working at 2 different tattoo shops, one in the west village and one in Bushwick and my fiancé , Uriel, was working as a bartender in Brooklyn. We had just moved in together as friends at the time. It’s easy as an artist to be exploited by business owners dangling “opportunities” and “exposure” in this city and we were definitely feeling the weight of monotonous mediocrity. Go to work, go get drunk, come home, wake up, do it again. It was fun but there had to be more. Fed up with feeling used, and tired of working for someone else’s dream, we decided to take a huge leap. We bought the car off Craigslist, and after signing up for our first tattoo convention, we eventually found ourselves on the road 24/7 with no specific home, and no one to answer to but ourselves and our own personal goals. All I wanted to do is tattoo and make art and see the world, and meet people. And doing it with my best friend and the person I love most was and still is worth all the risk, every day. Looking back, of course there were so many things that could have gone wrong. We hopped from hotel to hotel, we had no home, our car broke down, or we would get somewhere with no money and have to sleep in our car and figure out how to get to the next destination. But it always worked out. We always pulled through. I definitely was once the person who over planned and didn’t want to risk anything, I think Uriel really helped me see how one can create their own reality by focusing on what could go right, not what could go wrong. 7 years later, We’ve seen almost every major city in the US, Iceland, London, Trinidad and Tobago and Thailand. Tattooing has taken us all over the world. Had we “played it safe” I don’t think we’d be where we are now, Hades Inquisition is not only our tattoo shop but has been the mission statement for our entire livelihood for these last 7 years, and it will continue on. I’m so grateful for all that we have, the roof over our head and our amazing newborn son; whom we will always encourage to forge his own path and do what makes his heart happiest as well.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
It definitely hasn’t been easy to accomplish a lot of the things I find myself with today. I think as an artist, you’re constantly trying to ignore all possibilities of failure so you can put your all into what you want to achieve. I owe everything to my partner, we push each other to grow and do what makes us happiest at the end of the day. That’s why my life is so wonderful because I have someone in it who gives me the space and room I need to become the best version of myself. Also of course, my clients. They come to me with ideas and trust me to make them permanent on their skin. I can’t even begin to describe the trust between us and how much that has helped me to learn and develop as an artist.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I mean, a week is no where near the amount of time it would take to show someone the complex beauty of a city. I’ve lived in Brooklyn for 13 years and I’m still amazed by how many new things I’m always stumbling on or being shown as they reveal themselves. Cities are like creatures that are constantly growing and evolving. Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Uriel J Winfree III, he pushes me to do my best, is an incredible musician, tattoo artist, father and all around human in general. I don’t think my life would be anywhere close to so beautiful had he not come into it. There’s nothing like his love, I’m so grateful for him every day.

Instagram: @beckiwilson @hadesinquisition

Facebook: Facebook.com/hadesinquisition