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9 Ex-Gang Members With Their Tattoos Removed
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9 Ex-Gang Members With Their Tattoos Removed

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Seeing a fully tattooed person in a shady neighborhood can create all kinds of negative assumptions. But sometimes (if not most of the time) they’re just stereotypes, that actually make the lives of these people quite a bit harder. That’s the topic photographer Steven Burton explores in his photo series “Skin Deep” where he removes tattoos from ex-gang members to show the person beneath.

When I started Skin Deep I had a simple concept: take portraits of heavily tattooed ex-gangsters and do tattoo removal using digital re-touching to create before and after portraits,” Burton writes on his Kickstarter page. “Most of the homeboys/girls hadn’t seen themselves without the gang tattoos for decades, so during the interviews, I presented the photoshopped images. There was a deep emotional response by the subjects.

These images inspire personal insight from the subjects and elicit questions of how we as a society perceive and judge those with tattoos and how this stigma goes so far as to influence these former gang member’s perception of themselves.

The photographer spent two years and over 400 hours on Photoshop to create the cool photos and turn it into a book. The last thing that’s missing is your support on Kickstarter.

More info: kickstarter | steven burton | (h/t: demilkeddesignboom)

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tiagoobin avatar
tiagoobin
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Interesting. How different people look without tattoos. I still love tattoos, but some of these people are better without.

lamijunk_2013 avatar
Notchimine Mette
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't know - with or without the tattoos I would still cross to the other side of the road if I walked alone and saw them coming my way... It is the eyes...

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kf_samandari avatar
.gas.
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This gives the impression that tattoos in and of themselves are bad, which is certainly not the case. Hate/gang tattoos, yes. But most of these people's ink was not gang-related.

rhon avatar
Rhon
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They were all so much better looking when you can see clean skin. Very good looking people.

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tiagoobin avatar
tiagoobin
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Interesting. How different people look without tattoos. I still love tattoos, but some of these people are better without.

lamijunk_2013 avatar
Notchimine Mette
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't know - with or without the tattoos I would still cross to the other side of the road if I walked alone and saw them coming my way... It is the eyes...

Load More Replies...
kf_samandari avatar
.gas.
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This gives the impression that tattoos in and of themselves are bad, which is certainly not the case. Hate/gang tattoos, yes. But most of these people's ink was not gang-related.

rhon avatar
Rhon
Community Member
7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They were all so much better looking when you can see clean skin. Very good looking people.

Load More Comments
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