Photographer Steven Burton has recently released a series of photos titled Skin Deep where he removes tattoos from ex-gang members to show the person beneath.
It took Steven two years to create the series and a whopping 400 hours on Photoshop. He is now appealing to people via Kickstarter so he can gain the funds to turn his series into a book titled Skin Deep: Looking Beyond the Tattoos.
Quote:When I started Skin Deep I had a simple concept: take portraits of heavily tattooed ex-gang members and remove the tattoos using digital re-touching to create before and after portraits.
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.
Most of the homeboys/girls hadn’t seen themselves without tattoos for decades, so during the interviews, I presented the images. There was a deep emotional response by the subjects.
To back Stevens campaign and for a chance to receive one of the first copies of the book check out Stevens Kickstarter page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1657996647/skin-deep-ex-gang-members-looking-beyond-the-tatto
Steven wants to show people that ex gang members aren't always the evil beings people portray them as:
Quote:This book puts a very human face on a group of people that our society is so often too quick to demonize.