“Tattooing can be therapeutic”, Aleksandra K. artist based in Carcassonne, engaged in the physical and psychological reconstruction of women affected by breast cancer

A tattoo artist for eight years now, Aleksandra K. moved to Carcassonnais two years ago. “Since last February, I opened my new tattoo studio”, explains the young woman. At 54 rue du Pont-Vieux in Carcassonne, the artist covers the bodies, in a style “floral and very feminine. Over my years of practice, I have seen how therapeutic tattooing can be”confides Aleksandra.

Its membership in the Sœurs d’encre association was therefore natural: founded in 2017 by Nathalie Kaïd, its vocation is to repair bodies through tattooing, and particularly scars due to mastectomies in women affected by cancer. of the breast.

Among the commitments asked of tattoo artists who join the association, to offer, at least once a year, a tattoo to a woman affected by breast cancer. This year, it was on October 5 that Aleksandra went to Bordeaux, for the Rose Tattoo. Alongside around sixty other artists, who themselves have tattooed as many women, she covered the mastectomy scar of a 70-year-old woman: “She had been in remission for 15 years, and it was her first tattoo. It was an extraordinary, very powerful experience. She told me that she could no longer look at herself until then”reveals the tattoo artist.

To tattoo scars, in addition to the obvious training and experience in tattooing, the artists who work with Sisters of Ink must also have followed online information offered by surgeons, oncologists, and dermatologists involved with the association: “We cannot tattoo just any scar in any way. It must be well healed for several years, we cannot tattoo the arm if the chain of lymph nodes has been removed, nor if the woman is still under chemotherapy It is also not possible to tattoo skin that has been too irradiated.explains Aleksandra.

In addition to during the Rose Tattoo event, the tattoo artists of Sœurs d’encre offer their services to women throughout the year: “Many women choose not to have breast reconstruction. We can therefore offer them the opportunity to regain their femininity through tattooing. My style is very transparent, and lends itself well to hugging the flesh, to play a game of trompe l “eye which allows the eye to be drawn to the tattoo rather than to the missing breast. It’s a real therapy.”adds the tattoo artist.