VALS: Isa Coleman '18

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC | Isa Vita '18 (she/they) is a tattooer based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. They completed a traditional year-long apprenticeship under Dawn Purnell and worked the door taking walk-ins at Dawn’s Custom Tattoo for two years before opening Heartsick Tattoo in downtown Santa Fe in January 2022. Heartsick Tattoo is the first and (currently) only queer tattoo shop in the state of New Mexico. Isa tattoos in a wide variety of styles from fineline black & grey to full color American traditional and works on both custom and flash tattoos. Her flash designs are largely drawn from the archive of American traditional flash designs, adapted with a queer twist.

Themes explored in their flash include traditional Western tattoo symbolism, leatherdyke and BDSM subcultures, queer erotica, folklore, and romance. Isa is very invested in learning and preserving tattoo history and values both the old school tattoo world as well as the more recent adaptations of DIY tattoo culture. Isa’s tattoos can be found on the bodies of many types of people- construction workers, professors, dishwashers, baristas, sex workers, nuclear scientists, ex-cons, one very cool priest, and many others in their community.