Breaking down barriers, building confidence one tattoo removal at time

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This article was published 27/10/2023 (724 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The dirty looks came while riding on the bus or shopping for groceries — eyes casting judgment on Michele Holmes for the tattoo on her face, which to her was a visible symbol of some of the worst times of her life.

Holmes, 21, is clean and sober now, but when she was in the depths of addiction to methamphetamine and crack cocaine, she got an inverted cross inked between her eyebrows.

The homemade tattoo is now just a faint line, and will soon be gone entirely, after laser sessions with Della Steinke, a tattoo removal specialist who recently opened her new studio, Mother Ink Tattoo Removal, in a permanent space at 550 Sargent Ave.

“I’m a lot more confident in myself — in my self-esteem, me as a person, as an individual. I don’t get looked at a certain way, anymore. I was labelled, I guess, as somebody who was doing drugs,” said Holmes, who now plans to finish her high school education before pursuing training to become an addictions support worker.

“A lot of people that I knew in the drug scene, they had that upsidedown cross on their forehead. It’s taking myself away from that environment.”

Holmes has had 11 sessions with Steinke, who has been offering her services to ex-gang members and street-involved people exiting the lifestyle for free for the past 8 1/2 years.

With the help of the Spence Neighbourhood Association, Steinke moved her studio into the Sargent Avenue space in September, and held a grand opening Friday afternoon.

Previously, Steinke was renting space in a friend’s tattoo shop in Transcona — a distance for most of the clients she hoped to serve, who have typically lived in the inner city. She’s done free tattoo removals — worth more than an estimated $1 million — on more than 300 ex-gang members.

The Friday event was attended by provincial government housing and families ministers Bernadette Smith and Nahanni Fontaine, respectively, and organizations that have supported Mother Ink, including the Spence Neighbourhood Association, which has received provincial funding to pay for the space and Steinke’s wages.

A documentary crew shot footage as Steinke and others spoke to the crowd in the office crammed with well-wishers.

The space will also serve as a drop-in for people in the community who need help.

“I hope it’s just a healing place, where they all feel comfortable, even just if they need somebody to talk to, to drop in or even just to come in and get something to eat,” said Steinke.

“(We want it) to just really feel like a safe space in here.”

The Mother Ink office has room to store clothing and food, and to host community activities for high-risk youth, said Const. Michelle de Groot, a Winnipeg Police Service gang prevention co-ordinator who works closely with Steinke.

The pair also plan to host a weekly community walk out of the office.

Steinke and de Groot, along with the high-risk youth they work with and advocacy and therapy group Spirit Horse Initiative, will walk in the neighbourhood to hand out food and clothing to the unsheltered and pick up litter (including used needles).

Steinke said gang tattoos cause challenges for ex-members trying to live a more straight-and-narrow life.

“It’s also safety, for them to not get jumped by rival gangs or by their own gang, which they’ve left. It’s a matter of employment, housing,” Steinke said. “There’s so many barriers that tattoos can cause.”

Tattoo removal is an important part of exiting gang life, added de Groot. “It’s a reminder of that trauma, that they faced in that gang life.”

For Holmes, removing the tattoo from her face has helped her try to move past some of that hardship.

“Now, I’m a mom. Even when I had my son and I still had that cross on my forehead, I got even more looks at me that were negative. I’m holding my son, and I have this face tattoo on me — it doesn’t look good as a parent,” she said.

“I want to be a good example, a good role model for my son, and having that on my face is not really something I really want for my son.”

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca