Brisbane tattoo artist Whitney Develle is doing a beautiful thing.
For the rest of the year, she’s setting aside one or two days every week to tattoo over people’s self-harm scars, at no cost to them. She made the offer in a Facebook post earlier this week.
“I want you to be able to look down at the scars that bring you pain, embarrassment, shame, and be able to put those feelings behind you and instead feel proud of the body part that now contains art and offers a new beginning,” she wrote.
Develle tells The Motherish that she’d tattooed maybe one or two people with scars on their forearms, but she didn’t put much thought into it until a friend mentioned how much shame her scars were causing her.
“She had suffered from depression when she was younger, whilst also struggling with an eating disorder, and had cut ‘don’t eat’ into her arm, amongst other things,” Develle explains. “She was so embarrassed. She told me how much pain it brought her when people would question her about them or make comments.
“I thought to myself, ‘I can help her. I will help her.'”
Develle says tattooing her friend changed her life.
"She felt beautiful again. She would message me and tell me how overly happy she was, how she could wear clothes that showed off her new tattoo, rather than the clothes that once concealed her scars. People were asking her about her tattoo. The scars became irrelevant, a thing of the past."
