Our scars are a great reminder of what we have gone through in life. They can either remind us of the battle we fought hard to win or a dark past that we would rather forget. Scars provide us pleasant and unpleasant memories.
However, scars that bring back bad memories are more painful than fresh wounds. In an effort to build great memories, tattoo artist Flavia Carvalho decide to start a project called ” A Pele da Flor” or The Skin of the Flower. Women who were victims of domestic violence are given free services. All they need to do is to choose the design they want.
This is a fantastic initiative considering the fact that the scars reminding victims of their nightmarish experience, are replaced by better memories that can help them move on and make life worth living.
Scars can cut both ways: they can give us a sense of pride or they can retraumatize by reminding us of the past. With that in mind, tattoo artist Flavia Carvalho decided to start a project called ‘A Pele da FLor’ (translation: ‘The Skin of the Flower’). Through this project she offers free services to women who have scars from domestic abuse.
Flavia Carvalho runs a studio in Curitiba, Brasil. She’s helped women who have been stabbed by knives, shot with bullets and covers up mastectomies as well.
As she explains:
“I started the project quite recently, and I had no idea it would receive this much media attention. It began very spontaneously. As I said, my services are a hundred percent voluntary, and the only “cost” women need to invest is to choose a design for their tattoos!”
She tells her story of how it began:
“It all started about two years ago, when I worked with a client who wanted to cover a large scar on her abdomen”
