Mama Michelle Phillips Joins Protest As Henna Artists Defy Ban

photo and story by
James Allardice
Mirror staff writer

   Risking another citation, henna artist Luke Chanthadara gave actress and one of the original members of the Mamas and Papas Michelle Phillips a henna mehndi (body painting) on the Third Street Promenade yesterday, January 22, in a demonstration denouncing the City’s ban on the 5,000 year old practice.
   Chanthadara has already been issued two citations for failing to comply with the City’s regulation, banning henna artists from the Promenade and the Santa Monica Pier, which took effect at the beginning of this month.
   Noting that she and local activist Jerry Rubin “worked together a long time ago to stop the (Vietnam) war,” Phillips came to the Promenade on Tuesday with her dog, Snoop Doobie Doo to join Rubin in voicing her support for the henna artists, saying, “I see absolutely no reason henna tattoos should be banned. It’s ludicrous. It’s harmless fun and is totally victimless.”
   The City Council voted last October to ban the practice in a close 4-3 vote. Prior to the ban, henna artists, like other street performers on the pier and promenade, could secure a performance permit for $37. But the City was sued by someone who was unable to remove a body painting months after it was supposed to wear off – allegedly because black dye was added to the henna mix. The Council also posited that henna body painting was more of a “personal service” than an art form or a performance.
   “The reason is simple,” Chanthadara said. “They want us out. Just like they want the smaller independent stores and restaurants off the Promenade, they want to get rid of us. That’s the sad truth. This is a beautiful art form.” Chanthadara has been a henna artist for four years and is set to be arraigned February 4, for the citations that could cost him $1,000 and six months in jail per citation.
   Rubin and Chanthadara have organized a S.H.A.R.E. (Supporters of Henna Artists Right to Express), and are planning a vigil the morning of Chanthadara’s arraignment. The organization is currently circulating a petition, on which they’ve already collected nearly 400 signatures, urging the City Council to reconsider the issue. S.H.A.R.E. is recommending a reinstatement of henna artists on the Pier and the promenade, but banning black henna body drawings.
   Rubin said the organization will go before the Santa Monica Arts Commission on January 28 seeking their support. “We really want to educate the Council that this is art,” he said. “We think there is a win-win solution out there. Black henna dye is not natural, and should be banned, but this is natural and has been around for over 5,000 years. We are here to stand up for the artists freedoms.”
   Phillips received an “S” mehndi on her shoulder. While Chanthadara worked on it, she said, “I’ve always thought Santa Monica was a very progressive city. Live and let live. But it’s rather frightening that the City Council can decide what is art and what isn’t. I would think, over the past 5,000 years, it’s established itself quite well.”
   The police did not interrupt Chanthadara’s work on Phillips, although she laughed, admitting, “I was kind of hoping I’d get arrested.”
   S.H.A.R.E. also has the support of author Carine Fabuis, who wrote “Mehndi, the Art of Henna Body Painting” in 1998. In a letter earlier this year to Rubin, she wrote, “Unfortunately, so-called ‘black henna’ — which is nothing more than ink or hair dye — has garnered much negative publicity for the art form, which is 100 percent harmless when natural henna powder is used. It seems to me that the City Council would make better use of its time passing a law that prohibits the use of ‘black henna’ in Santa Monica in order to keep people safe, rather than cracking down on artists trying to make an honest living, performing an art that has existed in many cultures for over 5,000 years.”
   Rubin said he hopes the organization will continue to draw support. “I can’t think of anyone better to start our Hollywood campaign,” he said. “People in Hollywood will stand up for other artists.”