How I Became A Professional Henna Artist

My work as a henna artist officially began in Jackson Square in 1997. I became well versed in how to use the tools and how to apply henna quickly. I had moved to New Orleans but could not find creative work and was unable to pay my bills.

So I got an artist license and began working in Jackson Square as the first licensed henna artist ever to be there. 

      The old-time artists were ruthless and tried to have me arrested and my license revoked. They said henna was not art. My friend Tanner also did temporary tattoos, he was one of the first to use Temp Tu and he had it shipped from Japan. Crazy how long ago that was now!

Tanner was getting the same treatment I was, so together we stood our ground. It was really really difficult though.

The man who was head of licensing was constantly harassing us and trying to make us leave. Tanner even had cop cars surround his booth to try to make him leave once. The older generation of artists did all they could to have us thrown out of there. We had a binder we called the “harassment file”, of all the things the city or artists had done to try to intimidate us to leave. We had to battle the city and artists for the right to be there. A lawyer from Lawyers for the Arts had to speak to the city attorney and threaten a lawsuit if the city did not comply with our right to work in Jackson Square. I was painting on a plain surface, just as the law read one must do to work there. The big argument was, what is a plain surface? Canvas? Cardboard? Driftwood? Skin? Artists painted on everything and none of the others were having to deal with what we had to, simply because we were painting on people.

         I worked Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 10am until dark for months and not only was I able to pay my bills but I also got really good and fast. I was broke no more.

         This was before the economy crashed and people would spend money on all sorts of novelties- including henna, which most people were only just hearing about and dying to try out. 

        I bought a house in the Marigny with that money and traveled to Brazil, and Mexico and Hawaii and LA each year. I made better money than most any independent artist could. And I earned it all, working as a street artist in world-renowned Jackson Square New Orleans.