This Tattoo Artist Is Covering The Scars Of Domestic Violence Survivors Absolutely Free

This Tattoo Artist Is Covering The Scars Of Domestic Violence Survivors Absolutely Free

Domestic abuse does not discriminate. Attacks that spring from a desire “to establish control over another person through fear and intimidation” (“Domestic Violence: Statistics & Facts”) can begin gradually, or suddenly materialize. The scars left behind are not always visible, but these tattoos take those visible scars and create a visible work of art to assist in the healing of both body and soul. Inspiring artist, Flavia Carvalho, from Brazil has risen to the challenge of turning the reminder of the scar into a work of art that reminds victims of domestic abuse that they are not only strong, but beautiful inside and out.

In this first tattoo, Carvalho designed an art piece with lotus flowers and a small blue hummingbird. The lotus symbolizes beauty and purity, and the hummingbird symbolizes a “lightness of being” (“Hummingbird Spirit Animal”). The powerful message enlightens and captures the beauty of this individual.

The next tattoo is a framed imaged of a superhero with her pet. A combination of power, strength, and compassion is black-based, but surrounded in a gold frame.

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Next, a woman with a wolf within. The wolf’s “presence… could be a reminder of an event, situation or a person you feel threatened by” (“Wolf Spirit Animal”). This tattoo shows the woman with blazing red hair rising above it.

The next photo shows a similar image to the first one, where an abdominal attack, left painful scars not only from the attack, but the surgery that saved her life. The tattoo is an expression of life and abundance in the flowers, the birds, the butterflies, and the greenery.

A bullet wound leaves a deep scar on the body and the psyche. This tattoo of cherry blossoms symbolize a cycle of death and rebirth (“For Hundreds of Years, Cherry Blossoms Are Matter of Life and Death”).

And while losing a breast to cancer isn’t necessarily a form of domestic abuse, Carvalho sympathized with a woman who had undergone a mastectomy that left her missing part of her breast. The lotus flowers are strategically placed to remind this woman that there is beauty in her scars, and strength in her fight.

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Women are strong. Women are fighters. And those that have survived the people who try to diminish that fight have scars to prove it. This project of love and support can not only replenish the strength these woman may have lost, but help in the fight of reclaiming it.

Safehorizon.org   Pbs.org   Spiritanimal.info