Tattoo artist turned the scars of domestic violence victims into art
Yevgeniya Zakhar posted an ad on her social media page last year offering to ink abused women for free after she heard about a Brazilian tattoo artist already offering the service.
Soon she was flooded with requests – and got so stressed hearing her clients’ stories of beatings and burnings that she had to limit the number of women she sees to one day a week.
‘I didn’t expect to be inundated with visits,’ said Ms Zakhar, 33, who works in Ufa, a city about 1,200 kilometres (745 miles) east of Moscow.
‘I had to work on two to four clients a day. It’s really scary, scary to look at this problem and hear what people are saying.’
Earlier this week, President Vladimir Putin signed into law a controversial bill decriminalising domestic violence in Russia, so long as abusers don’t break bones.
The measure makes battery on a family member punishable by a fine or a 15-day arrest, if there is no bodily harm.
Domestic violence is a long-standing problem in Russia.
Police estimate that about 40% of all violent crimes take place within families.
In a survey last month by the state-run Russian Public Opinion Research Centre, 19% of respondents said ‘it can be acceptable’ to hit one’s wife, husband or child ‘in certain circumstances’.
Supporters of the new law insisted it does not encourage or sanction violence, but instead gives families a chance to reconcile after what the bill’s co-author, Olga Batalina, described as an ’emotional conflict, without malice, without grave consequences’.
Ms Zakhar’s clients usually pick designs to transform their abused, but not broken, bodies into art.
The clients confide in her, sharing horrors of past relationships, violence and vicious abuse.
Turning the scars into something of their own choosing gives the women’s self-esteem a boost and helps them gain new perspectives on the trauma, Ms Zakhar said.
‘Girls are willing to talk, often because it will be the last time they speak about the scars,’ she said.
Source: http://metro.co.uk/2017/02/10/tattoo-artist-helps-victims-of-domestic-violence-turn-their-scars-into-art-6439486/
Soon she was flooded with requests – and got so stressed hearing her clients’ stories of beatings and burnings that she had to limit the number of women she sees to one day a week.
‘I didn’t expect to be inundated with visits,’ said Ms Zakhar, 33, who works in Ufa, a city about 1,200 kilometres (745 miles) east of Moscow.
‘I had to work on two to four clients a day. It’s really scary, scary to look at this problem and hear what people are saying.’
Earlier this week, President Vladimir Putin signed into law a controversial bill decriminalising domestic violence in Russia, so long as abusers don’t break bones.
The measure makes battery on a family member punishable by a fine or a 15-day arrest, if there is no bodily harm.
Domestic violence is a long-standing problem in Russia.
Police estimate that about 40% of all violent crimes take place within families.
In a survey last month by the state-run Russian Public Opinion Research Centre, 19% of respondents said ‘it can be acceptable’ to hit one’s wife, husband or child ‘in certain circumstances’.
Supporters of the new law insisted it does not encourage or sanction violence, but instead gives families a chance to reconcile after what the bill’s co-author, Olga Batalina, described as an ’emotional conflict, without malice, without grave consequences’.
Ms Zakhar’s clients usually pick designs to transform their abused, but not broken, bodies into art.
The clients confide in her, sharing horrors of past relationships, violence and vicious abuse.
Turning the scars into something of their own choosing gives the women’s self-esteem a boost and helps them gain new perspectives on the trauma, Ms Zakhar said.
‘Girls are willing to talk, often because it will be the last time they speak about the scars,’ she said.
Source: http://metro.co.uk/2017/02/10/tattoo-artist-helps-victims-of-domestic-violence-turn-their-scars-into-art-6439486/
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