Deborah Tobola
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Skin Canvas
by Deborah Tobola
Steven was so determined to have his tattoo removed that he spent the night in the waiting room of the hospital so he'd be at the clinic the next day to receive a laser treatment. Since his first treatment, Steven has found a job, purchased a car, and decided to become an Emergency Medical Technician.
Liberty Tattoo Removal, a program of the non-profit Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo County, offers people tattoo removal if they have anti-social, gang related tattoos or other tattoos that interfere with life and prevent employment.
Clients are not charged for the service, but must be clean and sober, complete an application, have an orientation, and commit to 16 hours of community service to a non-profit organization for each treatment.
Community service is a powerful part of the program, according to Janet Allenspach, Program Coordinator. Participants can volunteer with organizations such as animal shelters, food banks, thrift stores, and homeless shelters. They often find they are valued as volunteers. They improve their networking social skills, and sometimes even end up with employment.
Liberty Tattoo Removal Program serves residents of San Luis Obispo County, as well as the northern Santa Barbara County communities of Lompoc, Santa Maria, and Guadalupe. In the 13 years since Liberty Tattoo Removal Program began, the program has provided 3,254 laser removal treatments.
Janet majored in photography in college. She's also a painter. But most people know her as the director of the program that removes this certain kind of art — the visible barriers to a successful life. She's the only paid staff member — she works 20 hours per week. Four doctors and four nurses and 12 clinic staff volunteer their time and talent to Liberty.
Tattoo removal improves self-esteem, helps people gain employment or go back to school, and feel accepted by the community. Community acceptance in turn reduces the recidivism rate. Right now, Liberty Tattoo Removal Program has 115 clients, with 30 on the waiting list, and a 0% recidivism rate for its 63 formerly incarcerated participants.
Usually about half of Liberty's clients are men and half are women. Right now 57% are male and 43% female. Janet is seeing younger people requesting treatment. “Lots of kids want to enlist but can't with tattoos visible outside of uniforms,” she says.
Passionate about her program, Janet is also passionate about her art. In 2008 those passions converged. The California Council for the Humanities awarded Liberty Tattoo Removal Program a $10,000 California Stories grant. Janet documented, with photographs and vignettes (in English and Spanish), nine ex-gang members who went through the program.
The show, called Erasing the Past, Building the Future, was exhibited in Philadelphia (for a national Community Action Partnership annual convention), at the SLO Art Museum, Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, SLO Juvenile Hall and other venues. A 13-minute outreach video was also produced with the funding. “I was super proud that I could be the voice for them,” she says. She looks forward to the next opportunity to use her art to express the profound journey of the people she works with as they reclaim the canvas of their own skin.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird Image on Banner by Teri Sohl
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