A Darwin tattoo artist has been inundated with requests from across Australia after posting pictures of her client’s double mastectomy breast art to social media.
Mim d’Abbs has been a tattoo artist for 21 years and usually produces “the same sort of tattoos that most parlours get the privilege of doing”.
Last month a woman emailed Ms d’Abbs’ tattoo parlour with a query about having her breasts tattooed following breast reconstruction following breast cancer.
“I’ve had a lot of requests to tattoo over scars on stomachs [but] that was the first time I’ve had a request to do a post-operative double mastectomy,” Ms d’Abbs said.
Ms d’Abbs said the subsequent consultation was surprisingly easy and the woman was quickly booked in for her desired floral design.
“It was just one picture [of] some gentle negative-positive reverse, where the skin forms the flowers,” Ms d’Abbs explained.
“They sort of look like a cross between lilies and lotus.”
Producing the woman’s breast tattoo
On Wednesday the woman sat for the tattoo in what Ms d’Abbs said was a “pleasant and fluid process”.
“We drew the design on. We only had to draw it on once,” she said.
“It sat beautifully and we were both pleased with it [and] it took a lot less time than I thought it would.
“The skin was really good for tattooing. I wasn’t sure, as working over scar tissue can be problematic.
“I thought it might take all day and it took three and half hours. She was a really brave woman.”
Ms d’Abbs has lost a friend to breast cancer and said producing the artwork was a “an incredibly important” moment in her career.
“It was probably the most emotional I’ve been about a tattoo,” she said.
“I was very honoured to have the opportunity to make a difference to how somebody viewed themselves who had been dealt not such a great hand.”
Top Comments
What an original, clever & yes, brave, way for women who have had to endure breast cancer "treatment" etc! My wife has just finished undergoing over 2 years of operations, treatments etc for breast cancer & I think she would be delighted to see what tattooing can do for a females confidence, & making their (now removed) breasts to be a real "improvement" on the normal scarring etc which results from breast removal. All these females who are shown here with these tattoos look fabulous!