Lyaysan, R, and tattoo artist Yevgeniya Zakhar look in the mirror at the tattoo to conceal a scar from a domestic violence attack, in Ufa, Russia (Picture:AP Photo/Vadim Braydov)

A tattoo artist is helping victims of domestic violence hide the physical scars from abusive relationships they want to put in the past.

Yevgeniya Zakhar posted an ad on her social media page last year offering to ink abused women for free after she heard about a Brazilian tattoo artist already offering the service.

Russia decriminalises domestic violence as long as you don’t break their bones

Soon she was flooded with requests – and got so stressed hearing her clients’ stories of beatings and burnings that she had to limit the number of women she sees to one day a week.

‘I didn’t expect to be inundated with visits,’ said Ms Zakhar, 33, who works in Ufa, a city about 1,200 kilometres (745 miles) east of Moscow.


Yevgeniya Zakhar, a Russian tattoo artist from Ufa, a city about 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) east of Moscow, gives free tattoos to victims of domestic abuse (Picture: AP/Vadim Braydov)

Zakhar works on a tattoo for a victim of domestic violence, in Ufa, Russia (Picture: AP/Vadim Braydov)

‘I had to work on two to four clients a day. It’s really scary, scary to look at this problem and hear what people are saying.’



Earlier this week, President Vladimir Putin signed into law a controversial bill decriminalising domestic violence in Russia, so long as abusers don’t break bones.

The measure makes battery on a family member punishable by a fine or a 15-day arrest, if there is no bodily harm.

Domestic violence is a long-standing problem in Russia.

Police estimate that about 40% of all violent crimes take place within families.

A victim of domestic violence, cringes from pain as artist Yevgeniya Zakhar works on her tattoo in Ufa, Russia (Picture: AP/Vadim Braydov)

Zakhar hugs a woman she gave a tattoo to conceal a scar from a violence attack (Picture: AP/Vadim Braydov)

Russia has just moved to decriminalise domestic violence (Picture: AP/Vadim Braydov)

In a survey last month by the state-run Russian Public Opinion Research Centre, 19% of respondents said ‘it can be acceptable’ to hit one’s wife, husband or child ‘in certain circumstances’.

Supporters of the new law insisted it does not encourage or sanction violence, but instead gives families a chance to reconcile after what the bill’s co-author, Olga Batalina, described as an ’emotional conflict, without malice, without grave consequences’.

Ms Zakhar’s clients usually pick designs to transform their abused, but not broken, bodies into art.

The clients confide in her, sharing horrors of past relationships, violence and vicious abuse.

Turning the scars into something of their own choosing gives the women’s self-esteem a boost and helps them gain new perspectives on the trauma, Ms Zakhar said.

‘Girls are willing to talk, often because it will be the last time they speak about the scars,’ she said.

Yevgeniya Zakhar looks at the body of Lilya, a domestic violence victim, whose body is seen in a mirror in Ufa, Russia (Picture: AP/Vadim Braydov)

The scars left on the body of Lilya, a victim of domestic violence, in front of Lilya who had just had tattoos to conceal these scars (Picture: AP/Vadim Braydov)

‘They don’t talk about it later because they will be talking about their beautiful tattoo, not a scar.’

Katarina Golovkova underwent eight hours of surgery to save her arm after her boyfriend threw her against a window five years ago.

She thought about getting a tattoo to cover the scars, but did not have the courage to visit a tattoo artist before she spotted Ms Zakhar’s ad.

‘People saw it and asked “What is this scar about?”‘ Ms Golovkova, 29, recalled.

Tattoo artist Yevgeniya Zakhar looks on during an interview in Ufa, Russia (Picture: AP/Vadim Braydov)

Katarina Golovkova shows a tattoo she had done over the scars from a domestic violence attack she sustained five years earlier (Picture: AP/Vadim Braydov)

‘It was a constant reminder. You see this arm every day, it’s there. At least now I can freely open it up, and people say “How cool!”‘

Ms Golovkova, who was stalked by her boyfriend for weeks after she finally left him, does not approve of Russia’s new domestic violence law.

‘It’s wrong. It all starts with one slap,’ she said.

‘You forgive them once, and it gets worse. You can’t forgive such things. They will happen again.’

Viktoria lies on the bed to get a tattoo done to conceal a scar from a domestic violence (Picture: AP/Vadim Braydov)

A woman lies ready to get a tattoo to conceal a scar from a domestic abuse (Picture: AP/Vadim Braydov)

Ms Zakhar said she has tattooed more than 1,000 women at no cost since she started reaching out to abuse victims last year.



She said not one reported receiving help from police.

‘The girls say “What’s the point? Why go to the police if they are not helping?”‘

Zakhar, L, gives a tattoo to Nadezhda, a domestic violence survivor (Picture: AP/Vadim Braydov)