In der U-Bahn sind noch zwei Sitzplätze frei: neben dem Fahrgast mit der bunten Pudelmütze auf dem Kopf und dann noch neben dem Mann mit den Tätowierungen im Gesicht. Schwere Entscheidung? Für die meisten Fahrgäste wohl eher nicht.
Die Porträtserie „Skin Deep“ des britischen Fotografen Steven Burton verdeutlicht, wie sehr Tattoos den Blick auf Menschen und unsere Meinung über sie beeinflussen. Burton fotografierte frühere Gangmitglieder aus Los Angeles und entfernte die zahlreichen Tätowierungen auf ihren Körpern und Köpfen digital. 400 Stunden lang ließ er Bandennamen und Gefängnissymbole, nackte Frauen und Totenköpfe verschwinden, bis die 27 fotografierten einstigen Kriminellen komplett tintenfrei waren.
Wie anders die retuschierten Porträts auf den Betrachter wirken, überraschte nicht nur Steven Burton, sondern auch die Porträtierten selbst: Viele hatten sich Jahre oder sogar Jahrzehnte lang nicht mehr ohne Tattoos gesehen. Die Schriften und Bilder waren ein Teil von ihnen geworden – und blieben es, auch nachdem sie sich für ein Leben ohne Bandenkriege, Drogendeals und Drive-by-Shootings entschieden hatten.
Viele der Porträtierten schafften diesen Absprung mit Hilfe der Stiftung Homeboy Industries. Sie bietet ehemaligen Gangmitgliedern neben Lebens- und Rechtsberatung, Nachhilfe- und Arbeitsplätzen auch kostenlose Tattooentfernung an: Das Leben der Aussteiger werde dadurch weniger gefährlich und die Stigmatisierung durch die Gesellschaft weniger.
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„The tattoos mean the life with the gentlemen, my homies you know. Brings a lot of death, sadness, hate and destruction. Sick, just out of control, eh. [...] This is a person [sieht sich das unretuschierte Foto an] that has been through a lot. [...] I call it a book you know. This is my book right here.“ – Marcos Luna
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„I look like I finally let go of a lot of stuff that I had on me. I want people to see me for me. Not to see my tattoos first. My tattoos don’t say nothing about me no more. It is a past life.“ – Francisco Flores
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„Oh shit! Damn, what the fuck. Damn, this is what I could have looked like! Look at this shit; damn this is crazy! [...] I will see like old ladies and they will start grabbing their purse. I will see a couple in the street and a guy will pull his girl real close. It’s like: ‚Dude relax! I am coming home from work.’“ – Dennis Zamran
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„I've been out of prison now, I wanna say, about nine and a half months. I just finished doing nine years. So I'm just trying to stay on the right track now. [...] Father G. [Gründer von Homeboy Industries] helping me felt good, because no one else has ever been there to help me like that.“ – David Pina
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„I love to see my boy [...] He is already tripping on my tattoos and stuff, why I have horns and stuff. [...] Just, I don’t know what to tell a five-year-old, you know. [...] He is going to want to know who I am and stuff. So it’s just like – it’s kind of hard.“ – David Williams
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„Nobody knows what will happen tomorrow. I am just living day-by-day, just hoping for the best, you know, move forward. I have to support myself, hopefully out for the good.“ – Vinson Ramos (✝)
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„Stereotyping is always going to be there like with the tattoos. I don’t want you rolling up your window when you see me coming down the street. It’s like: ‚Come on man! [...] You don’t need to do all that. [...] I’m just passing right by you.’“ – Calvin Hastings (✝)
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„I woke up today not in jail, I woke up today not in a casket. [...] Just breathing in the fresh air. Going outside and really looking at it. Life is beautiful. [...] I’m struggling with completely letting go of that [old] life. It’s hard, it’s just hard, you know.“ – Erin Echavarria
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„Usually, Father Greg helps. But he said to me this time: ‚[...] I can give you a car and I can give you a job. But that is not going to change what is going on with you. [...] You have to get clean.’ [...] And I was like: ‚All right. I am going to let it go. I am going to go to rehab.’ He said: ‚After those 90 days I promise you, I give you my word, everything is going to fall back in to place.’ And I believe him.“ – Matthew Perez
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„Since I was like... what, ten, eleven? Since that age till now I have been in and out of jail [...] I really don’t know how to live a regular life. I am trying to live [it] now. [...] My daughter is five, going to be six next month. She thinks I am her personal coloring book. When I first came home and I had this on me [ein Tattoo], she did nothing really. She knew, who I was. So she asked me, if she could color me. I said: ‚Yeah, go ahead.’“ – Phillip Mendoza
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„Oh man. It's a big difference. So that's exactly how I would look without them. [...] I'm gonna give her [my grandmother] these [photos]. 'Cause when she first saw me [with the tattoos],[...] she started crying. And I think, that is why. She doesn't know too much about gangs and stuff, but yeah. [...] I'm just kind of lost for words.“ – Samuel Gonzales
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„The tattoo on my eyelids, well it says ‚the end’, you know. I hope I live for a very long, long time. [...] I have more to give to the community, to help out. And I want to see my kids grow. [...] People who don’t know me probably think I am smoking drugs, have a gun or that I am violent. But I am not like that no more. I left that all behind.” – Mario Lundes
