In(k)tervention

Area of Science:

• Trauma Studies
• Body Art and Modification
• Critical Health Studies

Background:

• Tattooing is explored as a potential healing modality following trauma, particularly gendered and sexual violence.
• The author's personal experience of seeking tattoos during trauma recovery informs this artistic and research-based inquiry.
• Existing academic resources highlight the connection between tattooing and trauma recovery.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the role of pain in the tattooing process as a form of healing and self-care.
• To challenge dualistic views of care and healing that exclude painful or risky practices.
• To critique the medical industrial complex and capitalist, colonial, white supremacist logics within health insurance that restrict access to restorative practices.

Main Methods:

• A poem serving as an artistic "exercise in abolitionist reimagining."
• Exploration of client-practitioner relationships within the context of tattooing.
• Critical analysis of dominant health and healing narratives.

Main Results:

• Pain and suffering can be legitimate and lifesaving components of health, wellness, and trauma recovery.
• Current health insurance systems perpetuate harm by limiting access to restorative practices.
• Care and healing interventions, even those filled with love, can be inherently painful.

Conclusions:

• The study invites a reevaluation of care, acknowledging that painful experiences can be integral to healing.
• It highlights the exclusion of individuals and practices when health systems are perceived as objective and universal.
• The work advocates for holding space for the complex truths of healing beyond pain-free, regulated models.