By:
Joseph Erbentraut
For many, a tattoo can be a declaration
of survival,
of love and
of independence, like a trophy.
For
some others, especially people who have survived trauma, tattoos
related to the past can be a hindrance in their efforts to progress in
their lives. Coverups and especially tattoo removals can be
prohibitively expensive.
This is where Chris Baker steps in. Since
2011, Baker, who is based in the far west Chicago suburb of Oswego, has
been offering free coverups and removal services for people including
ex-gang members and survivors of sex trafficking and domestic violence,
whose ink serves as unwelcome reminders of the lives they're trying to
leave behind.
Since Baker’s tattoo shop,
Ink180,
opened its doors, he estimates they've done over 2,000 free coverups or
removals. Though his shop offers regular, paid tattoos and piercings,
Baker says 80 percent of the work is pro bono services for survivors.
Beyond that, the shop runs entirely off donations.
Though money's
tight, and Baker admits he sometimes struggles to pay his bills, he has
no plans to cut back on the shop's free services.
“I can’t do it,
because I see the look on their faces when [a domestic violence
survivor] doesn’t have to look down at their ex-husband’s name on their
wrist or arm,” Baker told HuffPost. “I see that relief that he’s
physically gone from their lives and they’re physically safe, but now
they’re mentally safe as well. They don’t have to look down and have
that tattoo trigger horrible reminders of what they’ve been through.”
Prior
to moving to the Chicago area and starting up his shop, Baker, 43,
lived in Los Angeles with his family, which includes three children,
aged 9, 12 and 16. When he relocated to Oswego about eight years ago, he
said he went through a difficult time not knowing what direction he
wanted his life to take. Having rediscovered his faith, he began to pray
regularly about what he should do — and that’s when Ink180 came to
mind.
Baker then approached friends who worked as probation
officers and shared his idea. His friends “both laughed and said we
would have people lined up around the building for it,” Baker, who has
been tattooing for 16 years, recalls.
Though Baker was initially
skeptical of that claim, the demand has been high and the shop is
generally booked out for appointments about a month in advance.
Baker says Ink180 has done over 2,000 free tattoo
coverups or removals for ex-gang members, sex trafficking survivors and
others since the shop opened in 2011.
Being a
“tattoo ministry,” Baker’s shop is a little bit different than the
average tattoo spot. The shop has a “clean and peaceful” vibe — there
probably won’t be heavy metal blasting on any given day — and also
features a prayer wall lined with requests submitted through the shop’s
website. Ink180 also has a clause on its website describing work it will
not do, namely “any images that are gang related, satanic, vulgar or
degrading to women,” nor any tattoos or piercings of “private areas."
Everything
the shop does, according to Baker, is based on one Bible verse, 2
Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation
has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"
That message
resonates deeply for Baker’s clients. In the case of an ex-gang member, a
tattoo of gang-related symbols can be mistaken as continued
affiliation, hindering employment opportunities and leading to unwanted
altercations with gangs or police officers. Many of the sex trafficking
survivors referred to Baker’s shop were given tattoos — such as barcodes
or a pimp’s name — that forever mark them like property.
About
nine months ago, the ministry expanded its free coverup and removal
services to domestic violence survivors. Six months ago, Baker began
offering coverups for scarred survivors of cutting and self-harm. On top
of that, the shop also works with former intravenous drug users looking
to coverup old track marks, recovering addicts with drug-related
tattoos and young people hoping to enter the military that have tattoos
on their head, neck, hands or other locations outside
new regulations set by the U.S. Army last year.
Not
everyone is on board with Ink180’s work. Some critics in the tattooing
community view him as competition for their paid work, according to
Baker.
“They view it as taking money off their table because I do
this work for free, which really, if you think about it, is absurd,”
Baker explained. “The folks I get to help a lot of times haven’t eaten
for a day or two days when they get down here, so we order them
sandwiches or pizza so they can eat before we do the work we do.”
Many
other tattoo artists and the religious community have embraced Baker,
despite reservations about body art in some conservative Christian
communities. He travels around the region to speak to churches on
Sundays, the one day a week his shop is closed, to screen and discuss
a documentary centered on the shop's services.
“By
and large, whether people like or don’t like tattoos, they love the
ministry work we’re doing because it’s all about giving people a second
chance,” Baker told HuffPost. “We’re letting people know that no matter
what you’ve done or what life you’ve lived, you can be redeemed and
change it if you want it bad enough and put in the work to change
yourself. It can happen.”
Because the shop is located in a suburb
with few public transit options from the city, Ink180 also operates two
mobile tattooing units that regularly travel into Chicago during the
warmer months. In order to meet other needs survivors might have, Baker
partners with local organizations who offer services such as GED
training and accessible medical, dental and vision care, creating a
resource fair-type environment.
One of Ink180's two mobile tattooing units.
Most
of the shop's trips into the city end with a meal shared between
survivors, service providers and tattoo artists alike. At a barbecue
this past summer, Baker says former members of two rival gangs sat next
to each other after receiving services, a peaceful scene that would have
been practically unimaginable just a few years before.
“I just
wanted to do something to try and give people an option, to help people
who wanted to change and get out of that lifestyle and not have that
constant reminder, to allow them to go out and get a job and live their
life without having to look over their shoulder every five minutes,”
Baker said. “We wanted to give people a second shot.”
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/06/tattoo-artist sex-trafficking_n_6616524.html?utm_hp_ref=tattoo
