Alberto Hartleben “EL NAWAL”
Contemporary | Folk Culture
Originally from Guatemala, Alberto’s journey as a tattoo artist began 15 years ago in Brazil, where he also began exploring a deeper spiritual path. Since then, his work has taken him around the world, continuously shaping him both as an artist and as a person.
At the heart of Alberto’s work is a connection to his Mayan ancestry. Throughout his travels across the Americas, he immersed himself in ancestral cultures, learning about their art, rituals, traditions, and symbolism. These experiences became deeply influential in shaping his personal philosophy and the visual language of his work. In Mayan culture, tattooing was more than decoration; t was ritual. Warriors, shamans, governors, and members of the upper classes were tattooed with geometric forms, lines, and markings that carried significant meaning. Alberto draws inspiration from this history while creating a language that is distinctly his own.
He believes tattooing remains a powerful form of transformation and expression, just as it was within ancient cultures. A tattoo can represent an experience, a transition, an identity, or something within a person that cannot always be expressed through words. His travels and exploration of traditional medicines, spiritual practices, and different ways of understanding consciousness have also profoundly influenced the way he approaches life and art.
Today, Alberto describes the intricate lines and organic connections within his work as a kind of universal DNA, patterns found throughout nature, the human body, and the world around us. They resemble pathways within the brain, the rhythm of a heartbeat, and the rises and falls of life.
Each person may find something different within these lines, and that is part of their purpose. Through every piece, Alberto seeks to create something that feels both ancient and deeply personal, a visual language of transformation, connection, peace, and harmony.