Tattoo artists offer 'ink therapy' for trauma survivors

Reuters Videos
1 年前

STORY: These tattoo artists are offering

free tattoos to trauma survivors

L: New York City

Emmanuel Fortunato and Koral Ladna

are the founders of Inktentions

They got the idea after a client

came in following a mastectomy

(Koral Ladna, Inktentions co-founder)

“We started to talk first about breast cancer, mastectomy cover up, doing artistic things versus realistic areolas. And then we started talking like, 'Well, what else does this apply to?

Their clients include survivors of childhood

and domestic abuse, addiction and more

“We see the therapeutic qualities that tattoos can have. We see that every day in our jobs, how it can transform somebody's life, how it can help heal, how it can help really take ownership of your body, take ownership of your past, and it's something we see all the time, so we just had this basic idea and we're like, 'Well, how can we help the most people that we can?”

(Keira Mendez, Inktentions client)

"After the whole process, it was like the storm and the rainbow and then my whole portrait became my whole story together until now. And it's a beautiful story. We survived, we continued with our lives, we built something better, and this is what I have."