More than drawing: 12 powerful stories behind the tattoos

People get tattoos not only for beauty — many serve as a reminder of important events in your life or about the people who changed something in their destiny. Twelve poignant stories that wanted to keep people under his skin with ink.

"I only have this tattoo. It is an exact copy of a tattoo my grandfather — this number was given to him in the concentration laser Mauthausen during world war II.

He lived a long and happy life, before the age of 96 years. After the funeral, I went with a photo of the tattoo in the salon, told the artist about the meaning of the image. The whole process took no more time than I type this post. I handed her the money, but the tattoo artist pushed them: "I've been doing this for 12 years, this is the most important tattoo I ever did. For free, kid."

I photographed her, and she gave the grandfather's tattoo, the round did not explode".

"I got a tattoo of my parents, dogs and home. This house is built by my parents, dog in the window, and the initials of my parents, their handwriting. I grew up here.

And that's what happened on 28 June 2017. A propane leak caused an explosion that blew the entire first floor of a three storey house. He killed my parents and my German shepherd.

Everything was destroyed except a few photos. I write this not for sympathy, but to show: terrible things HAPPEN. But when all the world burns (literally or figuratively), you just pick up everything that is left and move on.

Rely on your support system. Crying is normal. Like to go to a therapist. Or want to join someone you've lost. Nothing will be able to fully heal the wounds, but can at least try".

"My father died 15 December 2016. Today I finally got a tattoo".

"Today did my first tattoo. A large brick — my older brother, who died the day of his fortieth birthday. He's in his favorite color, and the little brick is me hugging a large. Yellow is my favorite color. We have always collected LEGO together."

"12 years I was taking heroin, today is 4 years since I quit. Every year on July 23 I put the line".

Father had gotten a cochlear implant — is exactly what is his daughter.

"My father died before I was born, I've never seen it. But all who knew him, said I take after my father. In his last year in school I chose from the entire list of literature", all the pretty Horses" by Cormac McCarthy. Seeing that I read this book, my mom ran into my room and came back with the exact same book in 1993. The bookmark was on the page 128. It turned out that father had read this book before his death. And then I decided to get a tattoo, which would have noted my relationship with the father, because it is, despite the fact that I had not even seen".

His son died last year from sudden infant death syndrome. Dad got a tattoo in the form of sound waves of laughter his son.

"About a month ago I lost a friend during a hike in the mountains. I watched as it falls from 50 meters and falls to his death. This tattoo is a reminder to me about him and about safe climbing".

This woman lost everything during hurricane Katrina. She set a goal to re-build a house — the same way she lost. Not to forget what he looked like, she tattooed a plan of the rooms on my hands.

"When I was seven, my father committed suicide. I didn't realize what had happened, only knew that stopped to see daddy. When I grew up, I learned more about this issue, read the news, heard from friends, as someone said "someone took his own life." I was worried that people my age took his own life because he was unhappy. Last year someone I didn't even know him personally, only through mutual friends — he committed suicide due to a temporary problem. After that, I conceived the project "semicolon". Project for people who face difficulties, depression and thoughts of suicide, which could not move further, but he didn't. The semicolon is a symbol, in the sentence it is used to separate two thoughts. Point interrupts the thought, and the semicolon does. The idea of the project is to not stop if you can go further. Offer — this is your life, and its author — you".

"This tattoo is dedicated to my sister who lost a battle with cancer. She couldn't write for a long time, but always signed cards to his hand. This tattoo is a copy of the last card, which she signed for me. I couldn't think of a better way to keep her name than to capture it in her own handwriting."