STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Scars are part of life. Many people have them, and they can be a reminder of whatever you did to get the scar. So a tattoo shop in Amherst, Ohio, uses body art that works with those marks from the past. Ideastream Public Media's J. Nungesser reports. And we should advise you there are references to self-harm and suicide here.
(SOUNDBITE OF TATTOO MACHINE BUZZING)
ANGELIQUE AGNEW: We're looking at quite a bit of scar tissue to cover for her.
J NUNGESSER, BYLINE: In a purple studio room at Phoenix Ink & Beauty, Angelique Agnew uses a tattoo gun to draw a series of vines and vibrant flowers on the chest and torso of her client, Lynn Schmitz, who works at a local bank. The designs are meant to cover a surgical scar left by breast reduction surgery.
LYNN SCHMITZ: The reason for the breast reduction was the neck pain, the shoulder pain, the all that. And then you have this ugly leftover mess.
NUNGESSER: Schmitz has been coming to the shop since late 2023.
SCHMITZ: It really makes you feel a whole lot better emotionally, mentally, I guess, because you don't really see it anymore.
NUNGESSER: She's had 14 sessions and hopes that six more may complete the cover-up. The work is part of the shop's Art of Healing program. People can apply if they have physical and emotional scars due to self-harm, surgeries or have survived human trafficking. If accepted, they'll have their tattoo art provided for just the cost of the ink and tattooing supplies. The artist provide their time and art for free. Agnew, who owns the all-women staff shop with her husband, says the Art of Healing program stems from her own battles with self-harm, including cutting, where someone cuts their skin to gain a momentary sense of relief from their emotional pain.
AGNEW: This program originally was for self-harmers. I will cover your scars for you if you're ready to change that chapter in your life and start a new one.
NUNGESSER: She says the program grew and expanded to include human trafficking survivors.
AGNEW: I actually had a young lady come in. At 16, she was kidnapped by her boyfriend, and for 12 years, was sold in human trafficking. Sadly, he branded her on her chest. And she had escaped, and she was having some very horrible feelings about not continuing in life because she saw this brand every single day. So we covered it for her, and she regularly messages me and lets me know that she's here because of that.
NUNGESSER: In a 2023 study, a group of social work professors found that tattoos provide a sense of agency and bodily reclamation to sexual assault survivors. A growing number of tattoo shops nationwide have embraced the idea of tattoos as healing for trauma.
AGNEW: Just get my machine ready, and then we'll get started.
NUNGESSER: Another client, Ronald Cantrell, already has a few tattoos but this day is getting a golden koi swimming up a waterfall tattooed on his right arm and hand.
RONALD CANTRELL: Well, I am an alcoholic, but I'm sober at the moment. But the tattoos represent pretty much my journey going through until today. It's covering up scars from the way that I feel.
NUNGESSER: Cantrell has been sober for 24 years now, but the emotional scars are still being mended.
CANTRELL: I know other people, it's not their cup of tea to have a hand tattoo. But for me, it just symbolizes me being sober and growth and a lot of things that I do know I would never do in my drinking life.
NUNGESSER: Agnew says she currently has 25 clients in the program and expects that number to grow.
AGNEW: My time is for them, and I feel good knowing that they can grow from that.
NUNGESSER: Taking pain and replacing it with beautiful art, one tattoo at a time.
For NPR News, I'm J. Nungesser in Amherst, Ohio.
(SOUNDBITE OF RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS SONG, "SCAR TISSUE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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