A tattoo artist is inking over the scars of victims of domestic violence for free

Scars from knives, bullets and more have been covered

(Flavia Carvalho)

It might be difficult to completely get rid of the emotional scars left by domestic abuse, but one woman is helping blot out the physical ones.

Tattooist Flavia Carvalho has started a project called ‘A Pele da Flor’ (The Skin of the Flower), which sees her inking over victims’ scars free of charge, covering reminders of knife, bullet and more injuries with designs of their choosing.

“I started the project quite recently, and I had no idea it would receive this much media attention,” Carvalho told Huffington Post.

Flavia Carvalho says she is thrilled about the positive response

(Flavia Carvalho)

(Flavia Carvalho)

(Flavia Carvalho)

“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!

“It all started about two years ago, when I worked with a client who wanted to cover a large scar on her abdomen.

“She told me that she was at a nightclub, and when she turned down a man who approached her, he stabbed her with an switchblade.

(Flavia Carvalho)

A scar left by a bullet (Flavia Carvalho)

Carvalho also helps mask scars left by mastectomies (Flavia Carvalho)

“When she saw the finished tattoo, she was extremely moved, and that deeply touched me.

“The one that shocked me the most was the story of a 17 year-old girl who dated an older man and, for months, suffered from the physically abusive relationship.

“When he wanted to break up with her, he scheduled a meeting, and after they began to fight, he stabbed her several times in her abdomen, and violently raped her.”

Carvalho currently works out of a tattoo parlour in Curitiba, Brazil.