‘She gave me strength’: Local tattoo artist offers free ink to cover scars from past

A Cobourg tattoo artist helps individuals flip darkish reminders from their past into art work they are often happy with. Nickola Koukla is the proprietor of Koukla Ink, a enterprise she began final month, and for a few 12 months, she has been providing free tattoos to cover up most cancers or self-harm scars. “It really began by probability…I simply seen that girls basically have been coming to me for issues like self hurt scar cover ups and for different scars whether or not it is childbearing to surviving breast most cancers,” Koukla mentioned in an interview with CBC’s Ontario Morning. “I spotted there is a want for it and there is so many individuals with scars who need a new starting and I believe everyone deserves a second probability so I assumed I ought to do one thing about it.” Presently she works out of a non-public studio in Cobourg and offers free cover up tattoos as soon as a month. Altering canvasses  Koukla wasn’t at all times a tattoo artist although. She studied nice arts on the College of Ottawa and moved to Berlin after graduating. It was in Berlin that she says she began to see tattooing in a “completely different mild.” After Berlin, Koukla determined to swap canvasses and hasn’t regarded again. “I am so grateful and humbled on a regular basis, I discovered portray a bit bit lonely to be trustworthy, and I really like that I get to work with individuals and assist individuals,” she mentioned. “It is a dream come true.” Koukla is a customized tattoo artist, which implies most of her work is completed within the second. She mentioned she is going to usually merely take a sharpie, speak to her shopper, hear to them and give you a customized drawing, and tattoo what she got here up with. Nickola Koukla has been protecting up scars for purchasers for a few 12 months now, she says. (Koukla Inc) One shopper, whose final identify CBC Information has agreed not to disclose, mentioned she went to see Koukla to cover up scars on her forearm due to self hurt all through her adolescence.  Cayla advised CBC Information she struggled with identification disaster, physique picture, and common anxiousness and melancholy. ‘She gave me energy’ The tattoo Koukla designed is of a feminine gladiator. Cayla mentioned the gladiator’s armour represents her fixed battle with bipolar dysfunction. The woman is trying to the sky to symbolize a vibrant future, and at last a chook is perched on her head to symbolize Cayla’s freedom, that she is “not a slave” to her years of ache. “Nickola did not simply give me a tattoo, she gave me energy,” she mentioned. “All I would like to do is look down at my arm and I’m reminded of the truth that I’m past it, I’ll proceed to transfer past it, and I will probably be free.” After a few 12 months of listening to tales like Cayla’s, Koukla mentioned she’s stunned at how comparable everybody’s causes are for coming to her. “I believe a variety of the occasions there’s psychological sickness or trauma or home abuse,” she mentioned. “All of us really feel these items and undergo traumas all through life and if there was extra of an open dialogue about it then we would not really feel so alone.” A brand new starting  Already, Koukla’s tattoos are sparking a dialog. “I’ve used my new cover up as a device to assist others and to unfold consciousness about psychological sickness,” mentioned her shopper Cayla. “I work in social providers and I really feel extra empowered than I ever have once I present my arm and there is a large warrior princess exhibiting her face.” For Koukla it is the distinction, just like the one she sees in Cayla, that is the very best a part of her job. “The way in which that I am in a position to cover individuals’s scars and make them really feel like they’ve an opportunity at a brand new starting…is so rewarding,” she mentioned. “I am simply so grateful that individuals let me be part of that.” And her purchasers are grateful too. “She has taken one thing that’s so adverse and one thing persons are so ashamed of and is making it lovely,” mentioned Cayla. “She is wonderful.” https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/free-tattoos-covering-scars-cobourg-1.4623312?cmp=rss