Native story

 November 9, 2012
Hi Derek, Love the image. For your information: Cacique (Spanish: [kaˈθike, kaˈsike]; Portuguese: [kɐˈsikɨ, kaˈsiki]; feminine form: cacica. - John Ayès 

"Indigenous Taina" pinup portrait of @lareinamunoz (Jessica) from Puerto Rico living in Switzerland.


Jessica wanted a indigenous Taina pinup transformation, something along the lines of one of my older art pieces"Sol de Jayuya" from 2006 with the exception of keeping her original dragon tattoo on her lower back to stay recognizable.

I created her as a beautiful Taina Cacique ( nobel tribal/ chief ) from the enchanted island of Boriken (original name for Puerto Rico) kneeling in a palm forest, beautifully adorning your body from natural red pigment from spiky annatto seeds of the Achiote trees in Caribbean. You can see a bushel of the annatto seeds besides her with traditional pottery where they are crushed to produce the red color with her fingertips dripping from the body paint. Note the open seeds used to be crushed. It was thought the more the tattoos and adornment worn, the closer one was to God.

She is also a warrior, symbolized by the weapon laying next her called a "Macana" a wooden club that had sharp stones embedded on the edges of it used to for hunting as well as combat from the neighboring Caribs.

Lastly I created a custom Taino tattoo on her back based on the spiritual concepts called Zemi's, which were symbolic deities and ancestral spirits to help connect to the cosmic realm honoring their ancestors sometimes in the shape of smiling skulls with large eyes. They also believed that their ancestors would visit the island from the afterworld called Coaybay at night in the form of bats and owls, hence the bat wing shape of the overall tattoo. I also included a "Jayuya" sun petroglyph symbol on her loin cloth as well as an additional Zemi charm around her anklet. -Santiago Pin-ups