I got this tattoo about four days ago, but it’s been a long time in coming. I am twenty years old, but I feel so much older. It has been a hard life.

This tattoo says my name, Dominguez, in a custom script that a friend of mine came up with. I met him in art class a long time ago and he is an aspiring tattoo artist and has been sketching forever.

The actual script is based on Aztec writing and the imagery is based on the Aztec Wall of the Dead. The Wall of the Dead is an Aztec story that after a battle, the Aztecs would pile the bodies of their victims into a wall as a warning to their enemies and an appeasement to the gods of war.

I’m supposedly of Aztec descent but I grew up in a small and racist town. Life was never easy for my brother and I. He and I came to a great separation of beliefs at a certain point. He decided to go into the military and be a traditional American. Me, I opted for extremism and individuality though it has not been easy.

This tattoo for me is about protecting my family. I do not want anyone to ever mess with us again, and I will use the spirits of my ancestry to show this warning.”