Brazilian tattoo artist Flavia Carvalho found new purpose in her career after a woman came to her for a tatoo that would cover a large scar on her stomach. The woman received the scar from a man in a nightclub who stabbed her after she rejected his advances. The moment inspired Carvalho to launch A Pele da Flor, which translates to The Skin of the Flower, a project that provides women with scars from domestic abuse and mastectomies with free tattoos, The Huffington Post reports.
Carvalho hopes that the new tattoos will empower women and change how they feel about their bodies. "It is wonderful to see how their relationship with their bodies changes after they get the tattoos," Carvalho told The Huffington Post. "I follow many of them on Facebook, and I see how, after being ashamed of their scarred bodies, they now post pictures in dresses, and they look happy, changed. It is transformative."
Carvalho also uses Facebook to post about the women she works with and the stories behind their tattoos. She has provided tattoos to women who have been shot, stabbed, and attacked with a broken piece of glass all by former boyfriends.
The local police department is teaming up with Carvalho in order to make victims more aware of the tattoo artist's services. Despite all the good she is doing, she knows that we are still not close to completely solving this issue. "It is a grain of sand; the world is full of things that need to be addressed," Carvalho says. "We have a long way to go regarding protecting women against violence."
